Consumer complaint received 2015-12-17
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: MA
Product: Credit card
Issue: APR or interest rate

Complaint:
In XXXX of XXXX i purchased a computer from the retail provider BEST BUY. There was a no interest promotion for 12 months as long as the balance of the computer was paid within that time period on my BEST BUY credit card. I made the purchase, in XXXX of XXXX i went into a BEST BUY store in XXXX North Carolina and made a payment to the card before i purchased items with my Best buy credit card. Before i made the purchase i asked specifically if making a purchase effects the promotion they reassured me no and that all my payments would first be applied to the promotion balance first after the minimum payment was satisfied, and it was ok to use my card at will. I made a payment and made the purchases. I use my card pretty frequently for small things there but i never pay the minimum payment. I made a large {$700.00} payment online months later to satisfy the majority of the amount oed for the promotion, and have paid well over the {$1000.00} in payments over the minimum payments over the past year. In XXXX my statement came with a charge of over {$300.00}. I called BEST BUY card services immediately and they informed me that my payments were not being applied to the promotion because i never called over the phone to them and asked for that request. I explained to them that if they checked i always made payments more then what the minimum was owed to satisfy the promotion. they stated that they are not required to do that based on the credit card act of XXXX. I stated that that makes no sense that they would apply payments to the lower balance purchases of {$50.00} and {$80.00} and not satisfy the {$1000.00} purchase. I stated that this is a form of fraud that they would deliberately apply payments to a different balance that results in a massive financial gain for the company. they kept referring that the credit card act allows them to do that and i disagreed.i called XXXX more times over the next few days and they noted the account so every time i called they just kept repeating that the credit card act allows them to do this, even though in the store where they took the payment. they stated the people in the stores do not know this information and that i still have to pay. i asked how could they have representatives that are giving information that is false and they know it, but they are not bound to the information their representatives are giving and that i owe this money. I asked how could this be that in the store where they deal directly 100 % of the time with the customers, and giving misinformation 100 % of the time that costs the consumers large amounts of money and results in a massive gain for the company. they again referred to the credit card act and then offered me a deal that i pay the entire amount of my card ( which is a {$2000.00} limit ) and they will waive the interest or i have to pay the interest. i said that is completely absurd and criminal. I have paid well over {$1000.00} in payments as i use my card frequently. This is more than unjust and criminal

Company public response: Company chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief