Consumer complaint received 2018-08-17
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: Store credit card
Issue: Closing your account
Sub-issue: Can't close your account

Complaint:
I opened a credit card with Citi bank back in XXXX. The card was rarely used and it was the only card that I opened with Citi. Until XX/XX/XXXX, after somebody stole my identity, I contacted Citi to close my credit card to mitigate the damage. Citi assigned a fraud specialist to my account. After about a month of investigating, I was able to closed my credit card. I received a letter from Citi confirming my account was closed. I also called in the XXXX customer service line to confirm that my account was completely closed. After that, I no longer receive any other correspondence from Citi. 

Recently, I started to get emails from Citi regarding my credit card account. Each day, I receive an email for a different account ending number. The first one was received on Wednesday, XX/XX/XXXX, regarding an account that I don't remember associated with. The email indicated the following : " Your account has been closed due to a lost or stolen card. As requested by you or an authorized user, we closed your account. We're setting up a new account, and once approved, we'll send you a new card ( s ) with a different number. '' Being a fraud victim, I get nervous whenever I receive a notification about an unauthorized credit card account. Hence, I contacted Citi right away to inform the bank that I did not call in to get a replacement card and requested Citi to close the card for me. After spending half an hour with the customer service representative, I was told that there was a second card that was opened under my name, which I was not aware off. I was transferred to a fraud specialist. After spending another half hour with the fraud specialist going through the same verification process and giving the same explanation, the fraud specialist indicated that she'll closed out the second card and will send me an email confirmation within the next 24 hours. 

I did not receive any email confirming the closure from Citi. On Thursday 's evening, I received another email from Citi regarding an online activity for another credit card. I contacted Citi again to explain my situation. The representative was clueless about what had happened. It appears that the bank do not keep good records of their customers ' calls. I had to spend another half hour on the phone with the representative to through the same verification process and repeated my explanation to the representative. Afterward, the representative indicated that the previous credit card account was not closed properly. Instead of closing out the card completely, the system automatically generated another replacement card without my consent. I was assured that this third credit card will be closed and I should received a confirmation from Citi within 5-7 business days. The representative also confirmed with me that I do not have any other credit card floating around with Citi. 

However, the next day ( Friday ), I received another email from Citi for another credit card. It looks like this card also has an annual fee associated with it. Again, I also did not apply for this card. The card with an annual fee was opened without my consent.

I am tired of having to contact Citi everyday to close out credit card that I did not even open in the first place. Every time I call in to close one card, the next day another card would open under my name. Citi makes it so difficult for me to close out a card that was opened without my consent. Over the past few days, the bank has put me under a lot of stress and anxiety to close out my account. It is strange that the bank still able to issue a new card for me when I already froze my credit file. It is also stressful to know that the unauthorized card that I don't even know of also has an annual fee that I might be liable of.

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