Consumer complaint received 2019-07-06
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: VT
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Other problem

Complaint:
This complaint is regarding Citibank on a credit card I had with them previously - after closing the account they never advised of any outstanding balances until it was almost 4 months delinquent. They have no communications with me, constantly contradict themselves, try to back track on their stories so they don't look bad. They have caused damage to mine and my husbands credit - and are now asking for funds that were are unable to pay in full. 

I had a credit card for several years with Citibank - after moving, we had limited funds and closed the account after what I had thought had paid the full balance - they never told me otherwise. After the account was closed, the online account system was closed and I figured everything was settled up - but never received anything in the mail or any phone calls for several months. 

Then around XX/XX/XXXX, we got a few letters in the mail stating that there was an unpaid balance - I called the number on the letter and was told they couldn't find anything and I had thought that maybe the letter was a scam. I had researched the phone number and nothing came up for a Citibank number and the person who signed didn't come up either. 

After about 2 months I finally figured out that they made a change in my account and I could only find the account when it was in collections - I talked with a lady XX/XX/XXXX and had a lengthy conversation about my income situation and we came up with a payment plan - based on our conversation the lady had said that we would make payments for 12 months - one of $ XXXX/mo and one of $ XXXX/mo - and after that year the balance would be forgiven. I started by calling in monthly to make the payments - and then in XXXX of XXXX I switched to having auto payments withdrawn my from account - with the impression that those payments would stop once the agreement had been reached. We never received any mailings confirming the payment plan - no emails - nothing. 

My husband and I went along with this and then XXXX of XXXX the auto payments on our account stopped - well it had been a year of payments - so we weren't surprised. Again - we received no letters, no emails, no phone calls - nothing. No communications for 6 months. Then XX/XX/XXXX, my husband was checking his credit and found a Citibank reporting on his credit with delinquencies for 2 moths. My husband and I called in XX/XX/XXXX to the phone number that XXXX  - we got transferred from customer service - who stated they couldn't help us - to collections - who also said they couldn't help us to finally - Citi Preferred customer service agent named XXXX - we spent about 2 hours on the phone with him trying to figure out what had happened to our account. 

XXXX told us that there were 2 payments made since the posted payments in XXXX - both of XXXX $ in XXXX & XXXX from online and that in XXXX there was a letter that was viewed online. He also stated that there had been a letter, emails, and phone calls from XXXX up until XX/XX/XXXX of XXXX - NONE of which were received by either myself or my husband ( we checked our phone logs and no number came up that matched Citibank numbers and we went through our email and found no email communications - my husband and I are the only ones who get the mail with our mailbox being 1 of 2 mailboxes in the same area ). After explaining to XXXX we did not have access to our online account - he advised that the only way to gain access is with the credit card that was connected, when we told him we don't have that information anymore because it had been 2 years since the account was cancelled he told us we could not gain access. XXXX also explained that auto payments were cancelled after a return payment in XXXX ( based on our bank records there are no attempted withdrawals in XXXX ). 

XXXX then also explained that we were on a payment plan that we wouldn't be able to access our online account because of this. We then asked him how we were able to view a letter off the account and make those payments, if we don't have/ca n't get access to the online account - he said we couldn't. We then stated that he was contradicting himself because he stated that we made payments/viewed letters online - but also telling us that it is not possible for us to do that since we don't have online information/our online information was closed when we got on the payment plan. XXXX then attempted to back track - we got frustrated and the call was escalating, so we hung up. 

I called back to the preferred customer service later XX/XX/XXXX - I talked with an agent ( XXXX ) - reviewed the payments that were made in XXXX/XXXX. He could not tell me the last 4 numbers on the account, but I provided the only bank accounts that we have and XXXX confirmed that it was not made from any of those accounts. I asked how it was possible that those payments were made as they weren't from our accounts - he wasn't able to answer further than " we just accept that payments, we don't care where they come from ''. He then confirmed all my personal information ( address, email, phone number ) and I verified all that information with him. He also advised that the auto payments were manually stopped, but couldn't provide the reason why. He also advised that they could not send out the original payment agreement letter - as that was only sent out once when the plan was established. XXXX advised that the payment plan never stated that it was only for 12 months, but was established for 60 months at the agreed payments. Made a {$60.00} payment in order to keep the account from being charged off - as XXXX stated if I don't make this payment by XXXX Eastern time then the account would be sold to another collection agency. Nothing else they could do. 

Called back again on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke with XXXX - verified that the payments XXXX/XXXX - def were not from our account. XXXX could not give me a reason as to how the account was accessed online if we don't have any of the username/password information - only way to access this information is with the CC number and CVC code. She advised that we would still need to make payments for another 40 months in order to get the balance paid and that there was nothing further that they could do about the missed payments because the account was already under an agreement - and an account could only have 1 agreement through the life of the account. Did not re-establish auto payments since it's already been removed once for no known reason. XXXX also advised that I had two separate accounts with Citibank ( I only had one, as far as I was aware ). I asked for any suggestions - there are none. 

I then called to see if there was a way to gain access to the online account, since according to XXXX stated " it was accessed in XXXX ''. Customer service and IT advised that there was nothing they could do without the account number. I then ended up in advanced technical support with an agent named XXXX - he could not provide us any information over the phone but said he would send out the account number/replacement and to access the online account ( this information still hasn't been received as of XX/XX/XXXX ). He did tell me the last four digits of the bank account and it is not any that my husband and I currently own. XXXX submitted a complaint on my behalf against the agent XXXX. 

A few days later ( XX/XX/XXXX ) to ask further questions about the supposed 2 accounts with Citi. XXXX advised that XXXX ( master card ) account was established a few years later - I advised that I only had a XXXX card ( visa ) card until I had reported my card lost/stolen/fraud charges and then I received a master card in the mail and I had assumed that it was the same account and just changed due to those charges. XXXX stated that the mastercard was a promotional card that since it was used was then it because a real account - which is why there were two accounts - this had not been disclosed previously. She stated that the balance of the visa card is {$3700.00} and the master card was {$2400.00}. She also advised that the agreement was that auto payments were set up for a year - not that the plan was for a year. This plan is set up for 0 % interest and {$0.00} late payments as of XX/XX/XXXX - previous to that there were interest and late fees that accused on the balances before hand. Asked for any help they could give - she said nothing they could do. 

XX/XX/XXXX, my husband and I called in again to the preferred customer service line and spoke with XXXX to discuss a settlement of the account in order to just get rid of this debt and be done with Citibank. XXXX advised that we could not enter a settlement agreement unless we " broke the current agreement that we had, and there is no guarantee that the settlement would be agreed upon - if the settlement was rejected then we could not get back onto the original agreement ''. He said this could mean we'd be back on full payments, but couldn't estimate what that would be or how it would effect the account. We asked to speak to a manager and talked with XXXX, she introduced herself and advised she's an account manager. XXXX advised that if we broke our agreement that nothing would essential change - they would leave the account at a 0 % interest rate and {$0.00} late fees - which based on her review on the account would essentially mean that our monthly payments would be the same. She was not able to give us any written confirmation of this - but stated it was in the account and we can continually ask for a manager when calling in, which would get us to her department ( account managers ). We reviewed the information about the online account and how it was possible that it was accessed if we weren't able to get into our account - she advised she had no clue and based on her information all it said was www user - which was weird because it should say the username of the person who was online. Also confirmed there was no way to access the account with the card/account number.

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