Consumer complaint received 2019-11-23
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card debt
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action
Sub-issue: Threatened to sue you for very old debt

Complaint:
To Whom It May Concern Hello. I received a legal summons on Sunday XX/XX/XXXX and am writing a letter to request help as I really do not know what to do and I can not afford to pay for a lawyer. In addition, I feel that I am being unfairly sued. According to XXXX XXXX I, XXXX ( as assignee of Citibank ), I owe the creditor {$1300.00}. I feel that this so-called " debt '' is being requested in an unrighteous manner, and after doing a bit of research online, I seek to formally deny this complaint based upon the following reasons : 1. Statute of Limitations for California : Too much time has passed from the time that this money was credited thus the creditor has no right to the money anymore. According to California law, there is a statute of limitations of four years for all debts except those made with oral contracts. This means that for unsecured common debts like credit card debt, lenders can not attempt to collect debts that are more than four years past due. I have saved files from Citibank that go back as far as XXXX and the very last payment that I have records of according to my bank statement was made in XXXX of XXXX for {$2800.00}. Thus, I no longer owe this creditor any money. 

2. The debt has been sold to too many collection agencies thus I no longer owe this money to Citibank that was the original creditor with which I entered into a contract several years ago. I have a general habit of saving all my paperwork over several years and the information that I found is as follows : I received the first letter from collection agency, XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX a collection agency in XXXX, Ohio on XX/XX/XXXX offering a debt settlement. I then received a second letter from a different collection agency, XXXX XXXX I, XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX indicating that they were now the creditor for the account and that I owed XXXX.. Next, the third letter I received was again from XXXX, XXXX XXXX  XXXX , offering a settlement of {$570.00}. ( This by the way seems unlawful to me because there were two collection agencies that Citibank apparently had sold the debt to requesting different amounts of money ). Then on XX/XX/XXXX, I received a fourth letter from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX, IL expressing an outstanding account with their organization and that they were willing to accept {$420.00} in one payment. I then received a fifth letter on XX/XX/XXXX from XXXX XXXX XXXX informing me that I owed a debt of {$1300.00}. The next letter ( the sixth ) I received again from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX showing that I had an outstanding Citi Mastercard account with various payment options. The seventh letter I received was from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX, CA offering various settlements for the balance of {$1100.00}. I received an eighth letter on XX/XX/XXXX again from XXXX XXXX XXXX asking for total due of {$1300.00}. Lastly, I received a ninth letter on XX/XX/XXXX from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX also requesting a payment. This original debt has just been in the hands of too many collection agencies and I do not believe that I owe Citibank any longer especially since the credit limit of the original account was {$1100.00} and although I made regular payments several years ago, the full balance that is being unfairly requested is over {$1300.00}. It just does not make sense. 

3. I made a good faith attempt to pay the apparent debt / balance on several occasions. For instance, when I originally opened an account with Citibank in XXXX, I made regular payments in a timely manner. More recently, XXXX XXXX XXXX requested money from me and without questioning the matter, I just gave them the bank information they requested, planning to make regular small payments ( which I really could not afford as it would cause me hardship due to my XXXX and lack of income ). 
However, I received a letter from this institution informing me that the wrong account information was given to them and that they could no longer accept any check payments from me. I immediately called this company back to resolve the issue. I had in fact given them the correct account information ( perhaps it was missing three XXXX  in the beginning ) but my account number was correct as that is the one I always use when I access funds with my local bank XXXX  XXXX XXXX. Yet, although I explained the simple error and nicely asked if they could work with me and still accept monthly payments via check, they refused to offer me another chance to conveniently pay with my checks and only would accept money orders or cashier 's checks. It was really surprising to me since I was cooperating with them and was willing to pay this balance that they claimed I owed. 

4. I am a XXXX and unemployed graduate student whose sole source of income has been from the Social Security Administration ( Disability ) and educational loans & grants for the past several years. I can not afford to pay this amount of money as it would put me at a serious disadvantage financially to a point where my health and well-being will be at great stake. When I made larger sum payments to Citibank several years ago ( for {$2800.00} - the most recent payment which was in XXXX of XXXX ), I was actually using money I received from student loans. I just could not do this anymore so I allowed my credit cards to all charge off. 

5. Misrepresentations about the debt ( including the amount owed ) : I originally entered into a contract with Citibank and since they sold my debt to several other creditors, I no longer owe Citibank any money. I have a copy of the application approval letter that I originally received from Citibank, dated back to XXXX. I let the cards charge off sometime in XXXX and it is now almost XXXX. 

6. Unauthorized withdrawals to my checking account : A company ( I'm not sure which one specifically ) kept withdrawing money from my bank account on a monthly basis ( I think it was {$36.00} ) without my authorization. Moreover, the e-check that was fraudulently written by me had no corresponding name associated with it so I had no idea whom to contact to dispute this. I filed a complaint with my bank and finally this company ( whichever one it was ) was unable to withdraw money from my account any longer. The summons claims that my last payment to " the creditor '' was on XX/XX/XXXX. However, I obtained a copy of my bank statement from that month and there was no name " Citibank '' on any of the checks that were withdrawn. There was a mysterious charge of {$36.00} ( on XX/XX/XXXX ) from which company of which I am not aware. 

But in terms of an AUTHORIZED withdrawal from my checking account, the last that I have record of with the corresponding name " Citibank '' was ( again ) back in XXXX of XXXX. I have copies of my bank statement to prove this. 
I genuinely need help with this lawsuit as I am unfortunately very foreign to this whole process ( Ive never been sued before ). I have records showing regular payments that were made to Citibank several years ago. They were also consistent and timely. I unfortunately had to let most of my credit cards charge off because I was drowning in debt and being someone who has a variety of medical issues including medical expenses, this is a very scary reality. I really would rather not file bankruptcy over something around the price of {$1000.00}. It just does not seem logical to me. I sincerely hope that someone will be able to assist me with this legal matter involving debts or balances that I believe I no longer owe. Thank you kindly for your time. 

Sincerely, XXXX XXXX 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 explanation