Consumer complaint received 2023-05-07
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NM
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Improper use of your report
Sub-issue: Reporting company used your report improperly

Complaint:
I rarely use my credit to apply for things. I thought I would test the waters when I thought my reports looked okay. I decided to buy a new futon in XXXX, XXXX. I thought I would try to get a credit line increase with my Citibank MasterCard. I called expecting to talk to a human. I never spoke to a human. The voice activated computer took the calls for credit line increases and said they could make the decision without making hard pull inquiries on my credit report. I gave the info requested. A moment later the recording denied the request. I was very upset. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I thought I would look into buying a futon I saw online from Wayfair using a lay away plan or explore some other option like that. Again, I rarely use my credit and didn't know what sort of options there were. I called Wayfair and told the phone clerk this. She surprised me. Without telling me where she was transferring the call, someone from Citibank answered the phone. I thought " Oh no! " The man who took the call had a bad attitude : he didn't know/he didn't care. I told him what I was trying to accomplish to buy a new futon from Wayfair : Lay Away or some other plan. Would he please explain my options? He didn't explain much just that I had to give my information before he could tell me what my options were - AND HE LIED. 
He put me on hold and came back moments later and said my request had been denied. I said for what? He said for the line of credit. I told him I thought he was going to tell me what my choices were before doing anything at all. He said this would be a Hard Pull Inquiry on my credit report. I was really upset. I asked why my application was denied. He said there was a consumer statement that said there was a security freeze on my report and not to grant credit unless first calling me at my number, and he said he had been trying to call me but no one answered the phone. This was a total lie. I was waiting on hold for him to come back online and was using the phone with the phone number XXXX XXXX XXXX I have been using since the year XXXX. No one tried to call me while he had me on hold. 

I was very upset. I called everyone I could think of at Citibank that day to complain and ask them to avoid putting the hard pull inquiry from that botched up conversation on my Credit Report. I spoke to a lady in Citibank banking department who was very familiar with Letters of Deletion to remove wrongfully placed XXXX Pull Inquiries from people 's credit reports. While she had me on hold, she filled out the form and the letter and said she would forward them to another department who would finalize things, and thought the inquiry would be removed pretty soon A few days later I checked my report. Unfortunately, there it was! : the Hard Pull XXXX from Citibank on my XXXX report dated XX/XX/XXXX. The Hard Pull XXXX said Citibank- not Wayfair. I filed a Complaint for XXXX with the XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. 

I received a phone call from XXXX from Citibank in South Dakota on XX/XX/XXXX. She said she was forwarding the file to XXXX, and told me to expect a call from XXXX soon. XXXX to XXXX days later XXXX called XXXX explained the Citibank Hard Pull Inquiry on XX/XX/XXXX was from the Wayfair credit application, and did not have anything to do with the credit line increase request on Citibank XXXX in XXXX, XXXX - as was discussed in my first complaint filed with XXXX. I told XXXX what happened with the man who answered the phone for Citibank who had a bad attitude, and was supposed to explain what he had to offer before pulling my credit. 
His reasoning for turning down my credit application was based on a sloppy attitude ; and this was unfair to me for him to put that Hard Pull Inquiry on my Credit Bureau XXXX because there were no calls waiting for me to answer while I was waiting on the phone for him. XXXX said she had to look into things, and said she would call again. 

When she called, XXXX said that the story the man gave was false- and explained that the XXXX middle numbers he wrote down from my Social Security XXXX we're wrong and he pulled someone else 's credit file. She told me she would look into things, and call again. 

She called the next day and decided not to honor mentioning fraud having been committed by this man at Citibank on XX/XX/XXXX for having recorded the XXXX middle numbers of my Social Security XXXX incorrectly. She decided to be " old school '' and hard nosed - even though during XXXX of our phone calls I told her I had just been through a nightmare when I bought my car and trying to have all incorrect hard pull inquiries removed from my credit reports ; and how I didn't have to go to the car dealers for them to submit Letters of Deletion ; and that all ll I had to do was talk to live agents at the credit bureaus - and they removed the hard pull inquiries while I was on the phone with them ; and that this was all done with all three Credit Bureaus in XXXX afternoon I also told XXXX what the lady at Citibank said on XX/XX/XXXX after the awful experience with that man at Citibank. The lady said, " Dont be fooled, because all banks and creditors know about Letters of Deletion, and have them on hand ; and, Letters of Deletion are easy to complete and submit. '' In spite of this, and in spite of XXXX confessing to the fraudulent situation that occurred on XX/XX/XXXX ( XXXX middle numbers of numbers of my Social Security XXXX recorded incorrectly by that man and his decision to deny me credit for the futon ) XXXX decided to be a jerk and not remove the Hard Pull Inquiry Citibank placed on my XXXX Credit Report due to this man 's sloppy work- and XXXX is an example of an old school XXXX.

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 explanation