Consumer complaint received 2016-07-26
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA
Product: Credit card
Issue: Other

Complaint:
Before Citibank took over XXXX XXXX 's XXXX accounts, I notified ( in XXXX ) XXXX about my father 's passing in XXXX. They said that I did n't need to worry about Citibank issuing a card in his name when the time came, because he is no longer a member, and therefore not eligible for a card. 
But in XXXX, Citibank did issue him a card. The XXXX of us were on the account with my XXXX as primary. So I called to ask Citibank to remove my dad as primary and make my mom primary. During the XXXX call they said I had to wait til after XXXX ( when the takeover became official ) and they would take care of it. I called the week of XXXX and was told that all XXXX cards were to be deactivated due to his death and that a closing statement would be mailed. None arrived so I called again. Was told the billing period would n't close til XXXX and a statement would be mailed the week after. None arrived so I tried getting it online ... denied access. I called again. Meanwhile, I got a letter from a collection agency and when I called them they said they were trying to collect a debt from Citibank in my dad 's name. I did n't believe them and asked for proof ... still have n't heard back from them. I called Citibank to let them know that a disreputable collection agency was using their name and had somehow hacked my dad 's info from them ... only to find out that during my initial call (! ), Citibank actually had sent the account to that outside agency. ( Are survivors automatically classed as deadbeats?? ) I was, however, promised that the regular billing statement would be forthcoming. Many calls to Citibank later, I discover : 1. They have no intention of sending a statement to me ... they have " locked '' the account so that their own customer reps are blocked from seeing anything except the total due ( {$480.00}, according to them ) and can not request a statement be sent ... and that that has been true since my initial call. 
2. Their internal Collections Department is not dealing with this ( it went directly to the outside agency ). They forwarded me to their Probate Department. 
3. Citibank Probate Department has the account now and told me they are doing a " search of your father 's estate ''. They have no business trying to probate my father 's estate. To do that, Citibank must be trying to invalidate my parent 's Trust. ( I 've seen nothing in writing. ) All I ever wanted was a regular billing statement so I can review the charges and pay the bill. If we have to use my mom 's money to get a lawyer to defend their Trust, that will use up the money that is now paying for her XXXX. 
Every call I 've made, whether to XXXX Collection Agency or to Citibank, I was " offered '' the opportunity to pay immediately over the phone. And every time, I said I wanted a statement first so that I can review the charges and then send a check. 
Since it got sent to collections, I 'm assuming that Mom 's and my credit has been " dinged '' and I 'm a little bit upset about that too. 
Can you please just get Citibank to send me Daddy 's regular billing statement and allow me to pay this credit card bill the normal way?

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