Consumer complaint received 2016-12-14
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA
Product: Credit card
Issue: Other

Complaint:
XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX there was fraudulent activity on my Best Buy credit account. XX/XX/XXXX I filed a police report, notified Best Buy of the specific fraudulent charges and asked Best Buy to close their credit card. The card was closed, my credit balance was set to {$0.00} and the resulting investigation deemed fraud had occurred. My credit reports ( XXXX, XXXX, XXXX ) have reported the account closure and balance accurately since then. 

XX/XX/XXXX ( over a year later ), I applied for a new Best Buy credit. I was declined a new card, and received a letter dated XX/XX/XXXX stating, " ... we were unable to approve your application ... for the following reasons : Recent credit performance on your existing account. '' I called the Best Buy New Accounts department, who informed me my account was flagged as not being in good standing and there was no indication it was closed due to fraud. I then had a series of phone calls over the next few weeks with the Best Buy Security Operations and Best Buy Fraud department to explain the situation many times - my credit was perfect, and fraud had occurred. Around XX/XX/XXXX I finally reached a nice gentleman over the phone in the Security Operations team named XXXX who assured me he understood the mistake which occurred and would clear up the matter. He said the correct information about fraud, which was noted on my account, would be conveyed to the new accounts department and I would be issued a new Best Buy credit card by XX/XX/XXXX or so. 

While eagerly awaiting my new credit card, on Friday, XX/XX/XXXX I instead received a letter from Best Buy Security Operations dated XX/XX/XXXX which read, " We have completed our investigation regarding your claim of unauthorized use. Unfortunately, based on our review, we have determined that you are responsible for the charges in question ... You did not identify disputed charges. '' I had never requested another investigation into the charges on my credit card from XX/XX/XXXX. I had asked Best Buy to investigate the lack of accurate information shared across departments. But instead the Fraud department had " re-investigated '' the fraud allegations from XX/XX/XXXX. In fact, this re-investigation never occurred, at least not with my involvement. I was never contacted about the charges on the card from XX/XX/XXXX. Someone simply decided to label the charges as not fraudulent. I called Best Buy that same Friday and found that, although my credit card was still closed, it now had a balance of over {$3600.00} on it ( all the fraudulent charges from XX/XX/XXXX ). The lady on the phone asked if I wanted yet another investigation, which would temporarily set my balance to zero. I said yes. And my balance is now XXXX. But how long will this last? Until the " investigation '' finds no fraud occurred again? 

On Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX I called Security Operations again, and I was transferred to XXXX on the Fraud team. XXXX said this was a Security Operations issue, not a Fraud issue. Wary of being bounced back and forth like a basketball, I asked her to look at all the notes on the account. She said she had never seen anything like it before. There were notes stating there was fraud determined last year after the initial investigation in XX/XX/XXXX. And she said because I " launched '' another investigation this year, there were also notes stating there was no fraud found. XXXX said it was clearly marked as a fraud case in XX/XX/XXXX, and there was no indication of details about why the charges did not remain marked as fraud after the " investigation '' in XX/XX/XXXX. 

I was a victim of fraud, plain and simple. Best Buy determined that to be the case decisively in XX/XX/XXXX.

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