Consumer complaint received 2024-02-12
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Closing your account — Company closed your account
Company: CITIBANK, N.A. (NY)

Hi, In XXXX of XXXX  Citibank closed my " Costco Anywhere '' visa card without my permission.

I called repeatedly to ask them to reopen the card and they refused.

This was very frustrating because they would tell me things like " we can't tell you why we closed your account, you need to wait up to two weeks for a formal letter '' Finally they sent me a letter stating that the account was closed because of an issue with my payments -- which I had already called on the phone to resolve.

I called back and asked them to reopen the account, and they told me they could not, and the stated reason was my credit report. 

This is confusing to me as I had been in good standing with this credit card and always paid it on time. I had even made a payment on XX/XX/XXXX in the amount of {$500.00} and they provided me confirmation that my credit available would increase by {$500.00} at that time. 

A few days later the account was closed. 

So I have the following issues : 1. Citibank unilaterally closed a card I was in good standing with because of an issue with my payments. This has never happened before, and the representatives all told me I could have the account reopened but the account was never reopened.

2. I did not request the card to be closed 3. There is some damage to me as I have been using this " rewards '' card to get credit at Costco. I am now no longer eligible for a 2 % costco rebate due to Citi 's actions.

4. Citi has refused to reopen the account.

5. Citi sent me the attached letter which is not correct.

As I have stated to the citi representative : 1. If my account has been closed, citi should not be charging me a 30 % interest rate ( a credit card rate ). As Citi should be aware, a credit card is a revolving product allowing me to use up to a pre set credit limit and pay it down as I see fit provided I make some minimum monthly payment ( as I have a always done ). At best, what we now have is a loan -- there is a set amount of principal due and the interest rate should conform to loan interest rates which I believe is capped at 9 % in NY State ( so they are committing usury ). 
XXXX. I have offered to let them reinstate my credit card with no hard feelings but they have refused to do so. 
XXXX. As such I dispute the debt and ask them to cease and desist all communications. 
XXXX. The credit card can not be " past due '' because they themselves have closed the account. 
XXXX. This has all been told to Citi representatives yet they insist on calling me and sending unsolicited emails. 

I would therefore demand that either a ) citi reinstates my Costco card with full privileges and no late period ( as they have caused the same ) or b ) ceases and desists all contact with me until such time as they reinstate the credit card, as they did not have my permission to close the account.

Additionally, as they closed the account on their own they should no longer report this as an account to the credit bureaus, and I plan on using this complaint as evidence of such. 

Again, they have unilaterally modified the contract and are thus in default. If they don't want me as a customer then they can forgive the debt. Otherwise they should reopen the account and give me all normal privileges associated with this account. 

Thank you, XXXX