Consumer complaint received 2015-07-11
Product: Credit card — 
Issue: Late fee — 
Company: CITIBANK, N.A. (NC)

Citi, who adminstrates Best Buy 's credit card ( " Rewards Card '' ) program, has to date assessed me over {$71.00} ( XXXX ) dollars in late fees, interest, and penalties on a XXXX debt. Yes, literally. Evidently what happened was that I had a payment of {$20.00} which arrived on XXXX XXXX 2015. Citi claims the payment was due on XXXX XXXX, even though the payment ( and an additional XXXX of {$30.00} on XXXX XXXX ) appeared on it. Most credit agencies synchronize their billing cycles with their statement periods ; evidently Citi lacks the resources to do this ( or deliberately advances the due date so that what happened to me happens to lots of other people ). So, net result is that on XXXX XXXX, instead of having a balance of XXXX cent, they slap a late fee on to cover the obviously de minimis shortage. I spent something like 45 minutes on the phone with XXXX different representatives on XXXX XXXX. The first XXXX, perhaps recognizing the ludicrousness of the situation, could not escalate me fast enough. The last person, a " manager '' who did not even offer his name, insisted that he was " not being a robot '' by refusing to waive the late fees and " interest '' that had accrued on my one-cent balance. 

Actually, at XXXX point I was told that I was assessed XXXX dollar of interest on XXXX of principal. I do n't know where that XXXX came from. Did I buy a candy bar at a Best Buy store the last time I visited XXXX, some months ago? At any rate, XXXX dollar of interest on XXXX cents in ONE MONTH is not an APR I 'd care to calculate. To call it " usurious '' would be an understatement. I offered to make a payment of XXXX cent if the remainder of the balance -- all of which was late fees and penalties consequent to a one-day-late, one-cent-short payment -- was discharged. Citi absolutely would not do this, and claimed to have no more senior manager to which I could be escalated. Instead, I will receive a call in " 24 to 48 business hours '' ( so, potentially, as late as close of business on Monday, XXXX XXXX XXXX from someone who, I was advised, would " repeat the same information and policies to [ me ]. " Moreover, I do n't know why they processed the payment when they did. Perhaps there was a delay at their processing center. Perhaps it was n't even an accident, but one of those " accidents '' designed to milk their customers of late fees as some sort of punishment for not paying early ( and to juice the company 's bottom line in compensation for so many consumers discharging debt since the financial crisis ). I schedule all of my payments through my bank 's bill payment service, which I have used for 15 years. I know for a fact that their payments in fact frequently arrive early, and only once in that 15 years have they actually lost a payment ( and they made me whole for it ). 

A thoroughly ridiculous situation. A {$35.00} late fee on a balance of {$20.00} is usurious enough ; to assess such a late fee on the same day as the balance is paid down to {$0.00} is absurd. 

I 'll no longer be doing business of any sort with Best Buy. I would caution anyone against entanglements with Citi.