Consumer complaint received 2018-11-30
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card debt
Issue: False statements or representation
Sub-issue: Attempted to collect wrong amount

Complaint:
I got a scary voicemail from a phone number in XXXX, CA stating they were from XXXX XXXX XXXX ( they also called themselves " XXXX '' ) and that I owed a past due amount of {$2400.00} for a Best Buy credit account which was initially closed in XXXX. I get a lot of weird scam calls so admittedly I don't always check my voicemails or answer my phone. Upon looking at my call log, the first call from them was about a week ago. I saved the most recent voicemail, I got two of them from two different numbers ( the other number was an XXXX number ) stating that there was an order out to seize my assets/bank account. 

Anyway when I saw the local number from California I got suspicious and called them. The guy who answered claimed to be a certain XXXX XXXX ( he even gave me a number and extension to reach him : XXXX extension XXXX and saying that I owed this amount and that I had 72 hours to respond and that it was recommended I give an answer today. My choices were either to settle with " his attorneys '' for a lower amount paid all at once ( he suggested {$1500.00} which is still a staggering amount of money for a card on which I didn't owe more than {$500.00} at any given time ), or to work out a payment plan over the course of six months for the full amount. He said if I didn't respond, I would be served in court and have to pay the full amount all at once. 

I asked about any details regarding the actual amount due minus the interest, what the percentage of interest was, when this all occurred, etc. I explained that the last I heard of this account, which I initially opened in I think XXXX or thereabouts, I had paid it off somewhere in the range of $ 200-300. I said I remembered talking to someone around XXXX and requesting that the account be closed and that they stop calling. Even back THEN I kinda thought it was weird and thought I had already closed the account, but I paid it. And as far as I could tell, they then left me alone, whoever it was, although I don't recall getting any confirmation of this, which again ... in hindsight- is weird. I've moved a lot but I would have noticed something in the mail, and they never called me ( and I've had the same phone number for 15 years ). However, I never heard anything else about it after this. 

I eventually got my finances cleaned up a bit over the course of the past decade or so. For example, I applied for, and got, a mortgage in XXXX, at which point my FICA score was in the 600s, I was able to obtain a couple of credit cards, I got back on track financially ... so this was out of left field and extremely traumatizing to me. When I asked why all of this was able to occur despite this supposedly outstanding debt, he got a bit aggressive with me and said " well all of that would be taken away from you if you don't pay this. '' He also threw around the phrase " defrauding a financial institution. '' Furthermore, when I applied for the mortgage I distinctly remember having to explain a couple of late credit card payments, due to issues with my XXXX account, moving across the country and switching banks ... just life happening, basically. I don't remember there being anything about a Best Buy credit card on any of that paperwork. I would have noticed and resolved it then. When I asked this guy why it hadn't come up, like I said, he couldn't give me a straight answer. 

He also claimed they sent me a letter 45 days ago and gave my new address ( I recently moved to LA and filled out a change of address form at the post office and everything ) and I said yes it would have gone to that address, but that I'm pretty sure I didn't get anything there ... again, I would have noticed. I asked if they could send me any documentation about this and he said they'd already sent it and that now it would just have to go to the " processing department '' or something like that. 

The whole time we're having this conversation, he's making it sound like I'm a fraud, like I'm totally crazy or something, like I have no idea what I'm talking about. It was incredibly traumatic as somebody whose past due bills actually HAVE gone to collections and who had to defer my student loans and almost filed for bankruptcy in about XXXX. I was practically crying. I am also a transgender man and legally changed my name and gender marker back in XXXX, but he still had my old name and initially called me ma'am, which was really unsettling to me. 

I finally got off the phone, I had to LEAVE WORK EARLY because I was so rattled by this and couldn't focus for the rest of the day. So I get home, and he calls me AGAIN and was like, " Well? We're waiting for your answer on how you will resolve this '' and I was just like, wait a minute, you're asking me to pay this arbitrary amount of money within A DAY that it took you guys FOUR YEARS to apparently uncover ...? I haven't  had time to talk to anybody. 

Things escalated and I told him, just stop calling and leave me alone. I said I don't know what I will do about this but please stop calling and leave me alone. He hung up and then called back a few minutes later, I yelled at him again, he hung up and then called back almost immediately ... I answered, and he said he would send everything straight to " processing '' ( to serve me, I guess ...? _ ( ) _/ ) if I didn't respond. 

I tried to have yet another conversation with him to get clarity and he was evasive and kept saying things like " this is YOUR debt, this is YOUR problem '' when I told him to have some empathy for me and realize that he totally blindsided me and dug up literally a decade-old part of my financial history that I would like nothing more than to leave behind. 

So I don't know if this guy is legit but he kept saying " you can look us up, we have an A+ rating with the XXXX XXXX XXXX '' and was acting really shady. Whether or not this is a real thing or a scam, I'm beyond disgusted at the soulless people who prey on the poor. I blocked all the phone numbers I could and will continue blocking. If they serve me, I guess I'll figure out what to do then, but until that point, wow, just wow. 

I don't know how people like this sleep at night. The system is beyond broken. I'm XXXX years old and I'm pretty sure that 20 years ago, I was promised a better future than this. I don't know what happened to me today but I want someone to listen.

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