Consumer complaint received 2024-06-14
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Fees or interest — Charged too much interest
Company: CITIBANK, N.A. (CA)

Note : I am not aware of the 'exact ' dates of some of the transactions, just because I don't have access to those details via my online account. 

I made a purchase using a Wayfair Credit Card ( issuer : Citibank ), some time in XXXX XXXX. This was the first and only time I used this card, as I opened this card specifically for this purchase. Immediately after making a purchase, I set up my credit card on Autopay. 

I did not access my account again until earlier this year, on XX/XX/XXXX, to make another purchase. On reviewing the account, it appeared as if my original loan amount had not changed. I proceeded to review my statements from prior months only to find out that interest was being assessed on my account since XX/XX/XXXX, even though my Autopay was still active. 

I received XXXX communication from the bank about interest being assessed on my account. Assuming there must be some system glitch leading to these interest charges, I sent a message to the credit card provider via the customer portal inquiring more information about these charges, and proceeded to deactivate my Autopay till the account was resolved. I wrote in my message about me deactivating the Autopay, till the issue was resolved. I did not get any call from Citibank about this incident. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I started getting calls from Citibank apprising me of payments " not '' being made towards my balance ( as I had removed my Autopay ). I got in touch with Citibank on the number provided from these automated calls. After spending almost half a day, they were able to explain to me that the reason for interest charges was because my Autopay was set up as " Minimum Payment Due '' and not " Statement Balance ''. Citibank has done a horrible job of not providing actionable information to the consumer, including, till date not letting the consumer know the original loan amount details, via their portal, IVR or the first line of customer service representatives.

There was no explicit guidance provided at the time of setting up my Autopay suggesting that interest will be assessed if " Minimum Payment Due '' is selected. Furthermore, not effort was made by Citibank to let me know of interest being assessed starting XX/XX/XXXX, while they diligently reached out only after XXXX payment was skipped ( which I told them about in my message to them on XX/XX/XXXX ). 

After spending a day and half with Citibank on calls, being transferred between different teams and managers, I was told that the system does not allow them to remove any charges and that I would need to pay the full balance owed. As a result, I ended up paying twice the amount of the original product. This is chose to do, to ensure no further interest was assessed and my credit was not impacted. 

My only intent on ever getting the card was to gather rewards, and to increase my credit score. However, the whole experience had left me shook on how Citibank chooses to not look out for the end consumer 's interest by failing to inform them about charges being assessed, rather, more than diligently following up on a missed payment. I use multiple credit cards, and have been doing so for many years, and never have I ever missed a singular payment or have had to deal with interest payments. 

I have since close my Citibank account, not only with Wayfair, but also with HomeDepot ( which was not due, and in good standing ) ; just because, I don't agree with their shady/selfish operations.