Consumer complaint received 2016-11-22
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: WA
Product: Credit card
Issue: Billing disputes

Complaint:
We were issued a Costco Citi card ( XX/XX/XXXX ) without our authorization when Costco ended its contract with XXXX. We did not want a Citi card and chose not to activate it until we needed to retrieve a credit from an earlier return. On XX/XX/XXXX we activated the card, and instead of finding a credit for {$30.00} we found one for XXXX! And had no idea what that was for or from. I called Citi to find out- was told it was just part of the transition from XXXX and the balance was correct. I called again the next day or so and this time pointed out in detail what my records showed- and that it was NOT a {$990.00} credit. Again I was led to believe it was all a legitimate transaction. We began using the card on XX/XX/XXXX for 1 charges, and not until XXXX for other charges. The figures continued to bug me and I call a 3rd time around XX/XX/XXXX or so, and asked the rep to walk me through that credit and where it was from. The response was pretty much the same : all part of the switch. We decided to spend down that credit then close the account. On XX/XX/XXXX we got a check from Citi for the balance of the credit. This struck me as odd, we did n't ask for it, or expect it. We deposited it in the bank and used it to pay the Citi bill that month. And on XX/XX/XXXX we get a notice from Citi saying the bank had made a mistake, the credit was an error and that we would be expected to pay it back- that charge would show up on the billing for XX/XX/XXXX. We called immediately and over several days have talked with 4 customer service reps - 2 of whom were supervisors. The regular reps can do nothing and really did n't understand the situation. When I explained the mis-leading and false info given to me during several phone call, and ask that the bank take responsibility for what were in fact 4 errors ( the initial deposit, the assurance of the correctness of the statements, the ignoring my insistence on the actual credit, and finally the sending of check for a credit as late as the end of XXXX ) and erase the charge from our current bill, I was told there was no way that could be done. The supervisor today denied that I had made any phone calls until XX/XX/XXXX when apparently I said the XXXX account was closed ... and said their records showed NO phone calls from me except the XXXX one and the one on XX/XX/XXXX. My records do show I called when I said I did, and there is no record that I called on XX/XX/XXXX to tell them something that was not true -the Costco XXXX card expired on XX/XX/2016. 
I feel as if we are being scape-goated, and that I was lied to about phone calls that possibly were deleted from their records. We are in our XXXX and on a fixed income- I ca n't help but wonder if we are n't the perfect demographic for a scam! We have closed the Citi account and returned the cut-up cards to them. Once the Citi cards were issued in XXXX our credit score- excellent for 55 years, dropped several points. We are most distressed with Citi bank.

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