Consumer complaint received 2018-01-15
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: MI
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: Store credit card
Issue: Fees or interest
Sub-issue: Problem with fees

Complaint:
.I have a credit card with XXXX XXXX which is issued by Citibank . I have been a very long time customer. I made a purchase in XX/XX/XXXX. I did not get a bill from XXXX 's until XX/XX/XXXX. At this time, the statement said the account was overdue and now had a balance of {$350.00}. I went online and checked this out. The store charged me a late fee of {$27.00} and a finance charge of {$5.00} for a bill due in XX/XX/XXXX and then raised their late fee charge to {$37.00} and charged me that for XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX bills along with {$5.00} and {$6.00} finance charges, respectively. 
I wrote a letter to the store and sent payment for {$230.00}, the total amount for the purchases, and I disputed the late fees and finance charges. XXXX 's did not respond. 
In XX/XX/XXXX, I sent a second letter telling them that they had not responded to my first letter, explaining the matter again and also I sent a payment for the first late fee and finance charge stating that I did take a couple of weeks to investigate the matter once I got the first statement. XXXX sent my check back with a letter that stated they would not accept my restrictive endorsement on the face of my check and with no response, whatsoever, to the issues raised in my letters. 
Their telephone calls continue. They begin at about XXXX XXXX and continue til almost XXXX XXXX. They are mostly recordings but I have spoken to a few people. I was directed to call XXXX. 
I made this call, it took my several times to get through, but I spoke to XXXX on XXXX. She told me that my first two statements were e-statements and that is why I did not get them. I told her that I never agreed to this and she said it just happens periodically. I am not of the email obsessed generation and I have thousands of unread emails. I do not receive any statements through email. 
She acknowledge almost everything that I have in my file. She said she did not show the first letter in XX/XX/XXXX and may have a reference to the second letter by an " and '' comment under my account. She claims that there is now {$240.00} owed in late fees and finance charges. She offered to " settle '' with me for about half that amount. The company will not address the fact that I did not get statements after the purchases. Instead they fail to respond to my letters and my comments on the phone and let the amounts just pile on. If they had responded immediately this would not have been an issue. 
I talked to a second, very foreign sounding person, who claimed to be XXXX also on that date. She was an Acceleration Specialist. She, too, did not want to talk about the problem. She told me that statements are a " courtesy '' and that we have no right to get them and I should have sent in payment money without a statement. She also said it was not " bank error ''. and that I had to pay all the fees. They did credit some back. For instance in XX/XX/XXXX they credited back a {$37.00} late fee and charged a {$38.00} late fee. Last month they credited back two late fees and added another. 
XXXX/Citibank had no interest in acting expediously in this matter ( back in XX/XX/XXXX ) because by failing to respond they racked up a great deal of fees and interest on an account where the purchases had already been fully paid for. They refuse to look at the matter in terms of who is right and wrong. 
My Problems are these : 1. I did not get at least two statements for my {$230.00} purchases. I have always gotten a statement from XXXX XXXX and paid from that statement. This was our general business dealings that have occurred over more than 30 years. They have lead me to rely on those statement from which to send in my payments. 
2. I never agreed to e-statements. I have also checked my email and I never got e-statements.

3. They raised the late fee on this account two times after the matter. It went from {$27.00}, to {$37.00}, to {$38.00}. It would seem the late fee should have been set out before the account became delinquent, in their opinion, and they should not be allowed to raise it, as they please, every month or two as the matter goes on. I should have been notified of any increase in such charges ahead of time.

4. Their telephone calls amount to harassment. We receive at lease ten or more phone calls per day beginning very early in the morning.

5. They have negatively reported this matter to credit reporting agencies.

6. They closed my 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