Consumer complaint received 2023-10-08
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA
Product: Credit card
Sub-product: Store credit card
Issue: Problem when making payments
Sub-issue: Problem during payment process

Complaint:
I opened a credit card account with Bloomingdale 's on XX/XX/XXXX. I made several jewelry purchases for my adult daughter and a few clothing items and then approx. 14 night stays at 2 different hotels. I have paid my account every month by exceeding the minimum payment due to in sure that I would pay the promotional balance off in full by the due date of XXXX XXXX XXXX I live in XXXX XXXX California. In XXXX of XXXX I traveled XXXX miles north of XXXX XXXX to XXXX XXXX XXXX to spend time and the holidays with my youngest son who was also on track to XXXX XXXX XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX. I found the pace of the XXXX XXXX XXXX and surrounding areas to be more conducive to my health issues and my age ( XXXX  ). I checked out of the last hotel I stayed in in XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX of XXXX I was concerned over the strange behavior and interaction that I had with the front desk person that checked me into this hotel and when I was told that she had disappeared/quit abruptly with no notice I decided to call Bloomingdale 's customer service number and request them to close my Bloomingdale 's credit card because I feared that this missing front desk person who had shared with me that she was quitting her job at the hotel in a couple of days without giving them any notice because she was leaving the country permanently to start a new life and to take another job in XXXX ( I believe she said ) and she also shared the fact that was having a lot of financial difficulty. This lead me to be concerned that she might use my credit card to travel out of the country so I asked Bloomingdale 's customer service to cancel my card and to issue a new one. There were no fraudulent charges on this card ending XXXX that I requested them to close. Bloomingdale 's closed this card at my request ending XXXX and they also issued/ a new replacement card to my XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX California which is where I receive my mail. I stayed in XXXX XXXX XXXX from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX approximately is the date I returned XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX I received a text message and an email from Bloomingdale 's fraud department asking me if I had used the new replacement card ending XXXX to make purchases totaling {$290.00}. I texted back and responded " No '' that I haven't received the new replacement card yet and " no '' I haven't used it to make any purchases. I don't have the card. Next, I called in and spoke to Bloomingdale 's fraud department investigators. I told them that I am still in XXXX XXXX XXXX, California where I have been since XXXX of XXXX and that the replacement card should still be in my XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, California because I haven't picked it up yet. Next I tried to sign into my account on line to see the charges that the fraud department was referring to and to file a dispute for any unauthorized charges. The account for the new replacement card ending XXXX was totally blocked on line so I couldn't view any charges and I wasn't able to file a dispute because the account was still showing not yet activated or inactivate and asking me to activate the new replacement card???? which I was surprised to see and I wondered how the new card was used to make purchases if it had not yet been activated. Next, I called my post office where my po box is located and I asked them how my new replacement card could have been used when it should still be in my po box . I had to speak to the Post Office Manager to have her look into how this could have happened. She informed me that my po box had been broken into and the card was stolen along with other pieces of mail because my box was empty she said. Next I called Bloomingdale 's fraud investigators back and I shared with them that my po box had been broken into and the card was stolen along with my other mail. The fraud person had me file a dispute over the phone with her for what she said was {$290.00} in fraudulent charges made using the replacement card ending XXXX. I gave my statement of the fact that I am still XXXX miles away up north in XXXX XXXX XXXX and that I have many many receipts for purchases that I have made every day up to XX/XX/XXXX to prove it if she needed it and that I could provide a statement from the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX regarding my po box having been broken into if she needed it. The fraud investigator responded " np '' that she didn't need any of the items that I offered and that my dispute of the charges statement is all that she needed to conduct her investigation. The next day or so when I signed back into my Bloomingdale 's original credit card account ending XXXX I could see my current balance of {$570.00} ( new balance after I deducted my XX/XX/XXXX payment of {$200.00}. ) now had the additional fraudulent charges of {$290.00} added to my outstanding balance which brought my balance up to {$870.00}. On approximately XX/XX/XXXX I called Bloomingdale 's and asked them why they added the fraudulent charges to my current correct outstanding balance of {$570.00} and I also asked them when they would be removing this {$290.00} in fraudulent charges from my correct balance of {$570.00}. The representative said that they would remove the fraudulent charges of {$290.00} after they complete their investigation. On XX/XX/XXXX I called Bloomingdale 's credit department/customer service and XXXX asked them to assist me in paying off my balance in full so that only the fraudulent charges would be remaining on the account until they completed their investigation and remove the fraudulent charges of {$290.00} The Bloomingdale 's credit dept. representative said that my full outstanding balance was {$560.00}. I then told her that my outstanding balance according to my latest statement cutoff dated XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXs {$570.00}. The representative then stated that I was given a credit of! XXXX for interest that they had erroneously charged me so that brought my true outstanding balance in full to pay my account ending XXXX off to {$560.00}. I gave her my debit card information