Consumer complaint received 2022-05-27
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: AL
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card debt
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action
Sub-issue: Sued you without properly notifying you of lawsuit

Complaint:
Before I begin, I would like to note that I have excellent credit with scores in the XXXX range. In the XXXX timeframe, a delinquent Citibank credit card account showed up on my credit report. I contacted Citibank to report the card was not mine and to find out how to handle it. After speaking with several people and answering many questions, I was assured that this would be taken care of. I was told that it would be removed from my credit report immediately which it was. I was also told that I could call back to confirm the issue was closed and to get a new credit report in a couple of months to make sure it was removed. When I called back I was told there was no record of the account and that meant it had been taken care of. I was never contacted by Citibank, a debt collector or anyone else in all these years. I never heard from this again until XX/XX/XXXX when I received notification from my employer that my wages were going to be garnished for {$9400.00}. The court order was associated with this XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX. as attorney for XXXX XXXX, XXXX. Upon contacting XXXX and XXXX, I was only told that the account originated as a Citibank credit card. I immediately went to the courthouse in the county and filed a motion to vacate judgment to garnish. There I was provided with a copy of the plaintiffs complaint. XXXX and XXXX had provided the court a sworn statement saying that I had been served in XXXX and notified of these proceedings. The address listed on the paperwork where I was to have been served was an investment property of mine that I had sold that same month in XXXX. I had never lived at the property nor is it even located in XXXX XXXX where I do live. Further, at the time I was supposed to have been served there, the property was vacant. Over the next two days I spoke with a multitude of people at Citibank ranging from customer service to managers to the fraud department and managers of the fraud department. None of them could find any account associated with me. They tried my social security number, birthdate, address phone number, old address old phone number, any information I could provide. No one was able to locate this account. The last person I spoke with said there was nothing further they could do so I asked for a letter from them stating search search. I was told they do not do that and could not provide a statement. I told them that I needed something to show the court that this account was not mine and was told that maybe I could show where it had been removed from my credit report. Since that time I have received a new court date of XX/XX/XXXX but the garnishment has begun and has XXXX times been deducted from my paycheck. 
Damages incurred : I have a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  at work so this caused me to have to self report an incident. Just that alone could cost me my job for which I have worked XXXX years. Also, we were in the process of closing on a house which we have had to cancel due to this issue. It has caused a lot of time, stress, and now money because we had already paid for the inspections and other costs associated with buying a home including paying {$600.00} to lock in our rate. Unfortunately with the additional XXXX XXXX  of my wages being garnished, I feel I can no longer afford that property.

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