Consumer complaint received 2022-02-09
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Fees or interest
Sub-issue: Charged too much interest

Complaint:
I have a balance transfer on my Citi XXXX that is currently on a 0 % APR promotion until XX/XX/XXXX. I made {$9200.00} in purchases during the month of XXXX and paid {$9200.00}. Each payment was made after one of the charges. Additionally, I had a 1.99 % deferred interest offer for all purchases until XX/XX/XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, my Citi XXXX statement posted. There was {$32.00} in interest from the purchases made during the month of XXXX. However, because I paid off these purchases immediately after making them in XXXX, there should be {$0.00} in interest, as the payments should be, per Regulation Z and Citi 's own Terms and Conditions, " applied to [ my ] highest rate balance first '' ( DoubleCash T & C, Pg. 3 ). 

On XX/XX/XXXX, at XXXX XXXX XXXX, I called the number on the back of my card, XXXX, from my phone at XXXX. 

After requesting a supervisor, the advisor placed me on hold for about 2 minutes. After coming back on the line, she stated that " she was still waiting for an available supervisor but ... '' and then proceeded to stop talking. I could still hear background noise, but she pretended that she was no longer on the line in an attempt to get me to hang up. The advisor hung up at XXXX XXXX 

I called back at XXXX XXXX XXXX. I was told by the agent that my payment was made before the purchase, which is why the interest was applied. This is incorrect. I asked for a supervisor. At XXXX XXXX XXXX the agent told me that the supervisor had no option to rectify it as, while the payment was made after the purchase, the purchase had not posted at the time of payment. 

I explained that this was not relevant, as I made the payment after the purchase, so under the CARD Act of XXXX, Citi was legally required to, at statement closing, apply it to the highest APR on the account, which would be the purchase that I had just made. The representative then stated that the Terms and Conditions explicitly mentioned that they would only apply payments to posted balances. 

I explained that this was both not in the Terms and Conditions and contrary to the 12 CFR Part 1026 ( Regulation Z ), issued per the CARD Act of XXXX. Citi can not charge me interest by, without my knowledge or consent, and contrary to what a reasonable person would believe, applying my payment to a lower APR balance. 

I asked the agent to tell me where exactly in the Terms and Conditions I could find the text that he claimed was there. The agent said to hold on while he found the relevant part of the Terms and Conditions. The agent hung up at XXXX XXXX XXXX 


Legal Facts : ( 1 ) Under 12 CFR Part 1026 ( Regulation Z ), issued in pursuance to the CARD Act of XXXX, payment allocation must be, in the preceding two billing cycles to the end of a deferred interest balance, applied to the deferred interest balance. As I had a 1.99 % deferred interest offer that ended XX/XX/XXXX, Citi was required by the CARD Act of XXXX to apply my payments to this offer ; ( 2 ) Notwithstanding the above, Citi is required to apply all excess payment to the highest interest APR balance first ; ( 3 ) The 1.99 % APR deferred interest offer on purchases ended on XX/XX/XXXX ; ( 4 ) All purchases in question were made before XX/XX/XXXX ; ( 5 ) All payments were made after the respective purchases but before XX/XX/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 monetary relief