Consumer complaint received 2015-07-21
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CT
Product: Credit card
Issue: Balance transfer

Complaint:
This is regarding a Citi Cards ( Citi Bank ) deceptive and fraudulent practice. My account was at a XXXX balance and I was offered a balance transfer offer at 0 % interest for about 18 months ( until XX/XX/XXXX ). I thought that this was a good offer and decided to take it. I read the terms/conditions and called Customer Service no less than XXXX or XXXX times to get clarification on said terms/conditions. I was told that the offer was good for the time period stated and I would not be charged any interest on the transferred balance during that time. The numerous Reps that I spoke to also clarified the terms regarding new purchases-that if I paid the Outstanding Balance of any new purchases by the statement due date then I would not be subject to any interest charges and that interest on new purchases would only apply if I did not pay for all purchases on the due date. That is why I decided to take the balance transfer offer since I would not be subject to interest charges until XXXX and I would not be subject to interest on purchases if I paid the purchases by the statement due date. This is what the terms/conditions stated and what was clarified numerous times by their Reps before I took the offer. I transferred a balance of {$3900.00} and a 3 % balance transfer fee ( {$110.00} ) was assessed for a total of {$4100.00}. After taking advantage of the offer, I also made purchases during that billing period for around {$1600.00}. Upon receiving my statement I also again spoke to several Reps regarding the amount that I needed to pay to avoid interest charges since the Payment Due Amount was a minimum payment of {$75.00}. And I was told the same thing every time-that I needed to pay all new purchases in order to avoid interest. Some Reps added the {$75.00} minimum payment to the new purchases while some did not. However, to be on the " safe side '' I added the {$75.00} minimum payment to the purchases and made the payment of {$1700.00}. When the new statement for XX/XX/XXXX due arrived, I noticed that there were interest charges on my account which should not be since I had made my payments as required. Now I am being given a host of different answers as to why there are interest charges on my account. There should not be any charges for interest for that billing period and I can not believe that a company like Citi Bank would apply these blatantly fraudulent charges to my account. Now they are trying to tell me that I have to pay the entire balance in order to not be charged interest. Why would I take this offer if I were expected to pay in full the 0 % balance transfer amount which they stated was good through XX/XX/XXXX? This should not be allowed. You can not say one thing and then apply another and expect us to pay for this. I specifically asked about all this before I took the offer and made purchases. XXXX Rep even stated that my statement/account would reflect a breakdown between the balance transfer and the purchases and I would know exactly how much to pay. Sadly, that was not the case which was the reason why I had to call in so many times after I received the statement in order to get a determination on the actual amount that needed to be paid by XXXX. I try to be a good customer, I pay my bills on time and only want to be treated fairly and for Citi Bank to honor its obligations just like I honor mine. That is not asking for too much. How do they expect me to pay an entire balance that was stated to me would not be subject to interest charges until XXXX months later. If I was n't told this, do you think I would bite off more than I can chew? No, I do n't do that. Nothing was mentioned that I could n't use my card for purchases at the same time. They just like to tease the customer with all these veiled offers and pull the veil away later. Not fair at all! This is a fraudulent and deceptive Bait and Switch practice which must not and can not continue.

Company public response: Company chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief