Consumer complaint received 2019-11-15
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NY
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: Store credit card
Issue: Getting a credit card
Sub-issue: Card opened as result of identity theft or fraud

Complaint:
on Sunday XXXX XXXX I went to Bloomingdales  in XXXX XXXX XXXX  to buy a pair of leggings. While processing the transaction the Assistant asked if I had a POINTS CARD and I answered that I didnt. She strong armed me into opening the Points Card and, as she was being pleasant, I agreed while making sure that it isnt a credit card, correct? To which she replied that it wasnt. 

The application for this points card seemed to be taking a long time and, again, I asked to make sure it WASNT a credit card to which she assured me it wasnt. In total I asked 4 times. She asked me to put in my details into the system, which I thought was strange, but I did it as thats what I was asked to do. A premise here is that Im from XXXX and havent lived in the US long enough to know not to give out my social for something like a points card. I saw this Assistant put zeros when prompted to input my income etc and noticed her colleagues had a strange look on their faces. In the end, she handed me a Loyalty card and I went about my day. 

My credit score is in very good standing as I work hard to keep it that way, especially as were looking to buy a house. So I was shocked to see a week after this incident that my score had gone down by 22 POINTS. I didnt understand why as I had done nothing out of the ordinary and a drop of 22 points isnt normal. 

A few days later the mystery was revealed. I received a letter from Bloomingdales telling me that my application for an XXXX XXXX card was declined!! 
I was flabbergasted. 

I called the credit department and was told that they would remove the application and contact the credit bureaus. It would be as if nothing had ever happened. She also said she would put in an official complaint. 

I also called Bloomingdales  in XXXX XXXX XXXX  and spoke to a Manager who said she would look into the matter. The following day I received an email telling me that the Assistant who had done the transaction was new and theyd be sure to teach her the right way like this was going to be acceptable! First of all, the Assistant was DEFINITELY NOT new, so they were trying to fob me off, and secondly, this just showed me that the culture at Bloomingdales is to defraud customers and cover up for their colleagues, brushing people off if they complained. 

I took time out of my life to go to the store on Saturday XXXX XXXX and asked for a senior manager of which the customer care assistants had problems finding any!! Finally, they got a regular ( i.e. not senior ) to come down. She was extremely pleasant and had heard of this incident prior to me going in. She spent the next 20-30 MINUTES trying to locate any Senior Manager she could find and finally found one who came down with an attitude. I, again, explained what happened, and this senior management staff member was extremely short and rude to me until my husband, who is American, stepped in. Im guessing the staff in this particular store dont like foreigners!

She told us she would investigate and be in touch within the week. I have heard nothing.

I also received a letter from the credit department telling me they withdrew the application but that there was nothing they could do about the credit. 

This is evidently fraudulent as, if I had wanted a credit card, I wouldnt have put zeros in my income!! 

So just for goiny into the store to buy something and make them money I got defrauded out of 22 points on my credit score-especially at a delicate time when Im trying to buy a house and THEY WANT TO SWEEP THIS UNDER THE RUG??? This is absolutely the most disgusting act of fraud by one of their employees to get a XXXX buck kickback for signing people onto credit cards and they, the company, stands by her and this behaviour?? So the 22 points I lost on my credit is worth her XXXX bucks?? Or rather the {$50.00} gift card they wanted to throw at me to shut me up???! Absolutely disgusting! This is FRAUD and Im reporting her and Bloomingdales for standing by this.

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 non-monetary relief