Consumer complaint received 2023-01-19
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: DC
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Getting a credit card
Sub-issue: Application denied

Complaint:
I have applied to a XXXX XXXX store credit card for my business XXXX XXXX and I am the sole owner of the company with only XXXX employee, myself. I have a construction business and products offered at XXXX XXXX are what my business mostly requires. After applying on : On XX/XX/2022, I have received an email from Citibank which is the company that manages the XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Credit Card account that says they were not able to approve my request for a new account. Letter says the decision was based on a previous relationship and their decision to terminate it. The account I have had with Citibank was closed by me and it was not a Citibank decision. This was a red flag then I called Citibank and inquired, their customer service team was not helpful but they gave me an address to physically write a letter to. I wrote a letter and mailed it. 

On XX/XX/2022, Citibank responded with the attached letter " We have determined that an incorrect letter was issued to you dated XX/XX/2022. We have attached the correct letter that should have been issued to you, dated XX/XX/2022, for your review and records. '' In addition they claimed that I am on a Department of Treasury list of " Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List '' or another list administered by the US Department of the Treasury ( attached ). I inquired with the Department of Treasury ( DOT ) and they proceeded with a letter saying I am not in any of the DOT 's lists ( Attached ) I forwarded this letter to Citibank as well and I responded to their letter explaining that there must be a mistake after providing evidence from Department of Treasury. Since the correspondence from the XXXX of XXXX until the XXXX of XXXX, I have not heard from CItibank even though they said they would get back to me within XXXX  days and I am a high priority. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX they responded with a letter " Based on our prior experience with your previous Citi Savings Plus account ending in XXXX, we determined that we can no longer offer you financial service products. Therefore, we must reinforce our decision to decline your recent application for a The Home Depot Commercial Revolving Charge Card account. '' Clearly there is a major disconnect between the reality and how they choose to deny a past customer with a good relationship with Citibank due to a serious credit discrimination. This impacts me in terms of not being able to get the publicly advertised XXXX XXXX Credit Card and I do not find this to be the right thing to do. While I have many options of applying to many other financial institutions, I do not think this is the right sort of treatment to any persons from a financial institution. Therefore I am contacting your organization to search and protect my rights. Citibank had denied me for a checking account in the past without explanation, this was suspicious but I decided to not pursue. Whereas this time, I do not think it is a coincidence and I have started asking questions. Please kindly let me know what your findings are and whether this is a pattern of discrimination by this financial institution.

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