Consumer complaint received 2020-02-17
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NY
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Problem with rewards from credit card

Complaint:
Hello, On Wednesday, XX/XX/XXXX, I received an e-mail from XXXX XXXX from XXXX XXXX AAdvantage Corporate Security stating that my AAdvantage  account ( # XXXX ) was terminated. This termination e-mail included forfeiture of all membership benefits, miles, and award tickets. 

I suffered substantial financial loss as a result of this termination, including : 1 ) About XXXX XXXX  Miles - Approximate Retail Value $ 14k USD. The vast majority of these miles came from financial products ( e.g., credit card bonuses, hence why I am filing with the CFPB ), and a handful came from actually flying with XXXX. 
2 ) 2 return flights back from Hawaii, where I was on vacation with my partner - meaning that we needed to book return flights for a last minute Holiday season ticket back to New York from Hawaii. 

The termination and subsequent forfeiture of miles and the award ticket were surprising to me. The e-mail sent was vague and did not specify a specific infraction, but cited " fraud, misrepresentation, abuse, or violation of applicable rules. '' To the best of my knowledge, I did not participate in any form of fraud, misrepresentation, abuse, or violate any rules laid forth by the AAdvantage Terms and Conditions. I have attempted contact with XXXX  8+ times and have not yet received an explanation. To that end, I have filed a complaint with the DOT regarding XXXX. 

However, Citibank is also involved in this. The vast majority of my miles were earned through credit card sign-up bonuses, whose offers were sent to my postal address via USPS. I filled these offers out with my legitimate information and several times spoke with Citibank Customer Service Analysts in order to be approved for these cards. I met the requirements to earn the sign-up bonuses in a legitimate fashion. With XXXX  terminating my account, all of the bonuses I earned with Citibank are rendered void. I have attempted to contact Citibank regarding this issue, only to be told that there's nothing that they can do about it and it's all on XXXX  's end. 

However, that's misleading and fraudulent. They entered into an agreement that now I am being punished for - and I would like to seek that Citibank rectifies this by doing the following : 1 ) Working with XXXX  to reinstate my account along with my forfeited miles - they have corporate partnerships that should make this relatively straightforward. 
2 ) If the first is not possible, for Citi to award me an alternate currency for the award miles that I was not able to use - either in USD or an alternate points currency - Citi has an alternate award program TYP, that they could convert my sign-up bonuses into. 

I'm happy to provide any additional information, including correspondences, screenshots, etc. 

Thank you very much for your help in this matter. 

Best wishes, 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