Consumer complaint received 2021-12-22
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: MD
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Getting a credit card
Sub-issue: Sent card you never applied for

Complaint:
My husband and I have had a Citicard since XXXX. Have autopay on all my bills & credit cards. I paid the Citicard balance in full in XXXX, XXXX. 
Citicard closed my account without my knowledge. Citicard issued me a new credit card without my consent or knowledge and also REMOVED MY AUTOPAY INFO. Citicard charged me a {$99.00} fee for this new card. I never activated this new card an did not realize it was a new account number. I receive paper statements from Citicard but only occasionally read them since I have autopay set up. Saw the {$99.00} charge on a paper statement that had in red letters " account XXXX months overdue ''. Impossible, I think, since I have always had autopay set up since XXXX. 
I immediately called Citicard and spoke with person XXXX  who said she was only there as a collection agent. She told me Citicard had reported a delinquent payment to the credit bureaus ( for the 1st time in my entire life ) a late payment ( which was not a debt ; rather, an advance Citicard yearly fee ). I tried to log into my account but saw it had been closed. I saw online a different account number, different from the one on my Citicards but matching the paper statement. I created a new account using the account number listed online, and resubmitted all my Autopay data to pay the {$99.00} fee. 
I called customer service and asked that Citicard contact credit reporting bureaus and correct the misinformation they report of a late payment on a balance consisting of their $ XXXX  yearly fee, since not only did I did not authorize a new account or card and was unaware of any delinquency, but I also never activated this new card. They should have closed my account, not issued me a new card, and not tried to collect on a fee for an unauthorized and unactivated card. I haven't used the Citicard for years. 
Citicard customer service 2nd person XXXX  said that Citicard should have called me but nobody called me or if they did, it was a robocall and I have XXXX activated due to a spam problems. These people answering customer service phones have no authority to do anything. This 2nd XXXX  person contacted his " supervisor '' who told him that I never set up AUTOPAY. When I objected, he said the last payment you made was via a personal check. Yes, I said. XXXX XXXX XXXX told me that I had a daily and weekly limit on the amount that they would approve going through my checking account debit/credit card. I was advised to pay off larger debts via check. So I did. I explained this was why the last payment was via check. In XXXX, XXXX, my account was paid off, the balance was {$0.00}, and I had AUTOPAY in place in case I used the card in the future or my husband did. 
But that did not happen. Instead, Citibank removed my AUTOPAY data without my knowledge and closed my credit card account, then issued a new card and new account ( when the old one was still good and not close to expiration ), without AUTOPAY set up, then charged me a fee of {$99.00} for the entire year ( I may have already paid this fee on the previous card ), then treated this fee on an unactivated, unauthorized card as a debt to them and reported it as a delinquent debt to the credit reporting agencies. Why did Citicard remove my AUTOPAY data? 
I am wondering when I last paid Citicard 's {$99.00} fee. I am beyond disgusted. I have only helpless people who I can barely understand over the phone attending to customers. I have no recourse. Please advise.

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