Consumer complaint received 2022-02-10
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem when making payments — Problem during payment process
Company: CITIBANK, N.A. (VA)

On XX/XX/XXXX, I obtained a XXXX  XXXX XXXX for {$14000.00} with a monthly payment of {$270.00}. On XX/XX/XXXX, a reversal from a denied dispute was posted to my account for a total of {$5900.00} as well as a credit for {$11.00}. There was no previous balance on the account and these were the only transactions between XXXX, which is the billing period of the XX/XX/XXXX statement that showed a minimum payment of {$6300.00} due on XX/XX/XXXX ( notice this minimum is higher than the purchases made and also higher than the sum of the purchases and the Flex Loan payment ). No payment on the XXXX  XXXX was due during this period. I had XXXX interest rates in place : ( i ) Standard purchases at 15.24 %, ( ii ) XXXX  XXXX at 6.99 %, and ( iii ) cash advances at 25.24 %. No balance was subject to any of these interest rates, according to the statement. 

On XX/XX/XXXX ( XXXX days after the billing period of the XX/XX/XXXX statement closed and well before the due date ), I paid the {$6300.00} due. During the next billing period XXXX which corresponds to the XX/XX/XXXX statement, I made purchases for {$1400.00} and had a credit for {$4.00}. The first XXXX  XXXX  payment of {$270.00} also appeared in the account. The statement showed a minimum payment of {$1400.00} due on XX/XX/XXXX which I understood included the XXXX  XXXX  payment ( that is what the supervisor on the phone, XXXX, also told me when I called to inquire ). I had XXXX interest rates in place : ( i ) Standard purchases at 15.24 %, ( ii ) XXXX XXXX at 6.99 %, ( iii ) promotional rate at 1.99 %, and ( iv ) cash advances at 25.24 %. The only balance subject to these interest rates was the XXXX  XXXX, according to the statement. 

On XX/XX/XXXX ( XXXX days after the billing period of the XX/XX/XXXX statement closed and well before the due date ), I paid {$1700.00} ( corresponding to the totality of purchases of the XX/XX/XXXX statement for {$1400.00}, plus the {$270.00} of the XXXX  XXXX  monthly payment ). However, the XX/XX/XXXX statement with billing period XXXX shows that this payment was applied almost exclusively to the XXXX  XXXX  balance, and not the purchases on the previous statement. In fact, the adjusted new balance this month still shows {$1400.00} when no purchases were made during the XX/XX/XXXX statement billing period. Once again, I have the same XXXX rates in place as in the previous month, and the only one showing a balance is the XXXX XXXX. 

When I called to inquire, XXXX, the supervisor, explained to me that if I had made the minimum payment of {$1400.00} due on XX/XX/XXXX, {$270.00} would have gone to the Flex XXXX and the difference to the purchases made during the corresponding billing period. However, with the higher payment of {$1700.00} that I made, almost all went to the XXXX  XXXX and almost nothing to the purchases made. I understand that payments are required to go to the balance with the higher interest rate, but then why if I had made the minimum payment only most of it would have gone to the purchases and just {$270.00} to the Flex Loan, as XXXX explained?