Consumer complaint received 2024-11-06
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems — Problem with rewards from credit card
Company: CITIBANK, N.A. (AZ)

Executive Summary : Citibank closed my credit card account without my knowledge and with no reason, resulting in forfeiture of {$1100.00} cash value worth of rewards points that I had built up over a period more than 10 years. I believe that this is a UDAAP violation, with unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices. The subject credit card has an expiration date of XX/XX/XXXX, I never missed a payment, and I have excellent credit, with credit scores consistently over XXXX. Therefore, there was no legitimate reason to close the account. I tried to reason with the Citibank Customer Service Representatives ( CSR ) and Supervisors for several hours on the phone for a reasonable resolution but to no avail. I believe that this is a common tactic of corporate stonewalling by deterring the consumer to come to a resolution due to many layers of deterrence. This situation is basically a large corporation ( Citibank ) stealing from the consumer ( me, and potentially others with the same situation ). In summary, closing my account and forfeiting my points is effectively theft by Citibank. 


Potential UDAAP violations : While this issue does not pertain to the collection of a consumer debt, the following describes how this situation meets all three of the Applicable Standards for UDAAPs. 

XXXX. Unfair Acts or Practices The Dodd-Frank Act prohibits conduct that constitutes an unfair act or practice. An act or practice is unfair when : ( XXXX ) It causes or is likely to cause substantial injury to consumers ; ( XXXX ) The injury is not reasonably avoidable by consumers ; and ( XXXX ) The injury is not outweighed by countervailing benefits to consumers or to competition. 

The injury is monetary, in the amount of {$1100.00}. I couldnt avoid the injury, as they closed my account and took my points/cash value. 

XXXX. Deceptive Acts or Practices The Dodd-Frank Act also prohibits conduct that constitutes a deceptive act or practice. An act or practice is deceptive when : ( XXXX ) The act or practice misleads or is likely to mislead the consumer ; ( XXXX ) The consumers interpretation is reasonable under the circumstances; and ( XXXX ) The misleading act or practice is material. 

The deceptive act or practice is the stealing ( forfeiture ) of my points for no reason, when I had an open credit card with no delinquencies and good credit. 


XXXX. Abusive Acts or Practices The Dodd-Frank Act also prohibits conduct that constitutes an abusive act or practice. An act or practice is abusive when it : ( XXXX ) Materially interferes with the ability of a consumer to understand a term or condition of a consumer financial product or service; or ( XXXX ) Takes unreasonable advantage of ( A ) a consumers lack of understanding of the material risks, costs, or conditions of the product or service; ( B ) a consumers inability to protect his or her interests in selecting or using a consumer financial product or service; or ( C ) a consumers reasonable reliance on a covered person to act in his or her interests. 

The abusive act or practice is theft of my points that have a cash value of {$1100.00}. 

Additional Details : Prior to filing this complaint, I tried very hard to come to what I thought was a very reasonable resolution to the issue. I simply wanted Citibank to either reinstate my credit card with my points or issue me the cash value of those points at {$1100.00}. As previously stated, I accumulated the points over a period more than 10 years. In XX/XX/XXXX, I called a Citibank CSR and inquired about my points. During that conversation, the CSR informed me that the points never expire. In addition, I was never informed that my account would be closing. In XX/XX/XXXX, I tried to access my account to use some of my points, however, I could not access my points. I then spent over 4 hours talking to several Citibank CSRs and Supervisors over 3 days, from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX. The last person I spoke to was Senior Account Supervisor with Citi Cards in Arizona, with the name of XXXX. In summary, all the CSRs and Supervisors told me that the account had been closed, the points had been forfeited, and there was nothing that they could do. I repeatedly tried to escalate to higher supervisors, but at some point, they refused to escalate it anymore. Here is where I refer to the strategy of corporate stonewalling the strategy of making consumers feel they have no options because the supervisors just basically disregard their reasonable requests. In addition, I strongly believe that this is corporate theft, as CitiBank had no legitimate reason to close my credit card that had an expiration date of XX/XX/XXXX. Again, I have strong credit and never had any delinquencies. 

I bring this to the attention of the CFPB not only to recoup the {$1100.00} that I am entitled to, but to highlight this very unfair practice that could be impacting other consumers. These unfair practices should result in civil money penalties and restitution. 

I am only seeking from Citibank a fair resolution to this issue, which would be one of two options : XXXX ) Reopen the credit card, with my point reestablished, or XXXX ) Issue me a check for the cash value of my points, which is {$1100.00}. 

Details of the subject credit card : Citi Rewards Credit Card XXXX # XXXX Valid Thru date : XX/XX/XXXX