Consumer complaint received 2015-05-14
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: VA
Product: Credit card
Issue: Other fee

Complaint:
I have had a credit card account with CITI for over 7 years. For quite some time I have noticed a monthly {$8.00} charge applied to my account from " XXXX '' as the description in my monthly statements. I always assumed this charge had something to do with the interest charged to my account for carrying a balance month-to-month. I am a XXXX year-old, XXXX female, with little-to-no prior history and knowledge of credit card companies and finances. In fact, this was my first ever credit card. After recently going through my financial situation with my husband, we both became suspicious as to the true nature of this monthly fee and decided to investigate further. 
I contacted CITI on XX/XX/XXXX via online chat to discuss this re-occurring charge. The first representative I spoke to- by the name of XXXX- indicated that " Watchguard '' was in no way affiliated with CITI Bank and that I would have to contact them directly to question the service. This was somewhat puzzling to me as a simple XXXX search yielded at least XXXX different documents seemingly linking the " XXXX '' service and CITI Bank. After numerous questions, XXXX continued to deny any affiliation between the XXXX entities and urged me to contact " XXXX '' directly at the number provided in the line item of the charge description on my credit card statement. Shortly after this online conversation, I spoke with a representative from " XXXX '' by the name of XXXX, who indicated that he was from the Ohio office location. After describing my particular situation, he proceeded to confirm to me that " XXXX '' service was contracted by CITI and used as a way for people to protect their accounts from stolen cards and fraudulent transactions. Further, he described the method in which the " XXXX '' service was automatically placed on my account in XX/XX/XXXX as a free trial service, to which I was then supposedly required to opt-out of the service before the trial period ended in order to avoid future monthly charges. 33 months later and here we are, {$8.00} charged to my account every month for a service that I never even knowingly opted-in to. 
Aside from feeling like I have been totally taken advantage of for the last three years, my husband and I really feel as though this service and corresponding monthly fee is both unfair and deceptive. The manner in which this service is first introduced as a " free trial period '' and automatically applied to a consumer 's account is in no way reasonably avoidable in our opinion. To put it simply, there is just no way I would have ever knowingly entered into any kind of arrangement like this. I really feel as though I was unknowingly coerced into purchasing this unwanted product/service. 
Looking back, I am aware that I should have questioned this charge much sooner than now, but have nothing but my lack of knowledge and inexperience with credit card companies and finances to blame. I am not nave enough to believe that I will ever see any of the full {$290.00} that was charged to my account over the years for this service. In fact, as of today I have paid of the entire outstanding balance on my credit card and am seriously considering closing my account with CITI. It is hard to feel any other way but disappointed in how this has all played out. It seems totally unreasonable to me that a credit card company ( or affiliate ) could place a service like this onto an account without consent and then continually charge the very same customer after not taking specific action to opt-out of the service before the " trial '' period ends. My hope is that the CFPB at least takes notice of this service offered by CITI and investigates the matter further.

Company public response: Company chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief