Consumer complaint received 2016-07-20
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NY
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Account opening, closing, or management

Complaint:
In XXXX 2016, I opened a Citigold checking account. I signed up for it because of an advertised promotion that promised XXXX miles would be credited to my AAdvantage account that was linked with my Citi AAdvantage credit card. The requirements of the bonus were : use the bill pay feature in two different months and spend {$1000.00} on the account 's debit card within three months of account opening. I read the terms of this promotion very carefully when signing up for the Citigold checking account, and there was no language indicating any reason that I would not have been eligible for this promotion. 

After I completed these requirements and waited until the next billing period on my AAdvantage card, I was concerned that I did not receive the miles yet. I asked Citi customer support when I could expect to receive the reward from the promotion. I received a response that contained this [ excerpt ] : " Within 60 days after account opening you completed 1 qualifying bill payment to the new checking account during a calendar month and during the following calendar month.The bonus ThankYou points will be credited within 90 days from the end of the statement period in which you complete all offer requirements. For your records, the promotion code is XXXX. '' However, I knew this was a different promotion and I was confused by their response, so I wrote back to ask about the AAdvantage miles promotion. The response from Citi was the following [ excerpt ] : " I apologize that you were given misinformation in the previous message. You enrolled in the promotion XXXX for XXXX XXXX miles. However, you were not targeted for this promotion. Please note, enrollment does not guarantee qualification. While Citi does offer XXXX miles promotions at times, this offer is available only to targeted Citi card members who received the offer via a direct communication from Citi either by mail or email. Our records show you are not a targeted client. '' There was no language in the terms and conditions of the promotion stating this requirement about being " targeted '', and I would not have signed up for the account if I had any knowledge that I was ineligible for the promotion. From my research in the CFPB database of complaints, it seems that many other consumers signed up for Citigold accounts due to this advertisement of miles and were also bait-and-switched by Citi with a similar change of terms. Additionally, I am being charged {$30.00} in fees each month to keep the account open. 

I have explained this to Citi and they have opened an investigation into the issue. I asked for clarification about what this means and when the issue could be resolved, but was not given any specifics -- only that investigations would be addressed in the order they are received, and that due to an " overwhelming amount of promotion inquires we are experiencing delayed response times ''. Interesting, I wonder why an overwhelming amount of promotion inquiries -- could it be because CitiBank is failing to honor their end of the promotional agreement? 

After reading many other complaints on the CFPB database about other consumers in the same situation with no resolution, I feel very compelled to write this complaint to make others aware of CitiBank 's false advertising and bait-and-switch tactics.

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 non-monetary relief