Consumer complaint received 2020-08-24
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: TX
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Fees or interest
Sub-issue: Unexpected increase in interest rate

Complaint:
XX/XX/XXXX I made a payment to satisfy the citicard VISA Platinum credit card which was due for XX/XX/XXXX. This is a difficult time but I scraped together what I could and made that payment albeit 9 days after the due date. While on the citicard.com site making the payment, I saw their COVID 19 relief program effort and read through it. It seemed clear essentially saying if approved, two payments would be deferred and no late payments would be reported to the credit bureau 's. This would allow me to skip XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX 's payments and save up and hope that business ( and paychecks as I'm in XXXX  ) would begin to catch up. 

In XXXX, as a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX, our sales were down about 60 %. XXXX was down 50 % and XXXX was 45 %, so all was down significantly. My paychecks were down the same percentage, however, all seemed to be heading in the right direction and went ahead with this program. Which, unfortunately, will cost me dearly. Not only financially, but the stress and anxiety that goes along in dealing with a financial company that says one thing, but does another and could care less about its customers. Money first, despite how unethical this practice is currently as studies show an ethical company are among the most profitable. But, if the customers are limited in their legalities, the edge goes to the big financial firm with the big pockets. 

This morning, I get on citicard.com, excited to begin to pay my XXXX bill and get back to normal. I knew it would be more as the interest accrued through XXXX and XXXX would be applied. Not an issue. I saved up and was ready to get back on track. 

As I looked over the bill, it included a {$40.00} late payment charge as well as a statement saying " NOTICE OF CHANGES TO YOUR INTEREST RATES ''. Wait, why would my interest rates be increasing from 18.99 % with a variable 3 % ( 21.99 ) to 29.990 %!? Further it says : " You have triggered the Penalty APR of 29.990 % by making a late payment and due to your credit performance. This change will impact your account as follows : As of XX/XX/XXXX, the Penalty APR will apply to these transactions. We may keep the APR at this level indefinitely. 
Current rates will continue to apply to these transactions. However, if you become more than 60 days late on your account, the Penalty APR will apply to these transactions as well. '' I promptly called Citicard customer service, which is where the true colors of Citicard shined brightly, despite their concerted efforts to create an image of the opposite of how proactive, giving and forgiving they are. Complete nonsense. 

After being placed on hold, customer service reviewed my information and concern and had found the reason as to why a fee of {$40.00} was assessed and could possible have that removed, but could not even find the information on my APR increasing. He sent me to the Customer Focus department where their representative seemed to be outside or something? I could hear wind blowing and it was very difficult to understand what she was saying. I have XXXX XXXX XXXX ( as does 4 % of the rest of the population so I'm quite taken back that Citi would deem this acceptable ). Oh well, Citi is a big company with lots of customer so I'll assume they know what they are doing. Despite the communication problem, at least I found the right department to help me. Well, not so much. She could not comprehend that I had already paid the XXXX payment, prior to submitting the form for COVID-19 relief ( and was accepted, fyi ). She said I paid that wrong amount. I said I paid exactly what your system told me was the minimum amount due and made that payment. She said again, I'm trying to tell you $ XXXX was the amount due and you paid $ XXXX. I said I get that, and I'm trying to tell you I paid exactly what your system told me to pay. After being on hold, talking to customer service, waiting on hold again and then being transferred to a " Customer Focus '' Representative for 37 minutes, along with putting aside the inconveniences of not being able to hear her very well, she HUNG UP ON ME. THIS IS NOT EVEN THE REASON I CALLED. Citibank? Really? Please find this voice recording and I hope you can use this an an opportunity to 1. Improve the line of communication between your customer focus team and your customers, 2. Provide this representative some training in listening to the customer. This call originated at XXXXXXXX XXXX  and was promptly ended on your end 37 min later. 

I called back and spoke to a wonderful gentleman in customer service who was calm, collected and well spoken. He easily explained the total amount that was currently due and why. He mentioned I might be able to have the {$40.00} fee removed but to make the payment due first and get current and its much easier to work with. Well, I call a bit of XXXX on that as I'm sure Citi just wants their money now, but, I did so. He could not find the APR issue either and recommended I speak to " Customer Focus ''. I expressed my unfavorable experience about being sent to that department again and the reason why. His response was they are able to look deeper into the issue and see more on the account than he could. He goes on hold for a few minutes and comes back and says he can't get them on the line and gave me their direct line. XXXX. Total time on hold and talking to this nice gentleman- 25 min. Call started XXXX XXXX central. 

At XXXXXXXX XXXX  central, I call the direct line for Customer Focus. I spoke to this representative who was somewhat unhelpful, in that she could see the account and fees but it was Customer Services job to  look into the APR. She was able to fix and remove the fee that was added, then sent me back to Customer Service. I spoke to someone in Customer Service ( again ) and had difficulty finding why the APR was increasing and had to put me on hold multiple times, ultimately saying she needed to transfer me to someone else! 

I took the time to make sure it was understood that the COVID-19 program that Citi was touting so positively and were " commitment to our customers and clients during this time as well as our strength as a firm '' was something I had been apart of as its been a very difficult time having 1/2 the paycheck I normally would. She reviewing everything that had happened as well as listened to me conveying I'd been on the phone for almost 2 hours at this point and talked to 6 different representatives. 

**She came back saying your APR hasn't changed, and explained what my APR was. I said I know what my APR is now, what my issue is that the COVID-19 relief program has expired and now your are raising my APR 8 % and it's nor fair. It is unethical to take advantage of people during a financial hardship and it seems your company is doing so without regard to the circumstances. All I want to do is get back to what I was doing before which Citi was great to work with pre- COVID . She puts me on hold again. Comes back saying the reason your APR was increased ( beginning XX/XX/XXXX ) was that you paid your XX/XX/XXXX payment late. Late, meaning, I had to wait until this morning, the XXXX, the pay the amount due. Because of that, my APR will be going up 8 %. 

Are you, Citi, within your rights? Maybe. But just because you can, legally, doesn't mean you should. Please, anyone reading this make absolutely sure of the red tape and potential downfalls of leaning on any financial company touting how ethical and helpful they are, while making as much money as they can off of those who they claim to help. I want to make sure anyone that has done the same as I have can avoid being taken advantage of, and secondly, that other companies can create a more ethical approach of APR review. If my APR is not corrected, I will make it a priority to pay this balance off before XX/XX/XXXX ( Yes, that XX/XX/XXXX! Lets just rub it in even more, and is also my late father 's birthday ) Reviewing their Response to the COVID-19 page, they tout just how much money they have https : //citi.com/citi/covid-19.htm - click on " Full Document '' section implying how wealthy the citi company is ( such poor taste given so much financial hardship right now. People are struggling. Who thought of putting this on their response to COVID page? ). And secondly, my experience has shown their interests culminate with quite the opposite. Great for marketing, but poor in customer retention.

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