Consumer complaint received 2018-06-14
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem when making payments
Sub-issue: Problem during payment process

Complaint:
Hello Here is a summary of my saga and what I need to be done : 1. On XX/XX/XXXX I went in person to one of the XXXX XXXX  branches and registered, in person, with XXXX ( registration done by Citis manager ) using XXXX as my email 2. On XX/XX/XXXX a transfer was made to my checking account in order to cover a USDXXXX  credit card statement due on XX/XX/XXXX ( receipt attached ) 3. While the transfer never bounced back, Autopay did not work and an overdraft fee was charged incorrectly 4.  Even though the transfer never bounced back my checking account balance was ( and still is! ) shown as negative 5.  Upon my complaint, Citi removed the overdraft fee but the checking account balance remained negative. Some email alerts showed that the account balance was XXXX  and others, -USXXXX (??? ) 6. On XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX ( 31min51s on the line! ) I called to have this solved, unsucessfully. I felt in a limbo between what seemed to be 2 completely different companies, Citicard and Citibank. One blaming the other and saying it could not solve my situation. 
7. Due to this confusion, Citi decided to put a temporary credit (??? ) on my account until this was sorted out 8. On XX/XX/XXXX a new transfer of USDXXXX ( receipt attached ) was made to cover for the credit card statement due on XX/XX/XXXX ( USXXXX ). At first the transfer never bounced back, so I was sure a new problem would not occur again 9. The person who made the USDXXXX transfer called his bank and was informed that the transfer did not go through because I did not confirm the transfer since my XXXX was not registered with City ( see # 1 above! ) 10. The original USDXXXX transfer bounced back and was re-done on XX/XX/XXXX ( receipt attached ). This time a XXXX email confirmation was generated ( also attached ). The email said I needed a registered email in order to receive the email ( see # 1 above  again! ) 11. I went on Citi online banking website to check what was going on and tried to get a one-time-password ( OTP ) to be sent to my registered email. It never worked. 
12. I tried to get this OTP on my cell phone and to my surprise, even though Citi claims to be a global bank, learned that Citi does not call or text a non-US number. 
13. So I included a US cell phone on Citi in order to get this one-time-password and solve this nightmare for once. The website said Citi needs 14 days (!!! ) to update my record so I can receive this OTP on the US cell phone. Unacceptable for a digital channel interaction 14. On XX/XX/XXXX I called Citi twice ( 4min and 24min ) and nobody could solve such a simple request : to receive a transfer made using a Citi service through an email registered almost 6 months before 15. In the mean time, as I am about to travel to XXXX XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX and XXXX with my family, I made some online purchases using my XXXX credit card. A few transactions were declined due to suspicious acivity so I called Citi and clarified that I was the one trying to make those purchases. Then I specifically mentioned the countries I was going to. After this I still go some declined transactions and had to call again to complain and get them approved. What a hassle. 
16. On Friday XX/XX/XXXX I called Citi ( 27min on the line ) to check why my XXXX transactions made on XX/XX/XXXX were declined. Ice on the cake : Citi cancelled my credit card!!!!! I asked to have the card restored immediatly ( my family and I leave in vacation on Saturday and we need this card to be working ) and not only did not get this solved but also got 2 emails from Citi : one saying we tried to reach you ( even though we all know by now that Citi cant reach a non-US phone ) and the other saying notice of account closure 17.  Outraged, between Friday XX/XX/XXXX and Monday XX/XX/XXXX I tried to call the XXXX branch 8 times. Every single time I got a message saying everybody at the branch was busy and got my call automatically transferred to Citi useless customer service center. If a branch cant take a call ( which is unacceptable to say the least ) it should never offer this option 18. during one of the calls Citi customer service advised me to send a request BY MAIL ( even though I said my problem was urgent, I needed the card to be re-activated immediatly and I live overseas ) 19. after not hearing back from XXXX ( email below ) I still tried to talk to the branch by calling extensions : XXXX   XXXX/XXXX/XXXX/XXXX/XXXX/XXXX/XXXX/XXXX/XXXX/XXXX/XXXX/XXXX ; XXXX and, of course, ( XXXX ) XXXX. Nobody answered ....

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