Consumer complaint received 2017-05-02
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NY
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem making or receiving payments

Complaint:
XXXX   XXXX ,  XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX  NY  XXXX  To whom it  may  concern, I am formally issuing a complaint against Citibank , N.A .   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX  and  Citigroup  XXXX . Th e primary issue of this complaint is that my checking plus line of credit was incrementally increased in large amounts without informing me and without my consent.  First  in  XXXX  of  XXXX , and again in  XXXX  of  XXXX .     I have been a loyal customer of  Citibank  for over 15 years and have had a checking account, money market account and checking plus ( overdraft protection ) with  Citibank  during that time. For the majority of my time banking with Citibank my checking plus line of credit has been {$2000.00} with a {$10.00} fee for overdraft transfers. Recently my overdraft available credit was increased to {$2600.00} and then again to {$3400.00 } six  months later. I was not asked if I wanted this change nor informed that my credit line had been increased.     I called  Citibank  on  XXXX   XXXX   XXXX  after seeing that my line of credit had increased by {$800.00} again after only  six m onths. I was told that this checking plus credit increase was something offered to only  XXXX  customers. I was also told that this was a " reward '' for good credit standing with the bank. It was also acknowledged that I had not been informed of this increase but I was then told that most customers would be happy to receive this extra line of credit. I then asked to speak to a supervisor.     I asked to speak to a supervisor and filed a formal complaint. I informed her  XXXX   XXXX  ref #  XXXX  ) of the following : 1. I was never told or asked if I even wanted this increase. And did not consent to this change.    2.  I was under the impression over the last 6 months that my available credit was {$2000.00} as it has been for over a decade.   3. I plan my spending, bills, charges around the fact that I know the limit of my overdraft protection and budget accordingly so i can always pay back the remaining balance.    4. Citibank automatically places overdraft to cover my checking. If Citibank  automatically orders my transactions, automatically transfers overdraft amounts and then automatically increases my line of credit without my knowledge then it makes it significantly more difficult for me to manage my spending and avoid fees and balances.   5. If the amount that is placed in my checking plus overdraft is constantly in flux / increasing without informing me it makes it significantly more difficult for me to know how much I owe in order to maintain a balanced account.   6. The fact that this was quietly implemented among  XXXX  customers, with little transparency leads me to question Citibank 's intent in terms of my best interest as their customer.    7. I asked when to expect another line increase on my Checking Plus ba lance, that information was unknown or not given.   8. I asked if there was a record, letter, email example that could be sent to me that confirmed that I was in fact informed before the rollout of this new line increase. That information was also unknown or not given.    9.  I stated that the small sample size, lack of transparency, records ( printed or otherwise ) and lack of knowledge of future line increases led me to believe this was intentionally designed to see if a small sample of customers could accrue more overdraft fees and a higher balance owed than those customers who had set overdraft limits.   10. Finally that I accrued a balance of over {$1000.00} over the past months thinking that i was slowly paying down an owed-amount of {$2000.00} only to find out that this amount had been increased twice without my knowledge.     I want to be consulted and involved in the options given to me by my bank regardless of whether products being offered are considered a reward, incentive or disincentive. I want transparency from my banking institution. I should not have to monitor my bank 's behavior on a daily basis to make sure they are behaving in my interest. Like any line of credit or loan I should be alerted if there are interest charges or changes and I should definitely be alerted when the line of credit is in flux.     Thank you for your time and attention,  XXXX   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