Consumer complaint received 2016-05-20
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NY
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Account opening, closing, or management

Complaint:
I opened a " CitiGold Interest Checking Account '' under the promotional offer, which entitled consumers to receive XXXX AAdvantage miles on XXXX XXXX. The conditions of the offer stated a requirement that the consumer must spend at least {$1000.00} on the debit card, and make at least one bill payments in two consecutive months. The promotion code was XXXX and I received the details of this promotion as part of a letter mailed to me by Citibank. 

On XXXX/XXXX/2016, a representative from Citibank confirmed via Secure Message on the Citi website, that I had indeed satisfied the conditions of the offer and will be receiving the XXXX miles in 90 days from XX/XX/XXXX statement period ( no later than XXXX/XXXX/2016, which means I should have received the miles by XXXX/XXXX/2016 ). The message read as follows : " From : XXXX XXXX XXXX Date : XXXX Account Number : Interest Checking XXXX Subject : XXXX : Promotional Offer Reference : XXXX Dear XXXX XXXX, Welcome back to Citibank, my name is XXXX. I am happy to confirm that you successfully completed the requirements of your promotion XXXX. The XXXX AAdvantage miles will be credited by Citibank to your AAdvantage account after 90 days from XX/XX/XXXX statement period. 

The reward miles can take up to 10 days to post to your account for redeeming. At the time the Bonus miles are credited to your AAdvantage Member Account, your checking account and Citi credit card must be open and in good standing. 

I want to take this time to make sure you are aware of the requirements for the Citigold Account package. In order to avoid the monthly service fee of {$30.00}, your combined average monthly balance in all eligible deposit and retirement accounts must be {$50000.00} or more. Outstanding lending products such as loans, lines of credit and mortgage balances no longer contribute to the combined average monthly balance in order to avoid the monthly service fee and {$2.00} non-Citibank ATM fees. 

XXXX XXXX, I am pleased to have helped you confirm your promotion today. I invite you to share your opinions about the service you received today from me, XXXX. Please click the link below to take a short survey using reference number XXXX. 

Send Your Opinions If there is anything else we can do for you, please contact us online with Live Chat, by sending a message, or calling Citigold Customer Service at XXXX. Internationally, you can call us collect at XXXX. TDD/TTY Service is available at XXXX. We are available to assist you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 

Thank you for choosing Citigold. We appreciate your business and the opportunity to continue to serve you. 

Sincerely, XXXX XXXX Citigold Customer Service '' It is now XXXX/XXXX/2016, and well past the 10 days that the agent noted above that it may take the miles to complete posting to my XXXX XXXX AAdvantage account. 

I have sent another secure message and was promised a reply by today. No reply was given by Citibank. I spoke to a customer support manager this evening at around XXXX EST, and he refused the help and told me to simply wait. 

I have seen on XXXX and other social media platforms where hundreds of users are complaining of the exact same predicament. Those who were targeted by mail, have written confirmation of the offer requirements being met by secure message, and are being denied the miles by Citi. They are using the XXXX XXXX I believe this is a bait-and-switch scheme, where consumers are enticed into signing up for a high fee checking account via a promise of a reward that never comes.

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 monetary relief