Consumer complaint received 2017-02-13
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: FL
Product: Credit card
Issue: Unsolicited issuance of credit card

Complaint:
Sometime in spring or summer of XX/XX/XXXX, Costco Wholesale Club & Citi credit cards open an unauthorized credit card in my name. Once the account was opened they UNJUSTLY ENRICHED both Citi & Costco by charging fees that were never authorized. In XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX was fined {$180.00} XXXX for fraudulently opening accounts in a similar manner. see- https : XXXX? XXXX In all of XX/XX/XXXX, Citi & Costco failed to send and have me acknowledge credit cards by activating them. Citi & Costco posted unauthorized fees on the account to unjustly enriched either Costco or Citibank. 

The fees charged to the account were never : 1. authorized by me. 
2. for any tangible or consumable product whatsoever, they were only for intangible membership fees, service fees or late fees provided either by Costco or Citibank XXXX 

On XX/XX/XXXX I received my first communication from Citibank concerning this account in the form of a statement which was now one month PAST DUE with late fees and service charges. 

I was outraged at this fraud for the following reasons : 1. I never authorized this account. 
2. I never activated the any credit card for it. 
3. I never authorized any charges to this account since I did not know it existed as an open and active account. 
4. I have another account with Citibank which is in good standing and I do get my statements from them on that account. 
5. I have an exceptional credit score, this fraud against my name account will damage my credit. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I called the Citibank customer service line. I complained about this and disputed the bogus charges and the late fees which would unjustly and enrich both Citi & Costco. The customer service agent taking the call agreed to refund the all charges and fees and offered to send me out a credit card for this account if I wanted to keep it open by activating it. I agreed to keep it open on the condition that they would show it current and refund the unauthorized charges. The card was sent out and received the first week in XX/XX/XXXX 

On XX/XX/XXXX I went online to view this account and saw that nothing had been credited back to it. I then called customer service at Citibank again explain the situation a second time and disputed the charges a second time. Once again Citibank agreed to refund the fraudulent charges. In addition to that they got a Costco representative on the recorded line and the Costco represented it agreed to refund their charges. 

The Costco representative further directed me to go into the a Costco store and pay a membership if I desired to be a member. I have been a member of Costco since the year XX/XX/XXXX and I expressed outrage it how they could do this. The Costco representative advised that I had an XXXX XXXX card and Costco used to honor XXXX XXXX ... Costco discontinued that relationship with XXXX XXXX and had allowed XXXX XXXX to " sell me '' to Citibank. I did not know that becoming a Costco member somehow made me an " indentured servant '' with no constitutional or consumer rights where one of their vendors could actually " sell me '' to another as if I was some sort of slave. I seriously doubt that this explanation is legal. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I logged on and checked this account. Proper credits were not made and it was still past due. 

I an seeking remedy and damages since the company is ignoring the opportunity to remedy their unjust activity. I clearly no longer wish to be a Costco member since they 're engaged and a " course of conduct '' which constitutes fraud and unjustly enrichment of Costco and / or Citibank.

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