Comments on: Citibank freezes home equity lines of credit nationwide

By: Grant

Grant — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 08:03:36 +0000

I am in the same boat as Chad. I just spent the last 8 months obtaining permits for a renovation that my house badly needs (no insulation, single pane windows, rotting wood). I spent 17K of my own savings for the architect, structural engineer, geotechnical engineer, surveyor, and of course the City of Seattle. I intended to use my HELOC with Citibank for the construction. Last week I wrote a check to myself from my Citibank HELOC for $15,000 so I could start on the footings and stem walls and guess what? It was returned. Now my bank is assessing me the fees. I called Citibank and was told that my account had been suspended because of falling home prices. They also said that I was notified via mail last November, which is a lie. Thanks Citibank. I just spent 17K of my own money to facilitate the process of improving my homes value and you completely cut my legs out from under me. Now my home is partially deconstructed and I don’t have the money to put it back together.

By: Sam Glover mentioned in SmartMoney.com article on HELOC suspensions

Sam Glover mentioned in SmartMoney.com article on HELOC suspensions — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:21:04 +0000

[...] Todorova of SmartMoney.com interviewed me on Monday for her story on the home equity loan suspensions by Citigroup and others. Look for my name halfway down page [...]

By: chad

chad — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:08:57 +0000

I have a HELOC with National City, never late on any payment to anyone ever. Wrote a check from my heloc to myself to place in my checking account to begin paying for the renovation of my home. It has taken me 2 years to get through my permitting process with the full anticipation of using my HOME EQUITY LINE OF CREDIT to do the renovation. My loan to value should be still at 70-75% even with the market downturn. I have given contractors downpayments on the work to be done which has depleted alot of my savings. After writing myself a check National City denied payment. After I received notice from my bank by mail that the check bounced,the very next day I received a letter from National City dated April 21, I received the letter on April 30th, the check I had writen was on April 25th. Really bad timing!!!!! This letter stated that effective 3 days from the date of the letter my line would be shut down. 3 days after the letter was written it was still in the damn mail. Somehow it took 9 days to get to me from Kentucky to Maryland via mail. The check bounced then they proceeded to charge me $30 posted on my next statement, for bouncing the check that they cancelled on me. So now I am unable to finish my renovation, unable to get my deposit money back and have lost my credit line. Two years of BS with permitting and engineering and $25000 later, I have a permit that is worthless if I cannot use my equity line for the repairs. After reading this blog I’m curious to see if this has now affected my credit. If there is a class action I would love to be in on it.

By: Patrick Warner

Patrick Warner — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 01:34:21 +0000

My firm and several others are in the process of filing a lawsuit concerning the early termination fee. If you would like additional information, you may contact me at equityloanearlytermfee@pwarnerlaw.com.

By: Debbie DeMelis

Debbie DeMelis — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 19:23:11 +0000

I help people buy and sell homes and have increasing heard such stories. Many of my clients are active adults looking at resort-lifestyle communities like retreatatcarmel.com in Putnam County NY. These active adults have worked hard and paid their bills and are now being penalized without even realizing it until writing a check on a home equity line of credit, using a promotional balance transfer or bill consolidation check, etc. I have clients who have written checks against their home equity line of credit and the check bounced. It was the first time they used it and the bank responded they closed the account due to inactivity and my client was never notified before doing so.

By: Trent

Trent — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 04:27:46 +0000

I just got my letter stating my HELOC has been reviewed based on my request and they lowered it from 250k to 155k. That works fine for me and is realistic.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:53:48 +0000

Here’s a new twist – I got a letter dated 12/9/08 from Citibank stating that my check to my insulation contractor had been returned unpaid. THEN I got “THE LETTER” dated 12/12/08 letting me know that my line of credit has been suspended. They can’t bounce checks BEFORE letting you know the account’s suspended, can they? I’m sending all my documentation to Citibank and have already repaid the contractor out of my checking account, but I wouldn’t have had the insulation work done if I had known I couldn’t use the HELOC. Thanks for the heads up, Citibank. Bet your execs don’t have to worry about drafty homes in the winter.

By: Brian L

Brian L — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 04:10:34 +0000

I recently received a letter from GMAC that they are supsending my HELOC. The letter stated that this action was the result of a payment default/past due status as of the date of the letter (11/21/08). I pay my bill online through their site and it seems as though my payment posted on 11/28. The bill was due on 11/20.
anyway I was pretty suprised so i gave them a call only to get tansferred around and hung up on. I called again today and spoke with a rep who told me that the reason why i got this was because I was 8 days late with the payment in November. doesnt make sense if the letter is dated 11/21. I have NEVER missed a mortage or HELOC payment and both my wife and I have good paying jobs and have a lot of equity in our home. On top of all this the Rep told me that she would not listen to excuses. Wow that got me mad. It seems that Banks have cast a wide net and they dont make a solid attempt at seperating good customers from the ones who default. In reading my HELOC terms under “Suspension Events” there is no mention of when one payment is applied late, that the HELOC gets suspended. Now i need to check my credit to make sure they didnt screw that up on me. I am pretty mad at how this went down and if there is someone out there who is willing to file a class action then please count me in. We just gave these @holes Billions of our hard tax paying money and to turn around and stick it to us is too much. I am looking at some of these other posts and I am really sick that this is something they are just getting away with. Let’s hope not for long !!!

By: Trent

Trent — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 22:06:36 +0000

I just got my letter from CITIBANK after arranging for solar paneling to be installed on my home. My house according to there estimate is worth 390k and I owe 98K. They told me to do an appraisal to prove my value was higher and I told them just use their value and unsuspend my line. I don’t even care if they drop it to 100k. I have an 800 credit score and currently a 0 balance on my line. I mailed them their request as they requested 2 weeks ago, and so far they will not confirm reciept. I used to broker loans to them, but based on this, we should just let them go BK.

By: Craig

Craig — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 21:44:05 +0000

SO Now what do I do??, I’m 3 quarters from the completion of my addition, I’m down to last 10k & I get a suprise phone call from my contractor ” Your Check Bounced”, We were in shock when we found out they cut us off, last year my house was worth 300k now they tell me its worth 200k!!! I can’t belive what has happened, I’m distraught!!, I have a 4 year old & 1 on the way, I have no savings cause I used it to get construction started, I was gonna replenish the savings when the house was done, now what do i do? I have no roof on my house, its 20 deg out here in ny, Christmas a week & a half away, I’ve never been broke, I relied Citi bank & I should not have, How can Citibank hurt so many people, Our credit rating is Great & we are never late on payments, NOW WHAT DO I DO??? Unfinished home, No savings, I can’t believe it!!, They send a letter a week after the fact not even before…… Craig.. Carmel Ny