Newsgroups: can.general
Subject: Re: US dollar VISA or MasterCard?
From: lisa@oneb2.almanac.bc.ca
Date: Tue, 05 Jan 93 22:20:16 PST
Organization: The Old Coot's (Spare) Almanac

bpenrose@epas.utoronto.ca (B. Penrose) writes:

> In article <1993Jan4.064926.19560@sq.sq.com> dave@lsuc.on.ca (David Sherman)
> asks:
> >
> >If there are no Canadian financial institutions offering US$ cards
> >any more, does anyone know of U.S. card issuers that will accept
> >Canadian customers?
> >
> 
> You might try Citibank.  I started my account with them while living
> in the U.S. but continued using it after returning to Canada, complete
> with a Canadian billing address.  They seemed to have no problem with
> my residing in  Canada at all, and indeed, unlike Canadian card
> issuers (to whom "customer service" is an utterly alien concept),
> continued to provide a number which could be called collect for
> billing inquiries.  They were also great about stuff like getting an
> increase in credit limit.  Whether they are as willing to open an
> account for someone residing in Canada as they seem to be to continue
> one, I don't know.

WHOA!!!  I wouldn't recommend Citibank to my ex husband (well, then again....)!
Not for any reason would I EVER recommend Citibank to someone I gave a hoot about!

Two years ago I applied for and received, a Citibank Visa card.  I made all of my
payments in full, and on time.  Then, last winter some events occurred in my
life that left me quite short of funds for a few months.  I had some forewarning
of trouble wrt my finances, so I called my creditors, including Shittibank
Sleaza, and let them all know that I may be unable to make full payments to them
for the next few months.  Everyone was great about it, except Shittibank, even
though I did make partial payments to all, during that time (three months).  I
also kept in regular contact with all creditors during that time, as a show of
my good faith.

Shittibank is still hounding me now, a year later.  Although I resumed making
full payments to them when/as promised, I was unable to repay some of the
interest I'd accrued on my account right away.  I did, however, frequently
 make *more* than my required amount in monthly payments to them, in an effort
to "catch up".  Meanwhile, they called me at work, 2 to 3X a week, left very
nasty messages on my answering machine at home (even called me names, for Pete's
Sake!) and even resorted to telling my ten year old daughter that I was "not
cooperating" with their demands, etcetera.  The poor girl had made the mistake
of answering the phone!  Also, my account limit was $1500.00, and my account
balance was at $1400.00 when all this started.  I haven't used that card for
the past 13 months.  Furthermore, I had been paying an additional $8/mo. for
an insurance package they offerred, designed to cover payments if you
suddenly become unemployed, disabled, etcetera.  Guess what?  Now that I'm
unemployed, they have denied me that ins. coverage, apparently because of
the difficulties I'd had last winter.

Their calls to me at work finally ceased when I threatened to sue them for
harassment.  The calls to me at home, the nasty letters, etcetera, have
continued.

I recently became unemployed after years of working, and so once again, am
only able to send $50 to $100/mo. to Shittibank.  They are now threatening to
come to my home and seize my possessions (all $1900 worth, if you include my
kids' furniture). I have had no such trouble with any of my other creditors.
The fact is, my credit rating was fine for years before I got into this mess,
and throughout it all, I've continued to stay in touch with everyone and send
regular payments as best I can, either in full, or in part.

It's not like Shittibank has only begun their guerrilla tactics recently, they
started harrassing me CONSTANTLY after the first month that I sent them only a
partial payment, that payment wasn't unreasonbly low either.

Nope. If you can't get any other Canadian card that'll issue U.S. funds, I
strongly urge you to forget it.  As for the other Canadian card companies,
they've all been excellent with their customer services, for me anyway.

Good luck in your quest:-)

Lisa




               lisa@oneb2.almanac.bc.ca (Lisa Lambeth)
                      The Old Coot's Almanac
               Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada
                    Courtesy the old coot hisse'f!
Newsgroups: can.general