Consumer complaint received 2016-06-16
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: IL
Product: Credit card
Issue: Delinquent account

Complaint:
I had a Macy 's credit card account which was opened on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX to take advantage of a free financing offer. This account was subsequently closed on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX. At the time of closure, the account had a zero balance. Since XXXX XXXX, this account has been reported to the credit bureaus as closed / unknown. Without explanation, this account, which had been closed for over 5 years appeared on my credit report as over 120 days past due. Upon discovery, I contacted Macy 's, who then referred me to Citibank, who was indicated as the card issuer. I spoke to a representative at Citibank who advised that there was a {$8.00} balance remaining on the card. She could not offer an explanation of how this account which was closed over 5 years ago with a zero balance suddenly had a {$8.00} balance. However, she was able to refer the matter to another group within Citibank for resolution. 
In XXXX of XXXX, I discovered that Citibank 's " resolution '' was to change the reporting of the account status from " over 120 days past due '' to a " charge off ''. This action was taken despite no one ever being able to explain to me how my account went from a zero balance at the time of closure in XXXX XXXX to having a {$8.00} past due balance in XXXX of XXXX. Upon discovery, I immediately contacted Macy 's, who again referred me to Citibank. Citibank advised that in order to correct the reporting I would need to submit, in writing ( by fax ), a request for correction with an explanation of the circumstances. On XXXX XXXX, XXXX, I submitted the requested information via fax to XXXX. 
On XXXX XXXX, XXXX, I received a letter from Macy 's thanking me for " my inquiry '' and advising that I now need to submit the same information that I faxed on XXXX XXXX by mail to an address in XXXX, OH. Upon receiving this letter I called the number listed to inquire why I was receiving this request. After a long wait, I spoke to an individual who then placed me on hold and connected me with an individual named XXXX in the Citibank XXXX. XXXX looked at my account information and informed me that she could only see information back to XXXX, but that what she could see looked " odd '' to her, as the account was showing closed with no balance up to XXXX XXXX, at which time an {$8.00} balance appeared. XXXX had no explanation for how this could happen, other than she explained that Macy 's often will add a $ XXXXmonth fee to closed accounts. Although, she could not confirm this is what happened to my account, she did say that she had seen it before. 
I requested XXXX 's help in correcting my credit report, however she said her department did not handle that, and that the department that did could not be reached by phone. XXXX checked the notes on my account and found that on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX notation was made that an update had been sent to the credit reporting agencies. However, XXXX was unable to see what the contents of the update were. She offered to have a supervisor / manager call me sometime within the next XXXX5 business days to see if they could provide me with further information. I accepted this and am now waiting for a phone call to come some time within the next XXXX5 business days. 

My issue is still not resolved and it has impacted my credit score negatively by roughly XXXX points. The negative impact has interrupted the process I was going through to refinance my mortgage. 

Given all of this, I am requesting the CFPB 's help to resolve this issue with XXXX Citibank so that the negative ( and false ) reporting to the credit agencies will be fixed post haste.

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