Citi is the worst bank in the industry right now, they are as crooked as can be, they claim they needed a bailout(and got it) only to discover they were buying failing companies all along for highly reduced prices, how can you not have any money but yet you are still able to hand out millions for companys in the red. they got free money at our expense, and a bunch of business'es with potential to possibly turn around in the future(they will still have to support these failures until the possibility of a turn around happens-they are wasting money, our money, and in turn they are now shafting all of their customers, dump citi there are too many other banks to be connected with corruption, in actuality dump the credit system entirely- if you ask a man on monday for 10 bucks and he only has 10 bucks and still has to eat through the week would this man give you 10 bucks, no cause he'd starve, so why is it the banks with no money are still able to hand out credit they obviously cant cover. if the money is gone you cant give out more

Same thing happened to me in 2001, I got behind one 1 payment and a 2,000 credit card bill turned into 9,000. after there BS, and the company going bankrupt, and changing hands 3 times. I am just now back to the original 2,000 mark I started in 2001. I think we should opt for more control over credit card doing what they want. why do you get signed up and then a couple of month later you get a credit increase and them BAM your interest rate goes up.

Its like they want you to fail!!!!

Pandit must go!  

The same thing happened to me back in August from Discover. I have had the card for over 10 years and finally got the APR down to a decent rate.  I also opted to cancel the card and pay it off at the lower rate.  Will they never learn that we have rights too.

There is a lesson to be learned here.  I carry a fairly large balance from month to month.  My fault for running it up so high.

All I can do at this point is to lock the cards away so that nothing else gets put on them, and pay them down gradually.

The good thing that comes out of this is that I am now saving instead of spending.  Bad for the economy in the short run.  Better for me in the long run.

While it IS true that the APR doesn't matter if you pay your bills on time, the APR rates are NOT the only rates that are changing.

I RARELY carry a balance but opted out because Citibank is also raising the Foreign Transaction Fee (from 1% to 3% of purchases) on my card.  While this isn't an issue for a large percentage of Citibank card holders, it's an issue for me since I routinely charge large purchases overseas.  

My point here is that before people posting here start name-calling, it is wise to consider that there a variety of reasons for or against opting out, depending on the card-holders individual circumstances.    

I have had a citi creit card for a year and a half now. I started with a APR of 18.99%, and that was with no previous credit history. That is one of the reasons I chose to have a citi card. I recieved my letter in the mail this week that citi bank is raising my APR on purchase to 19.99% and my cash advance APR is now 22.99%!!!! I have not only payed on time every month, but I have doubled my payments, and have payed the card off multiple times. It is an outrage that my interest rate now is higher than when I started, not to mention  the fact that they got bailed out and now their raising everyone's interest rates. I am definately opting out on my card with citi, and never will have one again. If everyone one else had haalf a brain they would to!!

Chelsie- 22 yrs old

Orlando, Fl.

Once a again a mega company, who has just received a big government bail out is deciding to try to take thier overlending woes out on the hides of their good customers who pay faithfull and on time or who pay off the balance every month because they overextended the customers who are already overextended. The good payers will just op out leaving them with all the already overextended customers, who now face even higher payments and rates.  Then just like in the mortgage industry the bank will be left holding the bag as these induviduals walk totally away maybe into bankrupcy. Many of the high balances individuals carry are not due to everyday spending but due to medical expenses, college expenses etc.    Don't the financial institutions ever  learn, they are just repeating the error of their ways. Tighten credit given, yes, raise the rates  on current card holders no.  

It's this simple, they go from getting 6.49% of something, to 12.99% of nothing. To me, this is not a good business decision. They are basically punishing the people that pay their bill, to compensate for there poor judgement in exstending credit to people that should not have gotten credit in the first place...This is a bad decision no matter how you look at it

I just got my notice from Citi 2 days ago.  Like many of you, I too pay my bill on time every single month and I've been a a cardholder for over 15 years.  My credit rating is outstanding so I was dumbfounded.  I thought about opting out, but first I wanted to call them to find out why my rate was being increased.  You know what they told me?  They said "in light of the troubling economic times we're facing and the dramatic loss of revenue we've seen lately due to bankruptcies and such, we're being forced to raise rates for everyone."  I cut the lady off right there and expressed my outrage at the fact that I was being penalized for the actions of others.  I mean, seriously!  You lose money because some people can't afford their payments, so you start charging the customers who are paying even more money?  Are they trying to push all of their cardholders into bankruptcy?  I'm not in danger of that, but I know plenty of others who are just barely hanging on.  Things like this will push them over the edge.  Where's Citi's revenue going to come from then?  Anyway, finally the lady offered to let me speak to a representative to see if I could keep my current rate.  It took less than 30 seconds - literally - for them to say they wouldn't raise my rate afterall.  So take the time to call your credit card companies people...closing an account can hurt your credit rating.  If there's a way to keep the card - do it.  Even if you never use it again.