to complete the payoff transaction. On XX/XX/XXXX I received a notice from the Bloomingdale 's credit department stating that my account balance is now XXXX. When I went in on line to look at my account for card ending XXXX it was still showing the fraudulent charges of {$290.00} on the account after my payment had been deducted from the balance. I have all of the statement for this account from XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX showing all of the payments and outstanding balances and it also shows the addition of the {$290.00} as purchases on my XX/XX/XXXX statement. The {$290.00} fraudulent balance was still showing on my account after they issued a second replacement card ending XXXX and changed my original account number from XXXX to XXXX. On line originally they flagged my accounts ending XXXX and XXXX as card lost/stolen and they left my new account acct. that's attached to the second new replacement card ending XXXX open/active with a balance that has ranged from {$290.00} down to {$230.00} and now it's at {$170.00} and why the balance amount keeps changing I really have no idea and it is not showing transactions to explain why in the account summary area on line as of today. They have shut off the ability to dispute any charges or transaction amounts for months now in the account in my account on line portal. I have a paper statement with the cutoff date of XX/XX/XXXX that shows there is a XXXX balance and a XXXX payment due on XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX which is correct. The next statement shows an account balance due of {$230.00} with a payment due on XX/XX/XXXX. I called in and asked what this {$230.00} balance is for because they had never removed the {$290.00} fraudulent charges I assumed. I was told that it was a reversal of a {$200.00}. payment that was credited twice to the account on the XX/XX/XXXX closing date statement. I had to ask for the paper statements to be sent to me because access to the account summary for card account ending XXXX did not show any transactions. When I received the paper statements I saw many many transactions, credits and debits that I had no knowledge of, since I was still in XXXX XXXX XXXX, California and I still didn't have a Bloomingdale 's credit card since XXXX of XXXX when I requested my original card to be closed as I have previously explained so none of the activity on the XX/XX/XXXX statement was mine. When I did the calculations of all of the purchases and the credits and debits including the {$200.00}. payment error that they were referring to every thing balanced out to XXXX balance which is why there was no payment due on XX/XX/XXXX. At my request to speak to some one in their corporate office, in response, a person by the name of XXXX XXXX was assigned to my concerns with this outstanding balance issue on my account ending XXXX. XXXX XXXX contends via an email she sent me that this {$230.00}. balance is the XX/XX/XXXX payment I made for {$200.00}. that was credited to my account in XXXX correctly and then according to XXXX XXXX it was credited again to my account a second time in XX/XX/XXXX erroneously. I have explained to XXXX XXXX many times via email that my balance was paid off in full according to my statement balances and I have not received a {$200.00}. credit reversal and the XXXX statement that she is referring to has many charges including this {$200.00}. but when you do the calculations of the debits and the credits including this {$200.00}. erroneous payment it was also credited and then debited back out correctly on the paper statement that I received for XX/XX/XXXX and their ending balance was XXXX correctly and when I did the calculations I also came to a XXXX balance on my account and this also includes my payoff amount of {$560.00} that I made on XX/XX/XXXX which I have a confirmation of payment from your credit department and a confirmation letter dated XX/XX/XXXX that my account balance is XXXX. Therefore, XXXX XXXX is the source of any balances left on my account ending XXXX and from XX/XX/XXXX up until today, XX/XX/XXXX, I have not used any Bloomingdale 's credit card including the card ending XXXX which I picked up from my po box on XX/XX/XXXX after I received my newly keyed po box keys resulting from the break in that happened in XX/XX/XXXX. Now, currently some one has came up with a current outstanding balance of {$170.00} for acct. ending XXXX and a whole lot of computations have been made on this account since my XX/XX/XXXX statement which includes my pay off payment of {$560.00} but this current {$170.00} balance is not from any transactions that I have made. Also, on XX/XX/XXXX I received a letter from Bloomingdale 's fraud department that states that they found all of the transactions made on XX/XX/XXXX to be fraudulent and that they removed this amount from my account ending XXXX. The problem is that they moved the balance of the fraudulent charges to my second new replacement card acct. ending XXXX and this fraudulent balance remained there until they did their calculations on the statement for XX/XX/XXXX with an ending balance of XXXX. I do not know who added this new balance of {$230.00} back on my account ending XXXX on the XX/XX/XXXX statement payment due on XX/XX/XXXX but it has nothing to do with me and it is their error, Also I have requested my XX/XX/XXXX statement for the third time as of today and Bloomingdale 's has failed to provide this XX/XX/XXXX paper statement to me because I believe that thety are missing a large payment I made on my account in XX/XX/XXXX, Also, in XXXX or XX/XX/XXXX I realized that they were charging me interest on my " promotional purchases with no interest until XX/XX/XXXX of XXXX '' unless I missed a payment which I had not so I called them on it and they researched it and they had to issue me a credit, and I believe they lost a payment I made in XX/XX/XXXX which is why I am asking for my paper statement for XX/XX/XXXX that they have not yet provided me with, I also made a courtesy extra payment of {$14.00} on XX/XX/XXXX just in case they come back later and say they should not have given me a credit of {$13.00} in XX/XX/XXXX for over charging me interest for the second time. This brought my payoff amount to {$570.00} that I have actually paid on my account that they said on XX/XX/XXXX that my payoff amount was only {$560.00} just to cover myself with their errors.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief