Consumer complaint received 2016-08-07
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NY
Product: Credit card
Issue: Late fee

Complaint:
I am writing to complain about the refusal of Citi Bank to cancel interest and penalty charges improperly added to my Citi MasterCard account. 
I have had a Citi card for over twenty years. My practice has been to pay the full balance of the card every month, as shown on my printed statements, so I will not incur interest or penalty charges. During the last year, I have twice been required to cancel my card because of fraudulent charges, quite possibly as a result of inadequate security arrangements of Citi Bank. The second of these cancellations occurred XX/XX/2016. At the time, I paid Citi all amounts then properly due -- that is, the amounts for all purchases I had made, but not the fraudulent charges made by someone else -- and Citi removed those charges from my bill. Citi then sent me a new card, which I have not activated. Since XX/XX/XXXX, I have made no charges and have had no working Citi card. 
After XX/XX/XXXX, without my permission, Citi stopped sending me printed statements for my expired card. I did not miss receiving these statements because I assumed that, my account having been cancelled after I paid all outstanding charges, no more was due. But Citi charged me for several purchases, totaling {$180.00}, that I had made but had not been posted to my account at the time the card was cancelled. I was unaware of those charges and so did not pay them. Citi then began adding interest and penalty charges to the amount they claimed. They now claim that I owe them {$320.00}, far more than the charges I actually incurred. {$180.00}. 
I received no adequate notification of these charges, interest, or penalties. Citi sent me only electronic notifications. I have all my bills arrive by hard copy. I receive dozens of email business solicitations every day, do not read them, and have never agreed to be billed electronically by Citi or anyone else. Citi sent me nothing in writing, and did not call to ask me why such a reliable customer had stopped paying. 
In addition, I had accumulated {$82.00} of Citi dividend dollars, which can be used toward one 's payment of a bill. Citi now claims that I have forfeited this {$82.00}, which I think is not proper. The entire situation happened as a result of the fraudulent use of my card and the need to cancel it. 
Citibank has refused even to consider removing the interest and penalty charges, which resulted from security breaches in my Citi account, and which I do not owe because I never received proper written notice of the sums originally due. Since I discovered this problem on XXXX XXXX, 2016, I have been told by XXXX different Citi representatives that they lack the power to make such adjustments. To speak with these representatives, I had to make at least seven telephone calls, during about half of which my connection to Citi was abruptly cut. One representative promised me that a supervisor would telephone me within 36 hours, but this did not happen. All in all, I have spent at least four hours on the phone trying to resolve this matter. I have offered to pay the full amount of the charges that I had made, {$180.00}, and to forfeit my {$82.00} in dividend dollars as well. Citi insists that all charges on the account including interest and penalties are mine and can not be removed. 
So far as I can tell from the credit card agreement, my only recourse against Citi at this point is to start arbitration proceedings, for which I would apparently have to pay a {$200.00} filing fee. Meanwhile, my failure to pay what Citi demands could damage my credit rating, which until now has been unimpaired. 
I am therefore requesting that Citi cancel all the interest and penalties they are now claiming, at which point I will be glad to pay the {$180.00} in underlying charges.

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