Consumer complaint received 2016-06-07
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: WA
Product: Credit card
Issue: Other

Complaint:
An account was opened with Citibank for a in store credit card at Bestbuy. Citibank has not cooperated with FCRA and has not provided accurate payment history, balances or statements. Additionally, they are not accurately reporting payment history and balances to credit bureaus.This account is signed up for paperless billing and emailed alerts. Their online disclosure states that signing up for these features will provide alerts for upcoming payment due dates. However, that has not been the case. They are not following their billing and statement policies provided to consumers. Citibank is not complying with their paperless billing. No online statement is available to verify payment history, balances or purchases. They do n't provide alerts until payment is past due. However, when setting up paperless billing Citibank informs consumers that signing up for paperless billing Citibank will provide notification to consumers regarding upcoming payment due date, access to statements and payment history. 

Additionally, when opening this account for a same day purchase Citibank allowed overages on this account without consumer consent. When applying for the card at Bestbuy the credit balance approved {$1100.00}. This approved credit was provided via receipt and by a Citibank representative on the day of credit approval and purchases. After checking the credit report Citibank reported a high balance, over the limit, of {$1000.00}. A call was immediately made to Citibank to dispute the claim and the inaccuracy. However, Citibank representative and supervisor refused to allow or file a consumer complaint/dispute to dispute their claims. Citibank claimed : When the card was charged {$1100.00}, the purchase was over spending limit by {$100.00}, further alleging the credit balance was only {$1000.00}. For clarification purposes of this complaint the total amount of purchases was {$1200.00}. When the items to be purchased were swiped, Citibank approved the purchases up to {$1100.00}. The remaining balance beyond {$1100.00} was paid for in cash. Citibank claims they decided to " extended credit '', however this was done without consumer knowledge or disclosure. Moreover, there was not consumer request for extended credit or balance increase. Furthermore, Citibank provides no such policy or consumer disclosure for Citibank to operate in that capacity to decide to '' extend credit '' to consumers without consent and notification. 

Proceeding forward since opening the account, payments have been made on time. Again, Citibank has not provided accurate statements, recorded payment history to consumer, nor have they allowed consumer access to those records in-compliance with FCRA. This has damaged consumer creditability on the credit report, damaged the credit score, resulted in denial of credit elsewhere due to their inaccurate history of payments and balances. These inaccuracies have been reported to Citibank ; however, they refuse to comply with the request pursuant to FCRA.

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