Consumer complaint received 2016-08-28
Product: Debt collection — Credit card
Issue: Communication tactics — Threatened to take legal action
Company: CITIBANK, N.A. (CA)

XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, TX XXXX Attn XXXX XXXX I had a credit card with Home Depot and I got behind in my payments. I am XXXX years of age. My business of over 40 years began bringing in less and less money, starting in XXXX, because it is dependent upon the XXXX. The XXXX was in a downward spiral at that time and is just now coming out of its decline. We took on more debt than we ever had before, just to keep things going. 

My wife had always handled the finances, ran the household, cleaned the house, did the laundry, shopping, cooking, etc., and, in general, took care of our XXXX XXXX dogs, me and everything else. She also worked for the my business doing reports, which were very time consuming, but she did them quickly. Unfortunately, my wife was stricken with XXXX XXXX, which affects people in different ways. My wife mainly has XXXX, all of which are so severe that she sometimes can not get into or out of bed, or put on all of her clothes, by herself. So, whenever necessary, I help her with whatever she needs. I also try to do the household things my wife used to do, but am falling very short of that. In addition, I do not do " the time consuming reports quickly. '' In fact, sometimes they seem to take me forever with all of the interruptions and additional things I am now responsible for. I am trying to deal with my situation, but it really is dire. 

Further, money is so tight that we can not afford to eat healthy. When a company demands a large payment with the threat that they will charge off our bill if I do not pay it, our " food money '' is the only place to take the funds from. I was re just asking for some time and consideration. As I said above, I had a credit card with Home Depot and I got behind on my payments. I should also mention that I had XXXX other credit cards, and other assorted bills, and I got behind in my payments on all of them, as well. 

I usually pay my bills by telephone, so each time I called Home Depot Credit Services to pay my bill, I received a lecture about my payment being late, at which time I would again explain my situation.. They told me my situation was considered a " hardship, '' so I needed to speak to a Debt Counseling Company. I had already spoken to XXXX called XXXX XXXX XXXX. I guess Home Depot sold my account to Citibank when I got behind in my payments because suddenly Citibank was calling me constantly. I explained my situation to the Citibank employees. Citibank continued to make its same demands, while I explained to them, over and over again, that I could only promise to pay {$50.00}, until things improved. 

On XXXX XXXX, XXXX, I paid Citibank {$50.00}, on XXXX XXXX, I paid {$160.00}, which included the money we needed to buy food. I supposedly had to pay that amount to keep them from charging it off. I begged them not to charge it off because there was no way I could pay the entire balance, which I also constantly explained to them. On XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX, I paid Citibank {$50.00}. Then, on XXXX XXXX, XXXX, XXXX told me I had to pay an additional {$250.00} or they were going to charge off my account. As usual, I begged them not to charge it off because I could not afford to make payments, let alone the over twelve thousand dollar balance, so I paid Citibank the {$250.00}. 

On XXXX XXXX, XXXX, I called Citibank to make a payment, but was told they had charged it off and that my dept had been sold to XXXX XXXX. I called XXXX XXXX. I told XXXX XXXX that I wanted to make a {$50.00} payment. He said that I had to pay the entire {$12.00}, XXXX. I told him there was no way I could pay more than {$50.00}. He said I would have to talk to XXXX XXXX. I explained the situation to her, that I could not pay the full amoun