Consumer complaint received 2017-01-17
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NY
Product: Credit card
Issue: Closing/Cancelling account

Complaint:
I am writing because my Citibank XXXX card account that I have had open for over 16 years was closed without warning and with no opportunity to appeal the decision. It came as a complete surprise when I found that my account had been closed. Calling to try to request reopening the account and to explain what had happened was even more frustrating as there was no real process or means to have my story heard and have the situation rectified. 

About a month ago ( XXXX XXXX ) I got an email from my dad 's secretary that Citibank was trying to reach me and they left a number. I called the number and the person on the phone told me that I should pay approx. {$150.00}. I could not understand why a creditor would be coming after for me for such a small amount so I thought maybe it was some type of scam. ( If you have access to this call, you can listen for yourself ). In order to make sure this was not a scam, I told the person on the phone that I would pay through my online account. Unfortunately, I was locked out of my online account and when I called to get a new password, they told me I needed my debit card. When I gave them my debit card number, they told me it was n't the most recent because citi had sent me another card. I did n't know what they were talking about so I just asked them to send a new card. I 'm sure you can see all of this in my account notes. I never received that debit card and a couple weeks passed before there was another call to my dad 's office. This again was strange that they were not calling my cell phone but an office where I did not even work. I told them I would pay as soon as I received my card and had access to my account. I was not told anything about the possibility of my account being shut down. I also received no emails or online messages that my account would be shut down. I had assumed that my credit card account had been in autopay which it has always been on, but I 'm guessing after a period of dormant activity that the autopay was turned off. Approximately a week later I received my new debit card, logged into my account and paid my balance fully. I then asked if I could speak to someone about having the late fees on my account waived. It was then that they informed me that my account had been shut down and there was no way to reopen it. This is an account that I have had open since XXXX XXXX. There was absolutely no one to look into reopening to my account and no investigation as to why it had been closed. Whomever I was speaking to on the phone ( wherever they were located in the world ) did not have enough communication skills to warn me about my account closing and tell me what was actually happening and came across instead as someone trying to perpetrate a fraud against my account. Now because I was trying to be safe with my money and because Citibank could not effectively warn me that my account would be closed, I will have a HUGE ding to my credit score and no opportunity to explain or rectify this situation through a process. 

As further proof that I was not sufficiently warned, I received the email ( see below ) on XXXX XXXX from Citibank letting me know my monthly statement was available. It said nothing about shutting down an account. There was a Statement summary with a statement date of XXXX XXXX, XXXX. The statement balance was {$990.00}. The minimum payment due was {$200.00}. The Payment due date was XXXX XXXX, XXXX. I paid off the full balance on XXXX XXXX, XXXX. So why was my account closed? You can also see why I would be in no rush to pay off my balance to someone over the phone when I received an email like this.

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