Consumer complaint received 2024-08-26
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Fees or interest — Charged too much interest
Company: CITIBANK, N.A. (MN)

Citi recently changed how they apply their automatic payments between when my statement calculated in XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. Through XXXX, Citi applied your automatic payment amount unless it would result in a credit balance on the account and did not reduce the automatic payment for other payments received. As a result if you paid your account in full but made other charges during the month, the minimum payment would still be deducted. 

In XXXX, Citi began reducing the minimum payment for any payments received. As a result if you made any payment over the minimum payment amount, the minimum payment would not be taken out of your account.

I did not read any notices about this change in automatic payment practices although I acknowledge that Citi may have sent communication. 

As a result, for my XXXX and XXXX statement periods, I paid the full balance less the minimum payments resulting in an unpaid balance equal to my minimum payment both months. This happened to be {$41.00} each month. When I received the statements for each month ( attached ) they showed that the balance subject to interest rate was for an amount significantly higher than my minimum payment amount. 

In the month of XXXX, my previous balance is listed at {$1600.00}, yet in the summary of Balance subject to interest rate on my statement, they show a total of {$3100.00} that is subject to interest, more than my total statement amount. See summary of my XXXX statement below. Because my unpaid balance was {$41.00}, I contest that the balance subject to interest rate should have been the unpaid amount of {$41.00}. 

XXXX Statement : Previous Balance - {$1600.00} Payments Received- {$1500.00} Net Unpaid Balance - {$41.00} Balance subject to interest rate per statement {$2100.00} ( Standard purchases APR 20.49 % ) - Interest charged- {$36.00} {$1500.00} ( XXXX XXXX 9.99 % ) - XXXX Total Interest charged- {$49.00} It appears that I am paying interest on more than the entire balance on my statement for the month, let alone the unpaid balance. 

In XXXX, a similar situation occurs, where the balance subject to interest rate does not match my unpaid balance of {$41.00} and it appears that i am paying interest on {$890.00}. 

XXXX Statement : Previous Balance - {$3000.00} Payments Received- {$3000.00} Net Unpaid Balance - {$41.00} Balance subject to interest rate per statement : {$890.00} ( Standard XXXX XXXX 20.49 % ) -Interest charged {$14.00} Although the unpaid balance in both months was {$41.00}, the interest charged the second month was almost XXXX the amount of the interest charged in the first month. 

I called Citi on XX/XX/XXXX at approximately XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX, to ask for more information regarding how interest was calculated for my account. The representative confirmed several things for me : XXXX. Interest is applied only to your unpaid balance. 
XXXX. Payments are applied first to the oldest transactions on the account. 
XXXX. Interest is not charged on any transactions that are paid in full before the statement due date. 

When I asked her to explain why I was being charged interest on more than the {$41.00} unpaid balance she told me that I was only charged interest on the {$41.00} unpaid balance, and that the Information listed on the balance subject to interest rate is not accurate for the amount we [ Citi ] is billing interest for. 

I asked her to repeat that statement for me and she repeated it and also indicated that it confuses a lot of customers. 

I asked to clarify for me, if I was only charged interest for the unpaid balance on my account and if the unpaid balance in both months was {$41.00}, how was it possible that the interest charged the second month was almost XXXX the first month. She was unable to provide a response. 

I asked that a complaint be formally filed and my interest rates be recalculated. Citi is still responding regarding that, although I would like them to respond to the action taken via this complaint as well. 

The reason I am submitting this complaint while Citi is still responding is due to the lack of transparency and clarity on my statement and the representatives indication that other customers have been confused. Credit card statements should be clear enough for consumers to understand how they are being charged interest.