Consumer complaint received 2017-09-14
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: HI
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem when making payments
Sub-issue: Problem during payment process

Complaint:
To Whom it May Concern, I 'm writing this letter to dispute the late payments that were posted on my Citibank Visa from the months of XX/XX/XXXX-XX/XX/XXXX, in  hopes to change the negative impacts it has caused to my credit score. I am only asking that Citibank take responsibility for their part in why a payment for the full balance of this card was denied or not accepted before the due dates. I have great hopes that Citibank will change the payment history of this card to show that payment for the full balance was made on time. 

Originally this was an XXXX XXXX card opened through XXXX XXXX, which was transferred to Citibank Visa without any consent, authorization, or signature on my part. I have asked Citibank on numerous occasions to provide me with any and all disclosures I have signed that allowed Citibank to open a credit card in my name. I was under the impression that credit card companies must have your signature on file to legally open a card in your name. I have not been provided to this date with any copy or copies from Citibank that show proof they posses my signature on file. In fact, I am told they do n't have it. 

The first I heard of a Citibank credit card opened in my name was on XX/XX/XXXX. Only due to the fact that a postal worker recognized my name did I receive a bill to my XXXX XXXX with an incorrect address on it. The bill had a single charge of my XXXX membership fee for {$110.00}. I immediately called Citibank to question the existence of this card. I am a XXXX member and wanted to keep my membership. I am also trying to buy a home and did n't want anything to negatively impact my credit score. Even though I was still questioning the opening of this card, I attempted to pay off the balance. I was then told by the Citibank representative that I was not allowed to pay off the balance because I did n't have a physical card issued and in hand. This seemed odd. Citibank had allowed XXXX to charge a card that had not been physically issued to me. At the same time denying me and refusing me the opportunity to pay off my balance because a physical card had not been issued to me. I did not give XXXX or Citibank any authorization to automatically charge this particular account. It also clearly states on the back of the credit card, " not valid without authorized signature. '' To this date the card has not been signed. I should have been issued a card before any charges were allowed to be processed. The customer service representative also informed me that the account was opened in XXXX the previous year, which means that it took Citibank over 9 months to actually issue me a credit card. 

I was then forced to wait for a card to be issued and mailed to me so that I could make the payment. When I received the card two weeks later on XX/XX/XXXX I immediately called Citibank to make my payment and pay off the full balance. I gave them my routing # and account # and my authorization to pay off the full balance of the card. I have paid the full balance, every month, for every card I have had for the last 19 years. That can be verified through my credit report. I was then told by Citibank that my payment was accepted, verified, and would be applied to my account. 

After receiving no statement updates, no emails, and no additional communications I then received a phone call on XX/XX/XXXX from Citibank. They were calling to inform me that my XX/XX/XXXX payment had not gone through. I was then told that additional fees had been applied and that the Citibank credit card had been closed. I asked the customer service representative why I was not notified from Citibank that the payment did not go through. ( Again, I received no statements, emails, or additional communication up until this point ). I was told on XX/XX/XXXX that my payment had been accepted and had received no information to the contrary. The representative then informed me that Citibank does not call customers for these situations. Even though they were calling me now. There should have been no reason why I was not contacted by Citibank to either inform me that my payment did not go through or that my statements they were mailing me were being returned, as they are now telling me they STILL had the incorrect address on file, even after I corrected it on my first call to them on XX/XX/XXXX, which has been verified through the recorded phone conversations that were pulled by a supervisor at Citibank. Citibank reps. have openly admitted that Citibank has had numerous problems with customers ' accounts that have been transferred from XXXX XXXX to Citibank. They were also open with the fact that Citibank has an ongoing problem with processing payments over the phone. Even with these admissions and all the other problems to our account, Citibank has done very little to remedy the situation. We have spoken to several customer service reps. and supervisors that have been nice and helpful in filing disputes to credit bureaus, but in the end it 's been almost two months and nothing has been done. We have also asked Citibank to show and send us any proof that they made any attempts to send us statements or emails during the months of XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX. They have denied us. We have also asked Citibank to disclose to us all phone call recordings that we have had with them during this time. They have denied us this as well. 

This has been a horrifying experience for me. I moved on XX/XX/XXXX from XXXX to XXXXi to care for my XXXX-year-old Godson who has recently XXXX XXXX of his XXXX and was placed in XXXX XXXX XXXX. I deeply needed my impeccable credit score to help me obtain a home loan so that I can provide him with a safe, stable and comfortable living place. 

I 've been extremely disappointed with Citibank. I would think that a company taking in new customers would go out of their way to show their appreciation for your business. There have been thousands of complaints from XXXX customers about how Citibank has handled the transfers from XXXX XXXX to Citibank. From disclosures, issuing of statements, to not issuing credit cards in a timely manner. I understand that during any transfer there can be difficulties, misunderstandings, and even errors made. I can accept that sometimes everything does n't always go smoothly. I just hope that Citibank will be empathetic to customers that have been transferred over and have had to deal with difficulties that are of no fault of our own. I am only asking Citibank that they recognize that there were difficulties in transferring customers over to their card. And because of those difficulties customers were not given their fair and proper service. I have paid off the full balance and owe no money to Citibank. I only want my excellent credit back. I dropped from over an 800 credit score to XXXX because of this incident. It is a small thing for Citibank to correct the status of this account and show it was paid on time. We tried, attempted and would have paid this account on time if we would have received proper and timely notification, and had not been denied the first time that full payment was attempted on XX/XX/XXXX. I hope that Citibank takes moral and legal responsibility and does the right thing for customers that have had to deal with the difficulties that have happened during the transfer of these accounts. If not, I 'm afraid my family and I will pay deeply. It takes years for your credit score to return to normal. This is a punishment that I do not deserve I greatly appreciate the time of whomever is reading this. Thank you so much for listening. My hope is that this can all be sorted out without taking legal action. 
It seems like it could be such a simple remedy.

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