Consumer complaint received 2017-08-20
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Trouble with how payments are being handled

Complaint:
Please find below text from a letter that I sent to Citibank which summarizes my correspondence with them ( I have deleted my personal information, per above instructions ) : To Whom It May Concern : This note is in regards to my federal student loans through Citibank. I graduated from XXXX school in XXXX, 2005. I relocated from the XXXX XXXX area to XXXX for a job. Meanwhile, several months later, my first loan payment came in the mail to my folk 's address in XXXX. My mother forwarded my Citibank statement to me in XXXX. Upon opening my statement, I saw that the due date was just a few days away. I knew that sending the check in the mail from XXXX could take several days, so I called Citibank to ask about my payment options to be sure my payment would be received on time. I knew that I needed to send in each payment on time to receive a 1 % decrease in the interest rate ( 2.75 % to 1.75 % ). I figured there would be options for submitting the payment on time, either overnight delivery or perhaps to make the payment over the phone during the conversation with the Citibank employee. In speaking with the representative, I noticed that the statement had two dates written at the bottom, one called " due date '' and the other date marked " late if not paid by. '' The Citibank employee I spoke with reassured me that as long as my payment was received by the second date, it would be considered " on time. '' I told her I was not concerned about a late fee, per se, but that my main concern was getting the payment in on time to be sure I would be eligible for the decrease in interest rate after my first year of payments were received on time. She assured me again that my payment would be considered " on time '', even if the mailing from XXXX took a couple extra days. She said it would be acceptable and I would still be eligible for the 1 % reduction in interest rate as long as the payment arrived before the second date listed on the statement. As I said before, I was very concerned that my payments would be on time so that I would qualify for the decrease in interest rate when the time came. I was so concerned that I called Citibank 's customer service on several occasions to verify that this would happen. Each time I called I asked the same questions about my statement. There were always two dates at the bottom of the statement on the payment coupon, one that said " due date '' and the other that said " late if not received by. '' ( the dates were usually a few days apart ). Each time I called I was reassured that my payments were considered " on time '' and " not late. '' I reiterated over and over again that my purpose for double, triple checking the " due date ( s ) '' was because I needed to send the payments on time to qualify for the interest rate reduction. Then, when it was time for my interest rate to be reduced form 2.75 % to 1.75 %, I called Citibank to inquire about it. The person on the phone told me that I did not qualify for the interest rate reduction because " all my payments had been late. '' This did not make sense since I had submitted 100 % of my payments on time ( perhaps Citibank has a delay in processing payments that are received on time? ). I feel that perhaps my phone calls with the representatives who gave me the information about the due dates and reassured me that all my payments were " on time '' may have been recorded for customer service training and/or quality assurance. When I called again and explained the entire situation, the representative apologized, looked up my account, and agreed that my payments were indeed paid on time, and assured me that the situation would be rectified. I have not heard from Citibank since then. I recently called once again and mentioned all of this to someone at Citibank, and she recommended I submit this letter. I had called and even submitted online inquiries as to how long customer service related inquiry phone calls might be saved, as I knew if these calls were reviewed, surely my interest rate reduction would have to be honored. I know it has been some time that has elapsed since all this has taken place ; however, I would still like the problem to be resolved. I acted under guidance and advice of Citibank employees, and since I followed their instructions and sent in every payment on time, the decrease in interest rate should have occurred. I sincerely hope that someone at Citibank can help resolve this issue. Thank you for your time,

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