Consumer complaint received 2018-10-12
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Fees or interest
Sub-issue: Problem with fees

Complaint:
Hi, I am a customer of Citigroup Inc. and I have a CITI Mastercard with them. I have a current outstanding balance which I am diligently paying off month by month. I can not do auto pay for my monthly payment as I have very little money in my only bank account and have to be very careful of making the payment in the correct time frame prior to due date when my funds are available in the account I pay from ( a XXXX  checking account ). My method to pay is always the same, I log onto online.citi.com, enter my login and make the payment. This last month the payment was due on XX/XX/XXXX. I tried on XX/XX/XXXX to make my payment. Their payment site was down and this had nothing to do with my computer equipment, as I tried via my cell phone browser too and got the same results. I am working two jobs right now and had to go to work immediately after the failed attempt and then spent the next day working XXXX to XXXX and coming home exhausted forgot about the payment until the morning of XX/XX/XXXX. I made the payment successfully then and messaged them via their website asking for a waiver on the late fee. Here 's what I wrote : " on XX/XX/XXXX I tried in vain 17 times to make my payment online as I always do. Everytime I got this error : XXXX XXXX  Server Error - Generic Exception/URL denied - Citibank online.citi.com I tried different internet browsers, nothing worked your site was down.. I couldn't get back to my computer to XX/XX/XXXX when finally I got through and was able to make payment. I dont want to be charged a late fee for this. Please make an adjustment. I can not do auto pay, long story. Thank you for your attention to this matter. XXXX XXXX '' They denied my request with this answer : " From : me***********************om Subject : Re : payment page not functioning Date : XX/XX/XXXX XXXX27 EST Dear Valued Customer, We regret any inconvenience you may have experienced. We strive to be the best in the business and feedback like yours helps us to improve our service. We will make every effort to serve your future needs in a manner more consistent with your expectations and our standards. 

We are unable to waive a late fee if your payment is not received by your payment due date. Our late fee policy, as outlined in the Card Agreement with us, states that we will bill a late fee when your minimum amount due is not received by your payment due date. To avoid late fees, please ensure your payments are mailed 7 to 10 days in advance of the payment due date. 

We suggest you clear your cookies and temporary internet files ( or cache ) as this may help resolve your issue. If you are unfamiliar with how to do this, or this does not resolve your issue, please respond to this message with the answers to the following questions so we can better assist. 

Citibank offers several payment options to help you keep your account current. Pay your Citi Card bill online with Online Bill Payment. It just takes a few minutes to enroll. Then sign on to Citi Online each month and pay your bill electronically. You choose the amount to be deducted from your deposit account. It is fast and flexible. To learn more, navigate to Payments & Transfers from the navigation bar. 

Another option is to have your payments deducted automatically from your deposit account on your payment due date. Request an enrollment kit by responding to this message or contact Customer Care at the number below. 
If you have a payment due immediately, call Customer Care and pay over the phone with your deposit account. We are available 24 hours a day at XXXX. If you are outside the U.S., you may call us by dialing the operator from a land line telephone and requesting to place a collect call to the United States at XXXX. Our telecommunication number for our hearing impaired customers is CS TDD XXXX. 

Lastly, you can make electronic payments to your Citi card account with a wire transfer initiated through your bank. XXXX XXXX also provides a Quick Collect/Quick Pay service, which allows you to send a payment to us and have its receipt confirmed within hours. Once received, the payment will post to your Citibank account within 48 hours. 

If there is any way we can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact us. '' I am tired of answers where the answer doesn't even take into account anything I wrote in my explanation or accept any responsibility for their failure. At worst it could be a 50/50 settlement on the issue, but no they just charge the {$27.00} late fee : " XXXX XXXX, XXXX LATE FEE - XXXX PAYMENT PAST DUE Expand Details {$27.00} '' They don't want to listen to any reason or explanation they just charge you the money and place the blame on me. I think this is unfair. 

Recently they charged me interest on my yearly membership fee, saying the membership fee itself was considered a purchase. How can that be? They call it : " XXXX. XXXX, XXXX INTEREST CHARGED TO STANDARD PURCH Expand Details '' and they charge me two months in a row for this. The amount is small, but when I think they do this to 10 million customers they reap huge rewards. Once again I find this highly unfair. 

I hope you can help me with this matter. 

Thank you, XXXX XXXX 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 monetary relief