Consumer complaint received 2018-06-07
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NY
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Other problem

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I was approved for a Citi Diamond Preferred card with an {$1800.00} limit. When I questioned the limit on the telephone with the representative that approved me, she sarcastically said to me, " This is an initial limit, when you activate the card, your limit will automatically be adjusted higher to your real limit. '' I was suspect of this, saying to her, " Are you certain about that? The only bank I know of that raises a credit limit on the day you activate a card is XXXX XXXX. '' She became irritated with with me, and said, " No sir, " initial '' means " beginning '' I do this all the time, and I assure you they'll raise the limit when you activate the card! '' She even went on to say that " I usually see this card approved for {$500.00}, but they gave you {$1800.00}. Therefore, it looks like they're going to give you a very high limit once you activate the card. '' The lady was so adamant, I reasoned that she clearly must know something I don't know, so I accepted the card. When I activated it, everything she said turned out to be false. I spoke to a supervisor in XXXX, who said that they don't even have the power to do a " manual review '' of credit card accounts anymore, so there's nothing that can be done. She told me to wait six months and that she was sure that I wouldn't have a problem increasing the card limit in six months. I questioned her on this, and explained that my monthly expenditures are approximately 25-25,000, and that I pay off those expenditures monthly. Further, I explained that a credit card with an XXXX limit is literally useless to me. She once again assured me of what she said. 

As a result, I waited six months pursuant to the supervisor 's suggestion, and tried to request a credit line increase. I spoke to a very rude supervisor in their XXXX office who referred to me as " you people '' ( I quite literally have no idea what she possibly could have meant by that ) try to get higher credit limits even though you're not qualified, and that she gets " these phone calls all day ''. ( More on this later ). 

She said I don't use the card enough, and that it's not consistent with my demographic. She suggested I convert to the Citi Prestige card, but when she tried to do it, she informed me the system wouldn't let her, because I needed to have the card a year. 

Several incredibly rude and misleading conversations later, I tried to convert the card today, XX/XX/XXXX ( well over the one-year mark ). I was told that they system won't let me do it because I have a promotional APR on the card until XX/XX/XXXX, and that that could not be overridden. The supervisor then proceeded to say that " You can apply for a Prestige card at any time! '' in the same sentence. I wasn't going to try to reason with such buffoonery. Ergo, I  politely told her that I've been getting lied to for an entire year with this card, and that I was taking this to CFPB, and I wished her a good afternoon. She was silent -- and therefore spoke volumes with her silence. 

Ergo, I'm submitting this complaint and demanding that Citibank close the card, remove any inquiries associated with the card, and the card itself from my credit reports. The fact that I have been lied to by so many people with exactly the same lie over the course of a year lets me know that this is widespread behavior at Citibank. Moreover, had I known the " reality '' of things with this card, I would NEVER have activated it. I was coerced into using this card, with fraudulent intent on the part of Citibank.

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