Consumer complaint received 2023-02-27
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: WA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Advertising and marketing, including promotional offers
Sub-issue: Confusing or misleading advertising about the credit card

Complaint:
I had a Citibank " Simplicity '' card with Citibank, dating back to XX/XX/XXXX XXXX ( when I established the account with them ). Everything was fine and well, until XXXX when Citibank was hounding me with multiple ( at least 5-8 times a week ) emails to convert over to their " Citibank Cash Back Rewards '' account/credit card. At one point I attempted to unsubscribe from the emails but couldn't because they were " account '' related... so finally in XX/XX/XXXXXXXX I went to review what the card had to offer and see why it was so much better. I went from the email through to their website and filled out the information to review the card - and basically went through the application process. IMMEDIATELY, after getting through the submission I saw some vast differences between the two credit cards and immediately recognized that the new card was NOT beneficial to me, carried a higher interest rate and had additional fees and charges that were not something I wanted to have. So I immediately, within seconds, opened up my Citibank Account App and contacted Customer Service via chat and I explained that I had just gone through the process but decided that I did not want to complete this transaction/process and requested that they cancel the request. The CS agent said it wasn't a problem, it hadn't gone through and even if it did, it would be pending review and they'd flag it and it wouldn't happen. Fast forward several days, I received email communication congratulating me on making the switch to their Cash Back Rewards Card... so I IMMEDIATELY went into my App, back into Chat and told them - no, like I had said before, I DID NOT want to make this switch and had contacted them days before to resolve this issue. They said, oh sorry about that- it was okay, that I had 45 days to inform them and I had done so. So I am like okay, all taken care of. Fast forward a little further and the card shows up to my address... I DO NOT activate the card and I get back on the App and chat with CS again, telling them hey this is now the 3rd time I've reached out regarding this, read the previous chat history... I DO NOT want to change my account. I've reached out and said, I do not authorize this change and had already contacted them regarding it. Then again, a 4th time... I go into the App and see that Citibank had changed the " skin '' ( look and feel ) in the App to now reflect the colors and name of my account to " Citibank Cash Back Rewards '' ( no longer my Simplicity ) and tell them for the 4th time... I do not want this card, I've cut up the new one because I am NOT going to activate it. I've reached out through their App / Chat and spoken to CS several times at this point. By XXXX, nothing changed ... they kept everything the same. Then, I encounter some financial challenges ( due to changes in my household income ), try to reach out to Citibank to make payment arrangements via chat and they respond to tell me I have to call CS to handle that request. So I call to try to resolve this first issue, because again, I'm not going to make a payment on this new card / plan when it was NOT the interest rate or T 's & C 's from my original account... and to MY detriment am now being charged higher interest rates, getting fees and charges on top that were NOT applicable to my original account. Now as of today, XX/XX/XXXX my account is past due ... and I spent 2, yes TWO hours on the phone with 10, yes, TEN customer service people on TWO calls ... in an attempt to resolve the issue with the conversion on my account that I, in good faith tried to IMMEDIATELY resolve upon reading and understanding the issues with this new card ... By the 10th Customer Service person that I spoke to today, was told there is " nothing they can do to help me '' and " no one else that I can speak to ''. No Supervisor, no one in their Corporate Offices, no one in their Call Center... just that they could file a complain for me. She couldn't give me a case number. All she could do was tell me, my name is XXXX and my number is XXXX XXXX XXXX ( guessing that's her employee number? ) - she honestly couldn't even guarantee that anyone would contact me from " their back office ''. So ... here I am, Citibank 's Customer, after reaching out within their 45 days ... via their own App... and their own Customer Service to try and resolve this and am being charged, late payments, am getting negative marks on my credit AND on top of it all, can not speak to a person to help me. Then. To add insult to injury, Citibank 's automated " collection '' calls me like 25 TIMES A DAY in an attempt to collect the {$410.00} that they say is past due. But again, I can not pay on an account that I have not agreed to, I'm not going to pay them when they are the ones who created the mess to begin with. Had they left my account alone and the " Simplicity '' card and two left the interest and the right account fees/charges. But instead, they're taking FULL advantage of me by moving me into a more harmful card/program and then basically ignoring my MANY attempts to fix it WITH THEM. How is this not predatory and harmful? I can't even set-up a payment arrangement like I have with my other credit cards ( who have all been wonderful by the way, who were so quick to get me into lower interest rates, payment plan so that it DOESN'T affect me/and my credit ) ... instead I get to waste HOURS of my time on the phone with people who can't help me and I'm getting harassed all hours of the day with their phone calls. I'm like didn't I in good faith do my part originally? Didn't they not hold up their end of this? Like, why offer a chat and CS when you are going to just lie or not take care of your customers? How come I have to spend 2 hours of my day, speaking to 10 different agents who are employees of your company, to only be told " sorry nothing we can do '' .... Like this is INSANE!!!!!! It's almost criminal this whole thing ... from the harassing emails to switch your account to what THEY want and then make it so difficult to contact them or find resolution. Absolutely horrendous business practices and because they're a bank, they just get away with it all while it's just harming me more. SICK. Please HELP!!!!

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