Consumer complaint received 2019-04-11
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NJ
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:
Good Day, My name is XXXX. A while back I took a balance transfer offer from Citibank. I transferred roughly {$4300.00} to a zero interest diamond preferred card. As of XX/XX/XXXX, I had paid that balance down to {$1800.00}. 

I receive social security XXXX and my husband gets paid bi-weekly. So, I figured that he had 9 paydays left until XXXX, which is the date that zero interest promotion expires and I had 5 XXXX payments coming. So, after doing the math, it came out to 5 payments of {$140.00} a month from me and {$120.00} per pay check from him. I set my online banking to send these payments automatically so I wouldn't forget. 

Then at the end of XXXX before the expiration date, I intended to double check that it was pif and pay anything that was left outstanding so as to avoid any deferred interest. 
The deferred interest is a significant amount. It would be somewhere between $ XXXX {$900.00}. So, I felt it was very important to get it paid on time. 

In the meantime, Citibank offered me another promotional balance transfer, which I accepted. This one has a very small interest rate, less than 1 % and it doesn't expire until XX/XX/XXXX. So, I am figuring that I will take care of that one after I finish the one thats due by XXXX. 

I wrote Citibank a letter in XXXX explaining that I want my payments targeted to the oldest bill, in other words, the one that expires on XXXX. 

Now, its XXXX. I am reviewing bills and such and I see that the promotional balance which expires on XXXX has not decreased nearly as much as I expected it to with the payments I have made. I realize that they have been putting the payments toward the promotional balance that expires on XX/XX/XXXX. 

I have XXXX , and it has affected my speech. I don't like speaking on the phone, so I open a chat with " XXXX ''. After explaining all this to XXXX she basically tells me that Citibank applies any payment above the minimum toward whichever promotion has the higher interest rate. 

I can't believe that's true. That I have no control over how they apply my payment. So, I call and speak to " XXXX '' and she tells me the same thing. Lastly I speak to a supervisor, XXXX XXXX She also told me the same thing. So the bottom line is that in order to avoid paying all that back interest on that zero interest promotion not only would I need to pay it in full, but I would need to pay the other one in full also because no matter what I ask for they are going to put my money toward the promotion that expires on XX/XX/XXXX first because it charges interest. 

When I asked the supervisor where this information was disclosed she told me it was given to me verbally when I transferred the balance. First off, I did this all online. I did not speak to anyone. When she finally realized that I didn't do this promotional offer over the phone, she told me it was disclosed on the website but, she could not tell me where. She offered to send me a letter. I don't need a letter after the fact. 

I want a copy of what I agreed to when I took this promotion specifically where it says how the payments will be posted and that I have no control over how I want my money applied. 

Ideally I want to be able to finish paying the zero interest promotional balance by XX/XX/XXXX and then pay off the other promotional balance by its due date of XX/XX/XXXX. If I am not given the opportunity to do it that way, I guess I will have to transfer both promotions to a different zero interest card and go from there. In that case, I want citibank to provide me documentation that I agreed to this method of payment application or I want the transfer fees that I originally paid refunded. 

Thank you for your help with this matter. 

Sincerely, 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 explanation