Consumer complaint received 2016-04-27
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NY
Product: Credit card
Issue: Identity theft / Fraud / Embezzlement

Complaint:
I was contacted DSNB/Macy 's on or about XX/XX/XXXX and the representative told me that there were charges on my account that were suspicious so they asked if they could read the charges off to me one by one and I would tell them which were mine or not. They stated XXXX charges which were not mine. Then they said that they would send me a statement of fraud to fill out, which I did and returned within about 2 weeks and it would take them 60-90 days to process. Then I received a letter in XX/XX/XXXX stating that they were going to lower my credit limit, so I then called again and I was transferred to collections. I then sent in XXXX letters on XXXX separate dates stating that these charges were fraud, I paid off my valid charges and filed a police report. I also received a letter XX/XX/XXXX that stated that my charges were found not be fraud which was allegedly sent in error because the fraud department said that the investigation was still ongoing. In XXXX XXXX, I placed yet another call to the fraud department and was informed that my claim was processed incorrectly and they just closed my account, issued a new card but never flagged the charges as fraud so I had to fill out another fraud affidavit which I mailed and faxed back and was told it would take another 60-90 days to process the claim. Then in XXXX XXXX, I received a collection letter giving me payment options and I called customer service and was informed that my claim came back as not fraud and I asked for a manager, they would not transfer me and then said they could have their manager call back which they never did. Then on XXXX XXXX, XXXX, I spoke with a representative in the " consumer protection '' or fraud department again and they said that the fraud investigation was ongoing and that they would expedite it. After this call, in XXXX for the period of a week I received 18 collection calls to my home during the day while I was at work. I then had to call Fraud dept to have them have the calls stopped since this was fraud. Then on XXXX XXXX, XXXX I called and was told that it could take another 3 weeks for the fraud investigation to be completed. In XXXX XXXX, I was advised that my account was charged off to Citibank even though there was a pending fraud investigation and I was never given an answer as to whether the charges were deemed fraud or not, and that I would have to contact them. When I contacted Citibank they were unable to help me and directed me back to the fraud department at Macys in which they stated that they didnt understand why the account was charged off since it shouldnt have been with a pending fraud claim. XX/XX/XXXX, I tried calling the fraud department at least 5 times being on hold for times of up to 30 mins and with no one answering the phone and I could n't be on hold for an hour. I then called again and finally got in touch with someone and was on the phone for my whole lunch hour and had to hang up because I had to go to work. I was advised that a manager was going to remove the charges, fix my credit and contact Citibank to clear anything up within 3 business days. I then received a collection letter from XXXX XXXX XXXX which tried to collect the money from me. I then called another 4 times to the Fraud department to see what was going on with my charges being removed and yet again there was unbelievable wait times. 
On XXXX XXXX, XXXX, I called and finally got someone on the phone and was on the phone for a total of 45 minutes and was told that the charges have not been removed and they would have to speak to manager about it and I would have to call back again. A few days later I called back and was told that since the account was charged off that they would have to do another fraud investigation which could take another 90 days.

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 monetary relief