Consumer complaint received 2020-07-02
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: MN
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Problem with customer service

Complaint:
I received an email letter from Citibank/Citicards on XX/XX/XXXX indicating my credit limit is reduced from {$12000.00} to {$4000.00}. The letter said two reasons were because my credit utilization is too high, and my payments were too low. 
I immediately called customer service to explain my financial situation and ask for explanation about why they suddenly reduced my limit by 67 %. If it went from XXXX to XXXX I could better understand. My current balance at the time they cut my limit was approximately {$3400.00} ( 28 % of credit limit ). I've been working hard to get the balance below 30 % of limit to help restore my credit score. I've never missed a payment. I've never been late. I've never been close to the credit limit. I did have a balance around $ XXXX earlier this year, but paid over $ XXXX in the last 2 billing cycles to get balance to where it is today. So the " payments too low '' comment doesn't make sense to me. The couple months before that I did make the minimum payments required, but didn't pay extra because of all the uncertainty with the pandemic and economic outlook. Financial advisors were suggesting to keep as much cash on hand as possible and there was a lot of unknowns throughout the world. I can't imagine I'm the only person who paid a lower than normal payment on my credit cards in the earlier part of the year. It's also pretty typical for me to have higher credit card balances every year, year after year, in the beginning of the calendar year. I'm a real estate agent and the slow season for my business is usually XXXX, then XXXX is my busy season and my credit history will show a pattern of much higher payments on my debt during summer and fall months. So the combination of my income fluctuation based on season, and the added concerns about pandemic situation, are what caused me to make smaller payments a few months back. I've tried to work very hard at being responsible with my credit and credit score because I learned the hard way many years ago and it took me a long time to rebuild credit and a good score. I also just paid off my car in XXXX so that got rid of an $ XXXX/month payment which I thought would only help my credit score and credit situation. I've already paid over $ XXXX towards credit balances due in XXXX. I paid {$8800.00} towards credit balances in XXXX. I paid {$16000.00} towards credit balances in XXXX. I did, however, only pay about $ XXXX {$3000.00} towards balances in the months of XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX. That was due to the reasons I mentioned, and is not atypical for me in any given year. I've been proud of myself for not requesting any government assistance, credit assistance, mortgage forbearance, or any other financial help. I have a plan to pay balances down, I've been working hard to improve my situation, and I feel treated very unfairly by Citibank and their customer service. The one person I talked to when I called today said they couldn't give any explanation beyond what was in the letter, and told me there was nobody else I could talk to about changing anything, and that their decision was final. I tried to explain the above regarding my situation, etc. And I explained it wasn't anything out of the ordinary for me. I had some high credit balances when they issued me this card in XXXX with a {$12000.00} limit and it wasn't an issue for Citibank at that time. My current balance of {$3400.00} was using 28 % of my available credit, which I've been working towards getting all my balances below the 30 % utilization rate. Now with the drastically decreased limit to {$4000.00} - this account will report that I'm now using 85 % of my available credit. It seems very unfair considering I have zero derogatory credit history, and zero late payments across the board on all accounts in my credit report. I understand my balances are high, and that's why I've been working hard to pay down and repair. I'm in the process of trying to secure a line of credit against my homestead in order to completely payoff all credit cards so I can stop paying 20 % + per month on interest, and consolidate my debt with a much lower interest rate. I'm trying to be a responsible consumer, trying to improve my situation, and this really hurts, and the decreased credit limit amount seems very extreme - especially considering I was only using 28 % of credit available with no missed or late payments. In order to qualify for the line of credit to payoff the rest of my cards I needed to boost my score, and that's what I've been working to do. Citibank 's sudden decrease brings me backwards. If Citi would agree to restore my credit limit to the original {$12000.00} then I would gladly pay off my Citi account in full today and never use the card again for the rest of my life. I'm already planning to never use a Citibank financial product again, and would love to payoff and close this account, but I know a closed account will also negatively impact my overall credit score. I feel my credit is being victimized and sabotaged by Citibank, and I'm not sure what I can do to advocate on my behalf because I'm just a " little '' consumer. I was advised by someone to start here, so that's what I'm doing. Thank you in advance for any help you can offer.

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