Consumer complaint received 2018-01-31
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: LA
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:
OVERVIEW Before I detail what I have been going through with Citi XXXX Credit card, let me give you an overview. 

Back in or around XX/XX/XXXX, I signed up for XXXX membership and signed up for a XXXX XXXX credit card as XXXX was the one in business with XXXX XXXX. At the time, I had a job that was paying me fairly well. So I was able to pay all my credit card bills in full before the end of a statement period and things were great. 

In XX/XX/XXXX, I lost that job and embarked on taking courses ( studies ) but I took on a low paying job just to get my bills covered. Down along the road, I found myself with more obligations that forced me into using my credit card. 
However, given my background as a person who had not really had debts before and because of responsibility, I was always determined and I made sure I paid at least my minimum requirements which I always did without any problems. 

Then at some point as I had embarked on XXXX ( XXXX XXXX ) business for which I had decided I wanted to pursue, I suddenly found the computer I had at the time not being able to handle all my needs. That prompted me to ask XXXX to allow me spend about {$3000.00} for a new computer which they did. So I went over my credit limit by almost {$4500.00} when I add the about {$1500.00} that I already had. 

But with all that, XXXX always gave me the " BARE '' minimum ( it could be something like {$350.00} ) which I could pay and whenever I had more, I paid more. So I kept on making my payments and my debt was reducing. I had a clean record with XXXX and with pretty much every other credit card I use. 

THE ERA OF CITI So when I was remaining with about {$2500.00} debt with XXXX, XXXX 's business relationship with XXXX ended and Citi took over. 

Once Citi took over and of course bought my debt from XXXX, I immediately saw something strange. At the time, I can't recall very well but I think I had approximately {$2500.00} in debt which I didn't so much mind paying given my strategy of making sure I at least paid the minimum requirement so my account stays current as was the case with XXXX. 

At this point though, Citi turned the tables around. Now on my online account, unlike XXXX that always gave options like, Minimum Payment Due = say {$350.00} ; Statement Balance = say {$2500.00} ; Total Balance = say {$2500.00} ; Other Amount = Choose Amount ( and I would either pay my bare minimum or pay more which I did and always do if I have some money spared ), which is the way every other credit card company does including : XXXX, XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, among others ( note : because of what I began seeing from Citi, I was prompted to conduct a research from friends as well as random strangers and comparing credit card payment options. Please see a screen shot from my XXXX XXXX credit card payment options ), Citi is the only exception.

So I resorted to calling Citi customer care. Whenever I called them, I explained to them what was going on and every time I called, all their customer representatives gave me different responses. Their responses even puzzled me the most and further proved Citi is doing something fishy on me ( note : I used to write down the names of their customer representatives and their employee IDs, time of the call, and date back in XX/XX/XXXX. Sorry, I misplaced the notes I always took ). Anyway, the representatives would advise me to be calling them whenever a payment is due to find out how much it is. I would and I have asked them many many times why they just don't put that bare minimum payment so it reflects as one of my payment options. At times I'm told it should be appearing on your account ( my account ) or may be the problem is with your app or the problem is with your online account. Other times they tell me our engineers are working on that. And others will just insist I call to find out the amount due. 

If I explained to them what I see and have heard about other credit card companies, some would tell me, ok, to meet your bare minimum, pay for instance {$250.00}. But when I pay that amount, next time I receive a call from Citi saying I have a past due of say {$45.00} and I'm charged a late fee of {$37.00}. When I call and tell them I could pay {$290.00} if that amount was displayed as one of the options I had on my online account instead of a lamp sum that I can't pay. The representative I'm talking to would simply say, " sorry '' which is not really paying down my debt. 

I always got and I get mixed responses from whoever the representative I spoke or speak with. For example, I would or I get responses such as, " [ You ] I just have to pay because that's Citi 's practice, '' or " there's nothing you can do about it, '' or " that's beyond my ability to help. '' Some would simply hang me off the phone. Meanwhile, others would ask me, " why don't you call us so we can tell you your minimum payment. Yet whenever I called, a representative I spoke with would give me an amount and when I pay that amount, the next thing I see a phone call telling me I have a past due. This past dues are typically in very small amounts which, if I was told, I could pay and for which I'm charged a late fee of {$37.00} plus whatever the interest rate they decide. 
There was and has never been a time when two or more different representatives gave me the same amount. Always different amounts. 

So I decided not to speak with any representative again and whenever I called because of the same problem, I asked them to let me speak with some one above them like a manager. On numerous occasions they did but even the managers would tell me the same thing. I have spent countless hours on phone with them but nobody really helps me. Instead, they connect me with their Collection 's department to make a payment arrangement. In such cases, I always refused their offer because I only ask for transparency not because I can't pay my debt. I can pay and I want to pay but what I can manage. Also, I always think they might report me to the credit bureaus that I'm on collections which is not the case. 

Eventually in XX/XX/XXXX, I finally spoke with one of the managers to whom I recounted my problems with Citi. At the time, she apologized for all the confusion I was getting and the lack of clarity from their representative and offered to refund the Late Fees I had been charged for four months. Immediately she authorized that refund. It was processed but of course the refund of late fees I was fraudulently charged did not mean the interest ( they typically call it Interest on Standard Purchase ) was also refunded. No, that money ( normally a higher fee ) wasn't refunded. Please see XX/XX/XXXX statement attached. 
This too was further proof that Citi was and is fraudulently ripping me off. 

