Consumer complaint received 2022-11-11
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: DC
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:
I made a payment on XX/XX/XXXX of {$1000.00} towards a credit card bill from Citi Bank. This payment cleared my bank account ; however, the credit was not posted to my Citi Bank credit card account. I called to check why, because it should be immediately available or at the latest 3 days. I was informed on the phone that the payment was under review, even though it was coming from an account with my name on it, and the payment would not be able to be made available until XX/XX/XXXX. That is an extremely long time for a payment to clear. They said I could call my bank where the funds were sent from to verify they cleared. I agreed to do this, and the funds were verified, and Citi Bank removed the hold/review and credited me the {$1000.00} ( XX/XX/XXXX ). I understand this happened because of the reasons they provided then, which were because the account was new and it was a large payment. I think this is rediculous but I thanked them and went on with my day. 

Today, XX/XX/XXXX, The exact same thing happened with my recent payment of {$1400.00} on XX/XX/XXXX, and it cleared my bank on XX/XX/XXXX. This was from the exact same checking account to the exact same credit card I have with Citi bank. They flagged the payment again, citing the same reason. This time I asked to speak to a supervisor when I informed them of my issue because, at this point, there was some discrimination that had to be the basis of this. The first agent I spoke to would not allow me to speak to a supervisor after going backward and forward with him, asking XXXX times to speak to a supervisor. She informed me that the payment was under review and would not be released until XX/XX/XXXX after the review. The same thing happened with the second agent, but this time after asking XXXX times, he mentioned if I would like to just speak to someone in the XXXX. I said yes. I finally get to speak to a regular agent in the XXXX and informed her that she would not be able to help me in the way I needed to be helped. So I asked her for a supervisor, and she immediately connected me with XXXX. I explained both situations and the horrendous experience with the first XXXX representatives in another country. The supervisor provided me with the same reason as before as to why the payment was flagged. I asked if I could get some documentation regarding the reason why this keeps happening, and she insisted she couldn't and that she would only be able to send a confirmation email. We proceeded to call my bank where the payment came from, the bank verified it again, and she credited my account. 

I really think that Citi Bank is racially profiling me, in addition to discriminating against my previous credit history. There are probably other discriminatory reasons as well, but this has to stop. Every payment I make to pay my balance off each month should not be flagged as me fraudulently making payments from my own checking account.

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