Consumer complaint received 2022-07-08
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement

Complaint:
On the morning of XX/XX/XXXX I woke up to an email from Citibank with a statement balance of {$7100.00}. I had paid this card down to a {$0.00} balance in XXXX of XXXX and had not utilized it since then so this balance was unexpected. I opened my account to see two charges : 1. XXXX XXXX XXXX  # XXXX for {$6900.00} 2. BALANCE TRANSFER FEE for {$200.00} Total balance : {$7100.00} I immediately knew this was not accurate as at this time 1 ) I didnt have credit card balances of that amount to transfer and 2 ) the only checking account I have available to write checks through is XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX 

I called Citibank at XXXX XXXX that morning ( XX/XX/XXXX ) and told them that these transactions were fraudulent. At the time I thought it was a balance transfer to which I told them it was fraud because I didn't have those amount of funds to transfer. They said they would file the claim and take care of everything. 

In XXXX I didn't make any follow up calls as I figured this may take time to look into. In XXXX I began receiving a call a day from them asking me to pay my credit card minimum statement. I called them and told them that they should be looking into the fraud dispute and I shouldn't owe anything. They told me that they had sent a letter of declaration to my home for me to sign and send back. At this time, I was on the XXXX XXXX for 3 weeks and not home. As soon as I got back to my home ( in XXXX XXXX ), I found the letter in my mail, signed it and sent it back. This was either XX/XX/XXXX or XXXX. The letter including the fraudulent check that was written to government mint.com. This was a very clear indication that it wasn't me and I figured very easy for them to understand. The check is written with a " Citi '' logo on it, the routing number XXXX doesn't match any searches I found, especially not a Citi location. The signature on the check is not only not mine ( I can provide copies of my license and passport signatures ), but it said " XXXX XXXX '' and I am not married. 

In XXXX I called Citi a total of 10 different times for a total of 2 hours and 38 minutes ). Each time no one seemed to have any idea how to help. On XX/XX/XXXX I was told they never received my letter so the dispute was closed. They said they would reopen it. On XX/XX/XXXX, the security center told me that my transactions were XXXX. When I asked if the balance was XXXX they just said " it would be '' after the investigations team looked into it. I asked to be transferred to that team and again they told me it had been closed but they would re-open it. It was this call that I was finally able to tell someone I had a photo of the check they sent me and that it wasn't my signature and I didn't have a checking account with them. 

I called back on XX/XX/XXXX to follow up again and was told by the investigations team that this time they emailed me a new declaration. It wasn't anywhere. I checked my spam and trash but I never received an email. I do get emails from them so I know they have the correct email. We confirmed that it was XXXX and she said they would try to email again. 

I tried calling back on XX/XX/XXXX, they dropped my call in the middle of " looking into '' the dispute and I didn't bother calling back. 

It is now XX/XX/XXXX, almost 4 months later. I am under so much stress and losing sleep and time from trying to get someone to help me. I just checked my credit score which has gone down XXXX points just this month, after holding a very good score historically. I feel that Citi is conducting fraud themselves and is refusing to help me.

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