Consumer complaint received 2023-09-07
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: AZ
Product: Credit card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Problem with customer service

Complaint:
Today I added my new XXXX XXXX Citibank credit card to my XXXX XXXX. I attempted to do the verification with my phone number and with a phone call and neither of which went through in the XXXX XXXX XXXX, and then told me to call Citibank to verify my card I then made contact with Citibank and gave them my information including my phone number in order to verify my account. At that point I was told that my phone number that I have had for the last 10 years and that is in my name does not meet the verification criteria. I then ask them what the criteria is for a phone number and they would not tell me, we went through the other verification options which only included having city bank accounts other than the credit card in other words I had no options to verify my account even though I can provide them with all of my information including my phone number and an email to send a one time pass code to, and they would not. Making me concerned that in the future if I have an issue with my credit card or if my account does get hacked by someone that I will not be able to access it because they told me my only option in this scenario is that they have to mail me a one time pass code which could take 5 to 10 business days. In my mind. This is absolutely unacceptable. If something was happening to my account, and someone was doing some thing, I would have absolutely no access to my account other than receiving a letter in the mail during which time any number of things could happen, none of which are good I am filing this investigation because I believe this practice to be unacceptable and prohibitive of using a credit card, I had originally got this credit card to make a purchase this week and now I am unable to do that because I am waiting on a pass code because they could not verify me through my phone number and kept asking if I had any other phone numbers under my name which is another privacy concern of mine is how they are verifying the name on an account of a phone provider without my consent. That was very disconcerting. Every agent by the end of the call told me there is nothing else I can do to verify my account other than receive the letter. I couldve provided them any number of pieces of information, but at the end of the day I dont believe it to be acceptable that they can not verify me through my own phone number that I have had for a decade, that is under my name and all they could tell me is it doesnt mean theyre verification criteria. Under no circumstances talking to those five people what they tell me what that verification criteria was or how I could meet it. This is unacceptable practice of verification, making it impossible to access. Your account is dangerous and I would like a response from Citibank explaining to me why this happened to me and how its not gon na happen again in the future if they would like to keep my business I run a XXXX XXXX XXXX and I make a lot of purchases throughout the year and this is going to be my main credit card for the foreseeable future and right now I dont see that happening.

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