Citifinancial Auto is a nightmare for everyone i've talked to so far. Here's my story:
in july of 2008 i called citifinancial to arrange payment on a past due payment. I wuz OFFERED a program called a "deferral". which was then explained to me that it means this: they will give me two months with no payments and move the two payments that i was behind to the end of the loan and i would owe my first payment starting back in october of 2008. i was told that i would be getting a three month deferral meaning no payment until october. well, in september of 2008 i got a statement saying that i recieved a TWO month deferral and my payments were to start back in september of 08. i called citifinancial and talked to a manager again, and they told me that they must have made a mistake, they apologized, said that they would be sending me a NEW confirmation letter, and that everything was fixed. i said thank you, he said your welcome and we hung up. well, in october of 08 i got a bill saying i owed for SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER. so i called again. this time the manager "informed" me that there must've been some mix up, and i waz told wrong information. that thier company policy will only allow for me to have TWO months at max. i was also told (in a previous conversation with a different manager) that i was entitled to 8 months total over the entirety of the loan. well the manager today "informed" me that there are all kinds of stipulations that i wasnt told before. such as: if you have payed for six months, your entitled to two months max, payed for a year, entitled to four months max, etc. then he proceeds to tell me that "his records" show that i havnt talked to anyone since august and they "supposedly" told me that i was only entitled to a two month deferral, when this simply isnt the case. so basically i am stuck owing the same amount as i did when this whole thing started and in a WORSE money situation than i was then because of someone TELLING me one thing and DOING something else. and they say that this is all legal because they sent me a confirmation letter telling me that i only had a two month deferral EVEN THOUGH they "supposedly" fixed the mistake that was made on thier parts, and now I am to be held responsible for THIER mistakes. He basically tells me Sorry for you... Shouldnt someone hold THEM responsible for THEIR actions? i mean, after all, ive alwayz been held accountable for MY actions all throughout my life. Or am i to be one of the many (im sure) "scapegoats" for thier mistakes and lak of orginization? So in the end (of course) big corporation wins, little "peon customer" loses. his attitude was "sorry about your luck"... any suggestions anyone what might be able to be done about this? im at a loss.... [email protected] i STRONGLY suggest that NOONE EVER uses citifinancial auto.... When i informed him that he should be a little nicer to the customers, he said..."We did YOU a favor by giving you the loan in the first place".... talk about costumer service.... so after three months of being passed back and forth from one "branch" to another (that obviously doesnt communicate with each other) i'm now bak at square one, only now a corporate a**hole is sitting bak and laughing his snotty little butt off, at my expense for their mistakes.....

I fell a month behind on my car payment, because of financial hardship. Citifinancial contacted me because of the lateness. I informed them that the check had been sent in the mail. They were not satisfied with that and I was told that I was lying to them. I was told by the manager (his name was Daniel) that if I didn't give him a payment over the phone that they would come and repo the car. I asked him, the car is only 1 month late and the payment is on the way to you. He said, "don't tell me about your problems, I'm not interested in them." With that, I then canceled the check that I sent out and FEDEX a new check to them. Call Daniel and gave him the FEDEX tracking # and the check # with the amount. He told me that was not good enough and I can be sending him a blank check! He was very rude and ignorant. I have never in my life dealt with such a horrible company! I waited to the FEXEX to be delivered the next day and contacted Daniel. He told me, yes the check was there, but as far as he was concerned he didn't have it because it was not posted to the system and he still was going to take the car! He told me to make a payment over the phone and that would stop the repo! I asked him, how can you repo a car when its only a month late and you have the payment in your office? He told me that he didn't have time for me and that he was done talking to me!

Real nice business Citifinancial! I'm getting ready to trade the car in and never deal with them with anything ever again! They are horrible!!!

I purchased a vehicle with financing from a lender who eventually sold my loan to Citifinancial Auto. The original loan was for a 5-year period rather than the typical 3-year period. To keep my finances on track, I use Direct Debit services whenever possible and I made arrangements to have my auto loan paid through Direct Debit. During this time, I moved and provided Citifinancial with my current address, but they continued to send any and all communications to my former address. My forwarding order expired after the first year and I again provided them with my correct address.

In April, I left work and found that my car was not in the parking lot. I called the police and was told that my car had been repossessed. I immediately called Citifinancial to find that "no one could take my call," so I emailed them. Four phone calls and 3 emails later, I still received absolutely no information from Citifinancial Auto.

Finally, the towing company called and asked me to come and get my belongings. Because I was so upset, the employee called Citifinancial Auto (they actually answered her call!) and when I arrived to get my things, she told me that they had repossessed the car due to nonpayment. I received no notice that they had stopped collecting the payments via Direct Debit nor did I give them my permission or agree to that arrangement. No other company with whom I have made Direct Debit arrangements has terminated the arrangement, so I know this is unusual.

I don't think it is a coincidence that all of this happened when I reached the 3-year mark for my loan. Additionally, Citifinancial tried to file a claim for damages through my auto insurance company, saying that the entire front end of the car was destroyed. When I visited the tow yard 3 days after the repossession, the car was completely intact. They still have not filed any paperwork with the DMV to claim ownership of the car and I continue to receive notices from the DMV regarding overdue registration.

So... the $11,000+ that I paid toward owning the vehicle is completely wasted, the repossession is on my credit record, I spent nearly $400 on a rental car, and I had to come up with cash to purchase a used vehicle because I live in an area with next to no public transportation. I believe that Citifinancial Auto deliberately terminated our Direct Debit arrangement without notifying me so that they would not have to honor the nontraditional 5 year loan.

How are they allowed to get away with this and why don't consumers have an option to pursue dishonest businesses without spending thousands of dollars on an attorney? The BBB is great, but there is not a thing they can do if the business refuses to negotiate with them, and in the case of most large corporations, that is exactly what they do. Large businesses know individual consumers can't afford to spend $5,000-20,000 to pursue something like this, so they simply refuse to play ball with the BBB.

Whatever you do, don't do business with Citifinancial Auto!

In 2001 we purchased a car that was originally financed with another company. Citifinancial ended up with the loan. At one point, I sent in 2 payments. Several weeks later I received a letter in the mail stating they were going to repossess my car if I didn't bring my loan current within 10 days. When I called them, they showed no record of the payment. I had sent a Western Union money order. At that point they required 2 MORE payments up and beyond the $900 I had just sent them. I had to contact Western Union for a copy of the money order, which took 30 days. Once I received the proof that I had mailed it to them and they had cashed it, they still denied ever getting it. It took NUMEROUS phone calls and a couple of faxes before it was resolved. No one ever called me back to let me know it had been corrected nor did I ever receive an apology for THEIR error. At one other point in the loan, I was attempting to make a payment arrangement splitting my 2 payments by the end of the same month. Once they pulled up my account information, I was hung up... not once, not twice, but several times. Repeated phone calls requesting to speak with a supervisor got me nothing more than belittling and rude remarks and more hang ups. I never called back. I've since paid off my loan but I would NEVER nor would I suggest anyone else to ever internationally do business with them.