Things did not end there and I eventually became helpless and resigned to the weight of knowing I'm being taken advantage of. I became so bitter watching myself get ripped off by Citi that I decided I wasn't going to pay it any more until I get help somewhere ( basically somebody who can hold Citi accountable ). 
I decided I was not making any payment beginning with the XX/XX/XXXX payment. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I saw something strange from Citi. For the first time, a message suddenly popped up on my account when I had logged on telling me that my payment of {$150.00} was past due by 18 days. I immediately took a screen shot of it and immediately that message disappeared and I never saw it again. Please see the screen shot. 

Armed with that screen shot, I decided to make a payment of {$150.00}. But of course, I was already charged a late fee of {$37.00} plus whatever the interest they charged on that standard purchase. 

In the month of XX/XX/XXXX, because I was tired of calling Citi, I decided to make a guess based on the message I saw on my screen. I made a payment of {$150.00} on XX/XX/XXXX. 
XX/XX/XXXX, I had a payment due so I went to the app to make another guess and pay {$200.00} which I had, the app could not let me make that payment. A message popped up saying, " Other amount must be between the min due and the current balance. Payment can be scheduled for today or till the next statement cycle date. '' I couldn't make a payment. Please see a screen shot I took. 
Note : The minimum due which is the total balance of my over the credit limit is what I can't pay and I told them that every time I spoke with them. 

At that point I called Citi-XX/XX/XXXX and spoke with a representative who identified herself only as XXXX, ID XXXX. She told me I have a past due payment of {$21.00}. I asked her why they didn't show me the bare minimum that I needed to pay to meet my obligation at the time. In response, she also asked me how I came to make a {$150.00} payment. I told her I had to make a guess work based on the message that appeared on my screen. She then told me that month ( XX/XX/XXXX ) I had a minimum payment of {$170.00} but only paid {$150.00}. This infuriated me again. I again began explaining myself and demanding to know why Citi is conducting a shoddy business and ripping me off. She told me, I had to make that payment to bring my account to a current standing. And that if I made that payment, my account that was past due would be up to date and no payment would be due until XX/XX/XXXX again. So I demanded to talk to somebody above her about my issue. 

XXXX connected me with another lady by the name XXXX, employee ID XXXX who told me she was from the Client Focus Team. 
XXXX simply took me back to the noise I had heard all along and that's to be calling Citi every month when a payment is due so they can tell me the due amount ( note : I don't even like those things of calls. Typically, I don't set up any automatic payments but I on top of my payments for any bill. I prefer doing things online or through the app. Very simple for for me ). When I countered her advise with the fact that I had done the same thing before but nothing changed, she insisted that was the only thing I had to do. So I told her XXXX had just told me, if I made a past due payment of {$21.00} which I had paid already, my next payment was going to be in XXXX. 
There and then, XXXX contradicted XXXX and told me, no, you have a payment of {$180.00} which is due today. So I told her something to the effect, " you see, XXXX just told me something different and you're now telling me something different. '' She said XXXX didn't know what she was talking about. This conversation was between XXXX - XXXX. I had just talked with XXXX who connected me with XXXX. It was at XXXX when XXXX disconnected her line and left me with XXXX XXXX So I told XXXX I needed to talk to somebody above her preferably somebody in Public Relations. She told me they don't have one ( note : I had been told the same thing before ). So she tried to connect me with somebody from the Account/Escalation team but they had closed. She told me she had left a memo to them and that they would be calling me the next day, XX/XX/XXXX. 

XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX, I received a call from Citi. It was XXXX, employee ID XXXX on the phone. He told me he's from the Account/Escalation department which is their highest department next to the CEO. He told me he was calling following a notice he found about my issue. I went ahead and explained myself to him and he quickly told me he's the highest person next to the CEO. That what he was telling me which was basically the same thing I had heard before was the much he could do. The the final thing he suggested was, " If you want, write to the CEO. '' I asked him for the contact information of the CEO and he told me they're not supposed to give that information out. Instead, he gave me the address below. 
Citi Bank XXXX. XXXX XXXX, XXXX, Tenneesse, XXXX. 
Fax : XXXX. 

I have not been able to write to the CEO of Citi but it has been on my to do list. It's the first thing on my to do list once I get done with my current some program I'm on right now which is very hectic and leaves me with no time to just seat down and detail my problems to the CEO of Citi. 
But it has been my plan until yesterday,XX/XX/XXXX when I drove a guy who told me he works with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and that he's in XXXX XXXX to give a talk on CFPB. I related my troubles with Citi to him and he advised me to file a compliant with CFPB. 
It's how I decided to take time and seat down to file my complaint hoping, I'm going to get help and hopefully Citi is held accountable for their actions.

Meanwhile, I would simply love that Citi refunds all the late fees and interests they have fraudulently charged me. I believe my debt with Citi would be I believe almost {$2500.00} less by now.

To the CEO of Citi and those around him, {$2500.00} is a grain of sand in an ocean but to me it its an ocean in a grain of sand.

I work very hard, spending sleepless nights studying or driving for a living and I wouldn't want and I don't play with every dollar I make. Every dollar I spend on paying a credit card debt for me is a step forward to freedom stemming from a debt free life again. 
My debt struggles are not a sign of laziness or financial irresponsibility. Rather its a situation that I got into but I know and I'm confident I'm working to fix it but my weakness should not be used by opportunists to make riches. 

Sorry, I know this is too long but I hope whoever lays their eyes on will read to the end and see what I have been struggling with and what other people out there might be struggling with. 

Thanks!

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