Consumer complaint received 2016-06-15
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA
Product: Credit card
Issue: APR or interest rate

Complaint:
I purchased furniture from Macy 's in XXXX 2015. They offered XXXX months interest free financing. At the time of purchase, my credit card balance was XXXX. My plan was to pay approximately {$500.00} a month ( XXXX months ) to pay in full. I got my XXXX bill and sent in a payment. On my XXXX bill, I noticed there were finance charges so I called the toll-free customer service #. I was told that yes, my purchase qualified for the XXXX month interest free financing and it would take XXXX billing cycles to be corrected. I asked if the finance charges would be credited and was told yes. The next bill I received, they CHARGED my balance onto the " club '' ( interest free ) plan but did not credit the balance on the regular portion of my account. I was on the phone again ( each time, it took XXXX minutes to be connected to an actual person ). I have explained the situation to several people, been hung up on, been told that their computer system was down and they would return my call ( I have never received any calls back from them ) written and provided copies of everything and XXXX months later, the issue is still not corrected. I had made the mistake of purchasing approx. {$100.00} worth of birthday gifts for my granddaughter during this mess but paid THAT balance PLUS my lump sum so as not to accrue any interest. I have since paid off what I believed to be my balance ( all of my purchases without interest OR late fees ) and have now been referred to collections. Every time I contact them, they have no notes on my account and only try to collect a payment from me. I even wrote to them, included copies of all of my statements with a cover letter describing my problem. I received a letter back from them stating they had questions and gave me the same toll free # that is on my statement. No file #, no complaint #, nothing. I called in, it took XXXX minutes to get an actual person and then explained the WHOLE story again. Their response is always the same .... '' we will take care of it, it could take up to XXXX billing cycles ''. The last time I contacted them, I explained the whole situation over again, the service rep said " ok, I will notate that you are disputing the whole balance on your account ( which, was approx {$100.00} ). She told me ( once again ) that it could take up to XXXX billing cycles. It has now been XXXX billing cycles. My must current bill has a balance of approx {$200.00} ( almost {$100.00} of that is a current interest charge and late fee ) and they have closed my credit card account. Do they not realize that when it takes XXXX months to get something credited, late fees and interest are assessed? After XXXX, I returned a gift and also purchased something so there was another small additional charge. I did NOT want to pay the balance off in full as long as I was disputing anything because I figured, once there was a XXXX balance, I would never hear from them again. I have recently been getting collection calls and letters. I asked if there were any notes on my account regarding the balance being disputed and was told " NO ''.

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 monetary relief