Consumer complaint received 2019-11-25
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NC
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Trouble using your card
Sub-issue: Can't use card to make purchases

Complaint:
I have called several times, even spoken to a manager to try to clear this matter up and am not able to resolve it. 

Citi is claiming there is fraudulent activity on my account, at which they are requesting that I call in to resolve it. I have spoken to about five or six of their representatives, trying to resolve it. They are determining that it is inconclusive, and they are unable to move any further by phone. 

At this particular time, they have " frozen '' my spending. There is a statement on my page that will not print out that tells me charges to my account may be limited. When I try to print it, it does not show on that page because of the formatting that they have used on their web site. 

I have not received any correspondence from them in over a month. I am writing to them today to request that they close my account and apply the balance toward what I owe, because I am not able to use the account. 

For some reason, I made a payment on the XXXX of XXXX and that payment has been cancelled. 

Every time I have tried to contact Citi, they give some reason or another as to why we can not resolve the matter. I have asked them what do I need to do to resolve it, but they are unable to provide a resolution. 

The problem is that I have changed my phone number. My address is still the same, but I have been staying with my sister temporarily off-and-on since her mild XXXX in XXXX. I refuse to change my address to hers, even though I have noticed that my creditors have done so against my will. I told them to keep it as my temporary address, before advising others not to change it at all. I am back and forth between her house and my mailing address listed on this account. 

My problem is with their fraud department. They are unable to give me a solid reason why my account is tagged for fraud. They have failed to send me notification stating steps to verify my information, and to notify me of any results from an " investigation '' that they are having or holding on my account. I have been unable to use my account since XXXX. 

The last time I called before my account was " flagged '', I was trying to make a payment by phone. My phone number had changed, and I verified my information. Something XXXX me off and I hung up the phone ( I believe they asked me to enter my full credit card number ), which is usually unusual when you verify the information. When I called back, they did the same thing - at which I explained that I was driving. Almost every time I called, I was driving. I was not about to risk getting into a wreck to get a credit card out, but was willing to verify all of my other information. 

Same scenario, repeatedly. I was trying to make a payment, and when I decided not to on that phone call and hung up, it was only then that I mysteriously received information saying my account had been flagged. Prior to this, the only charges that had been made on the account were to make my XXXX XXXX payments, so there are no indications of fraud on this account. 

Now that my account has been flagged, I would like my money back. This is a secured card, where I invested my money with Citi and they have locked me from using the card. I have made 2 payments since then, and now, like once before, for some reason, one of my payments didn't go through. 

Not only that, my account disappeared from their system for a little over 48 hours that I had used prior on the account. They could not process a payment on this account, so I had to use my debit card tied to this account. I have no idea why they could not use this account. However, it appears that the same thing has been going on, because a recent payment that I made has been cancelled. I am not sure why this time, but they have accessed a late fee on my account. 

At this point, I am tired of Citi. I had a good relationship with them when I was in college, and they were called Citibank or Citigroup before they branched off into Citi. 

My secured account is set to mature in XXXX ; however, I just want my money back. I want them to take the money that I owe them and pay off my account, and say that it is paid, and closed at customer request. This is too much headache to go through for a secured credit card. 

If they have rules surrounding verification of my account, and new phone numbers, they should have just tried to issue a refund of my monies ... and let my account go ... 

I will pay the balance of {$7.00}, once they issue a credit to my card. But I am done with Citi ... I will never bank with them by myriad of choice again.

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