Consumer complaint received 2017-05-08
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with a credit reporting company's investigation into an existing problem
Sub-issue: Their investigation did not fix an error on your report

Complaint:
I am writing to dispute the following information in my file.
The creditor in dispute is Citibank.
Dispute : late payment in   XX/XX/XXXX ,  XX/XX/XXXX ,  XX/XX/XXXX ,  XX/XX/XXXX . Citibank filed  a report to all   XXXX  Cred it Bureaus ;  XXXX ,   XXXX   and   XXXX   XXXX   in   XX/XX/XXXX . I  was not aware of this late payment in   XX/XX/XXXX ,  XX/XX/XXXX ,  XX/XX/XXXX  and  XX/XX/XXXX  unti l   XXXX   called me     XX/XX/XXXX  to tell me they were concerned that I would not make their payments because I   was late on making my payment with Citibank in   XX/XX/XXXX .  I was so confused because   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   approved my debt management application through   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX  , everything was all set so I thought and all payments have been made on time for   XX/XX/XXXX ,  XX/XX/XXXX ,  XX/XX/XXXX  and  XX/XX/XXXX  s o how could I have a late payment?
I immediately called Citibank and the first person I spoke with  XXXX  said my account was in good standing. Then I called each credit reporting agency ;  XXXX ,   XXXX   and   XXXX   XXXX   and they confirmed to me that I had a late payment  in  XX/XX/XXXX  and it rolled to  XX/XX/XXXX ,  XX/XX/XXXX  and  XX/XX/XXXX . It  was at this point it became clear to me that I was supposed to pay the Citibank credit card payment fo r  XX/XX/XXXX  and  all this time I thought that the credit card payment was taken care of during the debt management approval process. The late payment for {$44.00 }  in  XX/XX/XXXX  is ina  ccurate because I was instructed by   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   who was processing my application for approval to the debt management company ;   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   that in order to make sure my application would be approved, I was told by   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   that I had to be above the minimum amount or I would not be approved and not to make the   XX/XX/XXXX  pay ment to Citibank. We consolidated both my Citibank and  XXXX   amount which barely reached over the minimum.   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   told me not to pay Citibank because it would mess up the approval process. They also informed me that I would not be penalized for a late payments or any fees that would be incurred during the month of   XX/XX/XXXX  becaus e it was during the transition period and I was protected from anything happening to my credit. They assured me that late payments or fees would not be affected because Im in the transition process to getting the debt management application approved. I trusted fully   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   and did not make my payment to Citibank for that specific reason.   XX/XX/XXXX         XXXX   called me to inform me that they were concerned that I would not make payments to them because I had 4 late payments with Citibank and with fees associated with the late payment. I was shocked!! I had no idea that I had a late payment in   XX/XX/XXXX  from  Citibank. I explained to   XXXX    the situation with the debt management program and that I was instructed not to pay Citibank during the transition process.  XXXX  also reduced my lines of credit because of the late payment that Citibank reported to the Credit Reporting Bureaus. They also told me that I should contact Citibank and the credit bureaus immediately to file a dispute which I did.
The   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   did approve my application at the en d of  XX/XX/XXXX  and the debt management program started  XX/XX/XXXX .  My payments for   XX/XX/XXXX , XX/XX/XXXX ,  XX/XX/XXXX  and  XX/XX/XXXX  have bee n paid on time from the   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX    company that is the debt management company.
According to the credit bureau reports, my payment record is impeccable. I have not missed a payment in 6 years with Citibank or any other creditors. I would not allow myself to miss a payment. If I were not told to not make payment, I would have absolutely made my payment just like I have been making payments to all my creditors on time. I believe I was misinformed and told not to make the payment with Citibank because it would mess up the approval process into being accepted for the debt management program by   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX  . I believe the missing payment from Citibank is an error.
As a result of the missed payment which is an error and not my fault but the fault of being misinformed by   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   not to make my payment during the transition for approval of the debt management program, my credit score plummeted from   XXXX   to   XXXX    and my credit lines were decreased by 75 %. I should not be penalized for this mistake of being misinformed.
On   XX/XX/XXXX  I se nt out letters to all the Credit Reporting Agencies explaining the what I was disputing re : Citibank and the Citibank  Executives.
  XXXX   XXXX  , the Citibank Executive called me and left me a phone number for me to call.
Through my persistent calling I connected with him on   XX/XX/XXXX .  His response was that they were not going to reverse the late payment because in the contract that you signed you agreed to make monthly payments. I said Yes that is true and I have made every payment over the past 3 years except for the mont h of  XX/XX/XXXX . T he situation had changed during the month of   XX/XX/XXXX  from  making the regular monthly payment to entering into an application for the debt management approval process. I was going through the transition period of getting approved for the debt management process and my understanding through   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   was that I do not make the payment fo r  XX/XX/XXXX  and th at the payments will be starting in   XX/XX/XXXX  w ith the   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   debt management program. Again,  XXXX  refused to consider my past record or circumstances and that he would not reverse the late payment. I believe this is completely unfair and the repercussions that go along with it when I did not know about the late payment unt il  XX/XX/XXXX . I am requesting that the item which is the Citibank late payment of {$44.00} plus fees be removed for the month of  XX/XX/XXXX ,  XX/XX/XXXX ,  XX/XX/XXXX ,  XX/XX/XXXX  and  XX/XX/XXXX  to   correct the information on my credit bureau report.
Please reinvestigate this matter and delete or correct the disputed items as soon as possible.

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