Consumer complaint received 2015-06-25
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NY
Product: Credit card
Issue: APR or interest rate

Complaint:
I purchased a computer from the Best Buy Store on XX/XX/XXXX at the XXXX Mall, in XXXX, New York for a total price of {$970.00}. During this time i was persuaded from their sales men to open up a Best Buy " rewardzone ' credit card and by doing so i would gain reward points. Believing this would be to my advantage i agreed to applied and i was tolded i would receive my new card in the mail. Immediately, they wasted no time sending me my XXXX bill statement in the mail. I started to make my monthly payment of {$73.00} per month which was way over the {$25.00} minimum payment ; however, i seemed to noticed i was n't making a dent and my " total balances '' were not decreasing XXXX bit because when i looked at the monthly statements i noticed high interest rates brought it up higher. So, i called the Best buy customer service and complain that my payments were not making a difference and these high interest rates are the cause. The customer service representative was very nice on the phone and suggested a solution by putting me on a " Promotion Allocation plan '' she said i can keep the same amount of monthly payment of {$73.00} which she said is definitely above the {$25.00} minimum payment and this should be sufficient enough to bring my total balance down as long as i keep these steady payments recurring monthly at {$73.00} per month. That was all the information that was relayed to me by this customer service representative nothing else was included or said to me by this person. Every month i sent in the steady payment of {$73.00} and did noticed i was finally seeing my balance decreasing from {$970.00}. Until XX/XX/XXXX, when i received a shocking Best Buy bill account statement stating : " Your Promotion Allocation plan has expired. The application of payments will now revert back to applying funds according to the terms and conditions of your account. To set up a new plan, please contact customer service ''. I was slammed with a interest charged of {$230.00} that brought my ( monthly hard work ) balance of {$520.00} which now jumped to {$680.00}. Totally shocked and confused and wondering what happened i called their customer service asking why are they slamming me like this and i was tolded because i did n't pay off my balance within allocated time limit. I asked, " What time limit? '' I was not informed of no time limit. They then asked me if i have the {$400.00} plus dollars available to pay it off? I said of course not. I am on a fixed income and can not afford to come up with that kind of amount of money. She had the nerve to ask me if i could borrow it? I said, " are you serious? ' Can they offer me a new set up plan which is stipulated on the account statement instructing me to what to do? They said sorry they have no new plan available. I said the statement says otherwise? They said not available at this time. I said i wish to speak with a manager then. They claimed they are a specialist and there is no one above them to speak to. I said is this how you treat long time, loyal customers leaving them in debt without offering no resolutions except trying to drain {$400.00} plus more dollars and keeping their customers trapped in debt. All you are to gain from this as a end result a destroyed creditability. This Best Buy credit services is a very, very misleading company with their " rewardzone '' advertising. Where is the reward? Where is the customer benefiting on this credit card? I see where they are benefiting by slamming and draining their loyal customers of their hard earned savings. This is totally uncalled for and unethical! I was absolutely deceived by a incompetent Best Buy employee and not properly informed at the time. As a result of this, i am a senior citizen on a fixed income and will never be able to manage these high interest charges and find myself at their mercy of a never ending cycle of debt.

Company public response: Company chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief