Consumer complaint received 2020-07-10
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: Store credit card
Issue: Problem when making payments
Sub-issue: Problem during payment process

Complaint:
Thank you for reviewing this formal complaint. I've now spent over ten hours my life attempting to resolve the issue with Macy 's and unfortunately, they are not working with me on finding a resolution. I am a mom of a XXXX, XXXX  with my XXXX  child, and working full time from home without childcare support during this pandemic, and their customer service, if they had actually been reachable, could have resolved this issue at the onset, but they were not. 

As background on my account : It has been open, active, and in good standing for 5 years and 8 months. Until this issue earlier this spring, I had never once had a late payment, and always utilized XXXX to pay my full balance. The only reason I had a late payment was because of a security breach on my checking account that required a new checking account, and Macy 's inability to resolve the issue in a timely manner both via a website that locked me out and a customer service that was entirely unreachable and unresponsive. 

Here is the background and the timeline of the issue at hand : XX/XX/XXXX : I was notified by my employer that a security breach had affected nearly 100 % of our company, potentially exposing hackers to our SSN and checking account information that were used for payroll purposes. 

I immediately contacted my bank, and asked that they close my previous checking account, and open a new one. Between my mortgage and credit cards, streaming subscriptions - I have over 25 accounts all of which are set-up to debit from my checking account using Auto-Pay features. I thought I had updated ALL of them, as I invested the necessary time to do so. I had not used my Macy 's account in months, and it seems that they still had my old checking account on file. 

XX/XX/XXXX : My husband and I had a gift card, and made some small purchases at Macy 's with the combination of the gift card and my Macy 's credit card. Knowing I was set-up on Auto-Pay ( like all of my accounts ) it's a transaction we made and I didn't think twice about it later. 

Early XX/XX/XXXX : I got a notification in my email that there was a failed payment to my Macy 's account, and I immediately realized they needed my updated checking information, because they had my previous checking account number ( which was now closed ) on file. 

I went to their website, logged in to my account, and as soon as I tried to do anything related to billing, especially adding a new payment account, I was blocked by them and told that " This action could not be completed online - please call Customer Service. '' I called Customer Service, but as thiswas the beginning of Shelter in Place, and the onset of the pandemic - they did not answer the phone. There was NO way to reach them over the phone, and NO way to reach them via their website. 

I tried at least half a dozen times to reach them, and battled incredibly long hold times, and they were entirely unreachable. 

XX/XX/XXXX : I was finally able to carve out the necessary time ( over one hour just on hold ) to get through to their customer service, and was able to : -remove the outdated/closed checking account number-add my new checking account number and routing number-pay my bill in full-they even removed the late payment and interest penalties because of the issue at hand-I had to wait 2 days before I could enroll in Autopay and I did that as soon as it was possible. 

In that call, I asked them to wait or at least give me the opportunity to appeal with their credit reporting department, and I was promised I'd receive a call from them within 2 days to be able to resolve the issue. They never called. Never followed up, and they went ahead and reported the 30 day late to the bureaus. 

XX/XX/XXXX : I opened a dispute, and was hoping to reach them to find a resolution, but life did not allow for it. 

XX/XX/XXXX : We are in the process of trying to refinance our home, and having an active account with a derogatory remark and an open dispute is proving nearly impossible for us to move forward.

I spent over three hours on the phone with Macy 's today, asking to escalate and review the decision, and I hit a wall at every turn. 

They have shown no understanding about their role in this issue. 

I tried every attempt within my ability, in the wake of a pandemic, to pay a bill that only wasn't paid because of a security breach on my checking account. 

Thank you for your review, XXXX

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