Consumer complaint received 2023-02-05
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: MO
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem when making payments
Sub-issue: Problem during payment process

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I obtained a Citi XXXX XXXX for {$7200.00} via my Citibank credit card at an interest rate of 6.99 % for 24 months. I continued to use my Citibank credit card for occasional purchases at a promotional/deferred interest rate of 0 % until XX/XX/XXXX. 


Since then, when making my monthly payment via the Citi website or the Citi XXXX application, I am given several payment options. One of these options is Adjusted New Balance + Flex Plan Monthly Payment ( hereafter abbreviated as XXXX ). The Citi website payment page describes this payment option as follows : This includes your monthly XXXX XXXX Payment Amount and the non-XXXX XXXX  portion of your last statement balance. It does not include XXXX XXXX payments due in future months. 

While I am certain I made my monthly payments in XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX using the XXXX option, I will instead focus my complaint on the XXXX payment I made in XX/XX/XXXX, because I have the screenshots to prove it. I knew something was wrong with my purchase balance once I received my statement during XX/XX/XXXX. I contacted Citi customer service via phone and online chat. I spoke to XXXX and XXXX via online chat on XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX not only shut down my chat without resolving my issue, but she insisted that I would not be able to pay my purchase balance unless its interest rate increased beyond the 6.99 % of my flex loan or unless I paid my flex loan in full first, regardless of where Citi says it will allocate my XXXX payments. To this I said ( Im paraphrasing as I no longer have the chat record ) so whats the point of making an XXXX payment if it isnt going to pay my purchase/non-loan balance in full, plus my loan payment, like the payment portal says it will? She refused to answer and, instead, exited the chat. 

Later that day, I spoke to XXXX. I asked her if my purchase/non-loan balance would return to {$0.00} and if my entire balance would consist of my flex loan so long as I made a full XXXX payment for XXXX, XXXX, in the amount of {$700.00}. She affirmed that yes, making that {$700.00} payment ( instead of my {$350.00} minimum payment ) would return my purchase balance to {$0.00} so long as I utilized the XXXX payment button and did not type in {$700.00} as a custom payment. I followed XXXX instructions to no avail. Before making my {$700.00} XXXX payment moments after talking to XXXX, on XX/XX/XXXX, my purchase balance was {$370.00}. Now, instead of {$0.00}, its {$340.00} on my XX/XX/XXXX statement. 
This is unacceptable. To be clear, it is especially problematic because my 0 % promotional XXXX expires in a few weeks and this inaccurate purchase balance, which should be {$0.00}, will begin accruing interest and I believe I would also owe all of the deferred interest from the previous year. 

I spoke to another citi representative on XX/XX/XXXX, the day I received my XX/XX/XXXX statement, who explained that Citis payment portals are giving meand all Citi customersinaccurate information. Sure, she said, the payment portals tell me my purchase balance will be paid in full if I use the XXXX button, but this is only accurate if my purchase APR is higher than my flex loan or any other credit products I may utilize on the card. Regardless of what the payment portals tell me, she said, my account will be paid off balance-by-balance in interest rate order, with the highest rates first. The Citi payment portals will not tell me the truth about how my payments will be allocated, she stated, if my purchase APR is lower than my loan APR ( which it is ). She explained precisely how I was swindled by Citi into making at least one loan payment ( and I believe, actually three loan payments ) for nearly double what I owed Citi under the false premise of paying off my purchase balance and paying my monthly loan payment concurrently. 

I then spoke to yet another citi representative, XXXX, via chat on XX/XX/XXXX. I asked him how I could possibly pay off my purchase balance if its APR was lower than my loan balance, without paying the loan in full first. Logically, he suggested I utilize the XXXX payment option. This absolutely should be the answer, and according to the Citi payment portals and all of these customer service representatives, it is the answer. When I entrusted Citi with my {$700.00} XXXX payment, I expected them to honor their word, that my payment would pay [ My ] monthly XXXX XXXX  Payment Amount and the non-XXXX XXXX portion of [ my ] last statement balance, precisely as Citi stated it would via its customer service representatives, its app payment portal, and its website payment portal. But they didnt. My lived experience proves it ; I'm almost certain this happened 3x now, though I can only prove it happened this once. This is a problem. 
Providing consumers like myself with false payment allocation information is unacceptable.

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 non-monetary relief