Consumer complaint received 2021-05-28
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — Store credit card
Issue: Advertising and marketing, including promotional offers — Didn't receive advertised or promotional terms
Company: CITIBANK, N.A. (NJ)

For over a year we have had extraordinary difficulty using the Home Depot Consumer Credit Card and following the terms to receive the advertised 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, and 24 months financing terms that have been advertised. The root of the problem is that Home Depot uses an algorithm that makes is exceptionally complicated even for its own representatives to understand how payments are applied to the balances, meaning card owners are charged interest when they shouldn't be. Even though the consumer may think they are paying off a promotional balance in full during the promotional period, the consumer may still be charged interest on other non promotional balances even though the website for the card has a specific payment option labeled " amount to avoid interest '' under payments. This advertising, coupled with a specific payment amount option that says " amount to avoid interest '' with consistent results that end up with the consumer being charged interest is deceptive and infuriating. 

Home Depot also offers payment plans that are unclear and inconsistent in how they are being applied. First off, there isn't simply a single " balance '' on the credit card. There is a non promotional " revolving balance '' and there can be multiple " promotional balances. '' Each promotional balance may have a different term in which to pay it off in order to avoid interest, which is the whole point to having the card. However, the method to target a payment to a specific balance is unclear and deceitful.

For example, if there is a {$150.00} revolving balance with no promotional period, an {$800.00} promotional balance due in six months, and a {$1500.00} balance due in 12 months, a consumer may make a payment of {$800.00} in the fifth month of the sixth month period to payoff the promotional balance and still gets charged interest on the {$150.00} revolving balance. And, if the consumer is within 1 or 2 months of the expiration of the due date of the promotional balance, the consumer has no ability to specifically target the revolving balance of {$150.00} until A ) the promotional balance for the 6 months at {$800.00} AND B ) the promotional balance of the {$1500.00} at 12 months are paid off first ( assuming the promotional balances end in consecutive months like XXXX and XXXX ). The result is that the consumer is paying more than the minimum balance on the card, ( say {$25.00} a month ) and yet gets hit with consistent interest charges on the revolving balance of {$150.00} even when they have paid more than that. Most often what may occur is that for the {$800.00} payment, the system will allocate a portion of the {$800.00} to the {$150.00} revolving balance, a portion to the {$800.00} balance, and a portion to the {$1500.00} balance, with a net result of the consumer not actually paying off the promotional balance, getting charged interest on the remaining part of the {$150.00} balance, and making a payment on the {$1500.00} balance when there is no need at this time to pay it given that there is time left on that balance. This is the worst result and infuriating when it is not the intended result. 

There are other complexities about how this is advertised and presented but the bottom line is that the Home Depot/Citibank system does not compute all possible avenues of how interest is accruing and being calculated so the consumer does not have the ability to realize the advertised benefit because the " amount to avoid interest '' payments is incorrect. After multiple calls with Home Depot/Citibank reps trying to reverse interest charges and waive fees, even after paying thousands in " amounts to avoid interest '' we are bringing this deceptive and confusing trade practice to the CFPS attention for further investigation. The fine print that Home Depot/Citibank reps claim discloses the ability to receive interest from multiple balances is not effectively applied for the consumer to be aware of and it does give the consumer the ability to mitigate interest charges. This undermines the entire reason for getting the card, i.e. to avoid interest on large purchases by spreading payments over many months.