Consumer complaint received 2020-06-30
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: VA
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Personal line of credit
Issue: Problem when making payments

Complaint:
" Executive summary '' -- Citibank is making it impossible for me to pay off a trivial balance by refusing to supply an address to which I can send a check, or even a valid phone number where I can receive the information. Instead they are adding late fees and now collections fees. Since this seems somewhat incredible, I am providing the details below. I've been trying for over a month to resolve this. Thanks for any help you can offer. 

Greetings : Despite the fact that I maintain a very good credit rating, Citibank suddenly informed me that they were cutting the overdraft credit line attached to my checking account ( " Checking Plus '' or " CK+ '' ) to the amount then outstanding. 

I've been trying for weeks to get Citibank to supply me with an address to which I may send a check for the remaining balance ( it was approximately {$45.00} or so, but since Citibank has severed my online banking access I can no longer confirm the exact amount. When I look at my credit-card accounts I can still see a CK+ balance now reading {$75.00} but I can no longer call up that account. ) At any rate, I decided to close the checking account, which I was able to do over Citibank 's online chat function since repeated attempts by telephone had failed. When I did so, I transferred my existing checking balance ( {$89.00} ) as a credit to the CK+ credit line and asked the agent ( 'Shahbaj ' XXXX how to pay off any remaining amount. I had already paid {$500.00} on XXXX XXXX, so the remaining balance was trivial. Note : I was able to pay that amount by transferring from my checking acct balance, but that account is now closed so this avenue of payment is no longer available. 

XXXX responded as follows : " You can just give a call to our Custom credit department and it'll be done instantly. Here is the direct number Please contact our One Stop Sales Unit at XXXX '' I asked : " Do you know how exactly payment may be transmitted? '' XXXX responded : " Once you call them they can pull the funds from your other bank account or you can also send a check. Kindly call them and they'll tell you the specific details. '' I called the number directed but none of the menu options pertained to the task. 

So I went through an alternate path and, after repeated attempts, eventually managed to speak with someone. However I was unable to understand his name. 

He instructed me to call " Collections '' as the account " has been terminated and referred to collections '' He told me the number to call is XXXX and he and I both repeated that to make sure I had it correct. He also affirmed that a late charge and collections fee have now been added to the balance. 

When I phoned that number a recording said it's a non-working number. 
I tried several times. 

At this point I'm at a dead end. Citibank is making it literally impossible for me to pay off this trivial debt, to which they are now adding late fees and collection fees. I implore you to do whatever you can to help me. Thank you. 

PS : Not that it matters, but I've been a loyal Citibank customer since 1980, first in New York and then in Washington DC. That's forty years, and I can assure you it counts for nothing with them. 

Naturally, I have also attempted to pay the bill online but Citibank 's site responds with this message when I do : " Account Details and Activity Information is not available for Closed Accounts. ''

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