Consumer complaint received 2018-05-11
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: OH
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Credit monitoring or identity theft protection services
Sub-issue: Billing dispute for services

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2017, my neighbor accidentally set my house on fire. I was in 5 different temporary housing situations in only 7 months then finally bought a new house. Once I had the house I began the process of buying things to replace those which had been lost or damaged. During this time I was making all kinds of purchases in order to replace everything from bedroom and living room to silverware. I was putting all of my purchases on my XXXX so that I could keep track of everything in one place. 
When I went to purchase my item at Best Buy the guy asked me if I had an account. I mentioned the fire and told him I didnt have the card anymore and would be using the XXXX. He said he could look up the card and change my address. I said okay. He then tried to convince to use the card because I could pay on time. I said it wouldnt matter one way or the other since I would be paying it all off at once. My intention was to continue paying with the XXXX, he apparently put it on my Best Buy card. 
In XXXX I started receiving calls that were going straight to Spam on my phone, because the phone usually rang while I was at work and occupied I just ignored them. Finally on my day off I got one of these calls and decided to answer it and tell them to stop calling. Thats when I got the lady from City Bank  stating my Best Buy card was past due. I asked for what and she came back and said it was the purchase I made in XX/XX/XXXX, I told her it was paid in full, but she said no and that it was on the card. 
I tried working with CitiBank, I figured this was just a big misunderstanding. I explained to them that I never received any statements or emails from them. When I asked them about this they said it was because I needed to inform them of my address change. I explained that 1. I didnt even know I had anything on the account, I had a lot of other things to concern myself with and notifying companies I didnt think I had any current interaction with, wasnt exactly first thing on my mind. 2. I had informed Best Buy of my address change. They said that didnt matter I hadnt informed them.

After additional discussion I found out they had received a notice from the post office that I no longer lived at that address, but did nothing to locate me. Okay I get that, not easy to find someone. But then I asked why they didnt try to email me to alert me to the problem. My email had not changed. They said they didnt have to. I then explained why I had ignored their messages and asked why they didnt at least leave a message asking me to contact them or to review my Best Buy account or something. They said they didnt have to, and it was a matter of privacy. I asked that, due to the extenuating circumstances, they remove the late charges and alert the credit bureaus with a correction, and they refused. I paid off what I owed on the bill, and offered to pay one late payment. They refused.

Prior to this incident my credit rating had been consistently over 800 for several years. I dont think its right that my credit rating be degraded due to a condition which I had little to no control over and as soon as I was made aware of the issue I made complete restitution for the amount owed plus one late payment.

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