Consumer complaint received 2021-11-05
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Problem with rewards from credit card

Complaint:
To Whom It May Concern : Below is a statement of facts and timeline for the actions that have taken place. 
- I was terminated by Citibank in XX/XX/XXXX without cause, and no explanation was given to me upon my request. The only answer I was given was that California is an at will state, and Citibank had decided to terminate me as an employee. 
- I continued to keep my bank accounts, credit cards, and mortgage with Citi after termination. I had established a system and was comfortable having everything in one place, with all my autopays and transfers set up, earning points, and having familiarity with the system I had come to use to help other clients for over 12 years. I continued using my bank accounts and credit cards, while maintaining 6 figure balances in our banking accounts, making my mortgage payments on time, and paying our credit cards off in full each month. 
- I, along with my wife, continued to accumulate rewards points ( Thank You Points ), for our checking accounts, and credit card transactions, for the last 4 years. 
- On XX/XX/XXXX we received notice that all of our banking accounts would be closed, without any official reason or rationale. The only explanation we were able to receive was that it was based on a recent review, and that Citibank had made the decision to close our accounts. 
We never received a phone call, we were never asked about specific transactions. We just received a we regret to inform you generic form letter. The letter allowed us to close the accounts by XX/XX/XXXX. 
- On XX/XX/XXXX, my wife called Citi and was told that the Thank You points earned on the banking side would expire if not used within 60 days of account closure, totaling XXXX point. They advised it would be best to redeem them for gift cards. However the credit card points would still be valid and did not need to be redeemed at that time. 
- My wife redeemed XXXX Thank You points on XX/XX/XXXX for various gift cards - We closed out our banking accounts/relationship, some as old as 16 years, on XX/XX/XXXX and received cashiers checks for the balances in our accounts. 
- My wife called to inquire, and was informed by customer service that only our banking relationship was being affected and our credit cards were unaffected. We were concerned because we have many of our bills that are on autopay via credit card. 
- On XX/XX/XXXX our credit cards were declined. We subsequently received notices in the mail, after the fact, that our credit cards had been closed, dated XX/XX/XXXX which were received several days later as they were sent regular mail, not overnighted. No warning, no notice, and no chance to open new credit cards with a different institution. 
- Every single credit card we had was with Citi ( in order to maximize accumulating points ) and they were all closed out at the same time. This left us without any cards to use for everyday purchases like gas or groceries. 
- Between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX my wife called CitiXXXX XXXX and was told that our points do not expire for 60 days after account closure. I would like all of these calls that are recorded for quality purposes to be sent to me. The calls would be coming in from XXXX and XXXX XXXX. 
- On XX/XX/XXXX my wife redeemed XXXX Thank You Points for gift cards and was told again that we had 60 days to redeem the rest of the points. 
- On XX/XX/XXXX, a credit of Thank You points that we were waiting to be returned for a cancelled trip due to Covid finally came in from XXXX. We had waited several months for that return and had decided to wait for that credit to come in before we redeemed our Thank You points prior to closure. 
- Between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, all of our Thank You points were gone and we could no longer sign in to the website. Any calls to customer service were answered with confusion. not sure what happened, your points shouldnt have expired for 60 days, I will look into this for you, I will start an investigation, etc. ( I would like all calls to Thank you and/or Citibank to be sent to me as well between XX/XX/XXXX and present date. ) - On XX/XX/XXXX we called Thank you again and opened a case to have our points reinstated by a manager. No action was taken. 
- Most of the points forfeited were earned under my wifes credit card accounts, of which I was an authorized user on. In summary, I was terminated without cause or explanation. I took that on the XXXX, moved on and started a career elsewhere. I was unemployed for over a year, loss of income and hardship dont begin to explain the anguish my family and I had to go thru after 12 years of dedicated service and being recognized as a top performer ( Citistars ) for several years. 
My time as an employee, and my time as a customer are completely unrelated. I was allowed to keep my accounts, mortgage, and cards for 4 years after termination. So why, all of a sudden, without any notice, inquiry, or justification, were all my accounts closed and the banking relationship terminated? Had the relationship been terminated at the same time as my employment, I would be happy to set up bank accounts and cards elsewhere and EARN close to 560,000 points = {$7000.00} in travel, and be able to use those points that I was saving, month after month, for a family vacation. Those were our points. We earned them thru purchases. We saved them, just like a savings account, and they were stolen from us. I have not bounced any checks, missed any payments, or had any suspicious activity in my accounts that would warrant Citi to exercise their right to close our accounts at any time. This seems like retaliation or some sort of petty vendetta from years ago. I have moved on, but apparently Citi has not. 
I have been advised to pursue legal action for breach of contract and bad faith. I do not want to pursue this course of action, but will be glad to do so if necessary. I am hoping since I have learned to move on, Citi can do the right thing and move on as well. I am not sure why all of this started a few months ago, but I have now opened up a banking relationship elsewhere and am happy to give my business to a financial institution that wants to do business with me. 
My family and I have decided that if Citi compensates XXXX {$10000.00} for loss of our Thank You points, the time and inconvenience of having to open new banking accounts and credit cards, the time and inconvenience of setting up all of our autopays, all the late fees for rejected bill payments/autopays, lost time, lost wages, aggravation, stress, etc we will not pursue any legal action or take this further. There is proof on each one of your recorded calls where we were told that we would still have 60 days to redeem our points. 
I look forward to a swift resolution, without having to start a lawsuit and subpoena for records which will show that your employees, knowingly or unknowingly, misled us to believe that we would have access to our points, only to have them forfeited/stolen. 
Please remit a check in the amount of {$10000.00} to : XXXX XXXX & XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. 
XXXX XXXX, CA XXXX If not, we will be forced to pursue this matter in small claims court for breach of contract, bad faith, and misrepresentation. 
Sincerely, The XXXX Family In addition to forfeiting our points, Citi decided to issue 1099s for points earned and redeemed ( later returned/transactions cancelled ). Not only did we lose our pints but we ended up with a tax liability.

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