Consumer complaint received 2016-05-25
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: WA
Product: Credit card
Issue: Other

Complaint:
XXXX XXXX, XXXX I purchased a laptop from Best Buy in the amount of {$2300.00}. On XXXX/XXXX/XXXX I enrolled in automatic bill pay through Citibank for Best Buy for the minimum balance ( {$25.00} ) to be withdrawn from my bank account. I was a XXXX student at the time and was temporarily living XXXX to finish up my degree as a XXXX XXXX. I did n't want to be bothered about making monthly payments to my account while I was studying for my XXXX exam, hence the reason I signed up for automatic bill pay. 

On XXXX/XXXX/XXXX I receive an email stating that my account had an important notification. This email was the first I had received regarding the status of my account. The email was not specific to what the issue was or that my account had become delinquent. The email only offered new ways for me to lower my monthly payment or reduce my interest rate. To my knowledge I was setup for automatic bill pay so I was under the impression I was up to date with my monthly payments. 

On XXXX/XXXX/XXXX I received another duplicate email stating that my account needed attention. So I called Best Buy to find out why I was receiving these emails. The Best Buy agent informed me that I owed {$330.00} on my account, which included late fees and monthly payments for the months of XXXX - XXXX XXXX {$180.00} in late fees and interest, {$150.00} in monthly payment ). I asked the Best Buy agent why they did n't receive my monthly payments from automatic bill pay and he apologized and said he did n't know what the issue was, but that it had been fixed. He then confirmed that my automatic bill pay would work in the future and that my account was up to date until my XXXX XXXX payment. 

On XXXX/XXXX/XXXX I received a letter in the mail stating that my account has been sent to collections through XXXX XXXX XXXX. To much confusion, I called Best Buy on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX to ask why my account had been sent to collections and their response was that it must be a mistake because on their side my account was up to date. At this time there had been another mistake to my account and I was charged a late fee for XXXX 's payment due date although I had made XXXX 's payment on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX. The woman I spoke with stated that she would waive this fee due to Best Buy 's mistake. 

I then started receiving phone calls from agent from XXXX XXXX XXXX. On XXXX/XXXX/XXXX, I spoke with the agent and he informed me that my account had been sent to him as a third party to collect the entire amount owed on my account ( {$2100.00} ). I explained to him that this must be a mistake and that I was up to date on payments ( according to Best Buy ). He encouraged me to contact CitiBank. 

On XXXX/XXXX/XXXX I contacted CitiBank and explained the situation. An agent told me that he was n't sure how to correct the mistake, but I could talk to the supervisor if I called back in an hour. When I called back I spoke with a woman who told me it was my fault that my account was in collections due to unmade payments and I explained to her that this is a mistake because the payments should have been automatically withdrawn. She stated that I was careless for not checking my bank account to make sure that the payments were actually being withdrawn and refused to transfer me to the supervisor. 

After months fighting with Citibank and Best Buy and sending in a dispute, they finally resolved the issue in my favor. I entrusted that by setting up automatic bill pay I would n't have encountered this issue and that they should have contacted me after not receiving payments for 6 months to see if there was an issue prior to sending me to collections. Now, my credit score has suffered immensely. I have not qualified for benefits because of this mistake made by Citibank and Best Buy.

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