Consumer complaint received 2022-01-17
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Sub-issue: Account status incorrect

Complaint:
Re : False, inaccurate and misleading negative credit report Citibank responsible for making immediate corrections Dear Responsible Person at Citibank ; According to the information provided by XXXX, lenders are required to investigate and respond to written disputes that are mailed to the address they publish for disputes. 

( Note : Citibank may publish this address, but they make it surprisingly difficult to find. For instance, a search of Citibanks website help section does not bring up the address in question.Today I spoke to 3 CSRs, none of whom were willing or able to provide this address. I am writing Consumer Finance.gov because Citibank makes this information nearly impossible to find. 

I am writing to demand that Citibank fulfill minimum legal responsibilities to me and remove any and all false and inaccurate negative credit reports and cease filing inaccurate reports against me forevermore. All charges, fees are to be reversed as well. Within 60 days, please confirm each and every corrective action that Citibank has taken by providing me with a written record. 

BACKGROUND : Citibank first asked me to confirm fraud activity on my former account, XXXX, in XX/XX/2021. I did so. There is a vendor known as XXXX XXXX that was making multiple recurring ( often daily or several times per day ) unauthorized small and medium sized charges to my former account. 

As requested, I confirmed the fraud. Sadly, this did not resolve the issue. 

Since that time, Ive made many, many, many, many attempts to report and solve the same fraud, following Citibanks procedures. Sadly, hours of effort on my part went nowhere. 

Following the initial fraud report, Citibank failed to protect my card from further fraudulent charges. This led me to report the same fraud over and over and over and over and over again. The fraud is simple to see and to detect. It represents approximately 90-95 % of the charges on my account. Citibank repeatedly promised to block XXXX XXXX, then repeatedly failed to do so. They knowingly left my account unprotected. 

Each subsequent occasion that the same fraudulent vendor was identified, I was asked to report it and I did. Finally, seeing no improvement and unable to deal with continued blocks on my card and other challenges that seem to go with the Citibank customer service experience, and having given up any hope that Citibank was capable of doing what they said they would do, or otherwise serving my needs as a customer, I decided my only remaining option was to cancel my account with Citibank. 

Citibank makes it hard to leave. Even after paying my balance in full and informing Citibank, I had to cancel my account twice, first on XX/XX/2021 and again on XX/XX/2021. It would appear that, even after such clear instructions and withdrawal of my authorization to accept charges on my behalf, Citibank never canceled my account. 

Given my experience that what Citibank CSRs say and do failed to match on so many occasions, I specifically asked the person to type my words into the record as a means of clarifying and recording my instructions. I paid the bill, cancelled the account and clarified that I will in no way be held responsible for any further charges, fees, or interest on the account, fraudulent or otherwise. 

It is not possible for me to know if the records from XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX are complete or accurate. They should reflect an account paid in full and cancelled. Anything else would be in error. Sadly, given what happened next, I have reason to doubt that the records accurately reflect my instructions. 

Cancelling and paying my account in good faith should have been the end of it. It wasnt. Citibank continues to create problems for me. 

Instead Citibank ignored valid instructions yet again This time I learned that Citibank had ignored my cancellation instructions and sent a new and very much unwanted card. Since I am on long-term travel status, I never received this card. For the purpose of security, I asked the recipients to cut it up and throw it into the trash. I never called the XXXX number. I never authorized the card to accept charges in my name. Ive never seen this card. I do not know the account number. Since I do not know the account number, I have no means to access online or phone support at Citibank. I have no means to beg another XXXX to please this time, take appropriate corrective action. I can not even get thru. 

What I do know is that since the cancellation ( XXXX ) in XXXX, without any authorization whatsoever, Citibank decided not only to accept charges to this ownerless card, but the charges that they are accepting are from the very same fraudulent vendor, using the same fraudulent pattern, as has already been reported multiple times. 

Accepting known fraudulent charges on an unauthorized card is an outrage enough. Now the problem is made worse because Citibank is now using their mistakes as the basis to make new false, misleading and inaccurate reports about me. 

These misleading and inaccurate reports are harming my credit score. I have always paid all legitimate charges on time and in full. The attack on my credit score is 100 % unacceptable. 

Based on my experiences with Citibank thus far, I chose to stop doing business with them. I have no relationship with them now nor will I ever in the future. I am in no way responsible for fraudulent charges that, without my permission and against my express wishes, Citibank unilaterally allows to keep growing on an unauthorized card. 

It is Citibanks obligation and duty to correct each and every one of their false and inaccurate reports, statements and records that are in any way attached to my name, and to restore my credit to its previous perfect level. It is Citibanks responsibility to reverse any and all charges, fees, interest, or any other name they come up with for taking my money while not providing services. 

Within 60 days, please send written confirmation of Citibanks agreement that my account was left paid in full and in good standing and that I am not nor have I ever been responsible for any of the fraudulent charges or any charges to the unauthorized card. Please include a record of the actions you have taken to rectify your errors and correct any and all false credit reports. Send to my temporary address, 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 non-monetary relief