So... Citibank send me new terms and conditions with opt-out in January. I think... usual stuff why bother reading in detail, can't fight the system. My bad... I see my interest rate go from 8.2% to 14.99%

I am an excellent customer, 20 years of continuous use, always on time payment, never ever never late, etc. I email customer service asking what's up. Get the canned replied... it's in the new conditions. Send a reply asking to escalate... waste of time... get a canned reply so "so sorry."

I called today to politely vent. A lady at customer service was very nice, understanding but said sorry, nothing can be done. I ask for the retention department. Same reply, sorry. Has to do with cost of doing business, etc.

I get politely more upset. We the taxpayers are footing the bailout $s, and now we are double footing (feeting?) this by getting hit with significantly higher interest rates. Mine jumped by almost 100%. There's no reason for that high a rate!

I've typically been up and down with my balances... sometimes a period of high balance, then a period of zero balance but always did well getting the balance down. I had a zero balance for the past year then charged a new car to the card, now have a $30k balance.

The retention agent listened as I politely vented. I indicated that only Citibank is doing this. My other cards, Chase and AMEX, have kept their rates low, but I do not charge to them and haven't in years. I can easily do a balance transfer to Chase with a 0% rate for 6 months, then up to about 9.9%. I told the retention agent to escalate to management to make an exception in my case. I don't consider myself to be special, but I am a good long-term customer who charges about $100k annually. If they want to lose my business, ok but shame on them. Doesn't make sense to do this. Chase would love to have me as a customer. Granted I don't need United points but points is points and I'm in this game for points. I might even consider going to the Dodge card because I want a Challenger before they stop building them with Hemis

My wife doesn't understand why I even bother with this and tells me to dump Citibank. I like AA points, I have a very high limit with them, and I want to give them this one chance. I even told the retention agent that if they drop it back down, I would not do a balance transfer to Chase. I've been asked to wait 5 days for a reply to my request. We'll see...

That's my story and I'm sticking to it... thanks for listening (reading)

Opps... just noticed this is in AMEX, s/b other cards. Please move, Mr/Ms Moderator