Consumer complaint received 2025-02-07 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems — Problem with rewards from credit card
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NJ

Complaint narrative:
Citibank , N.A . issues a type of XXXX XXXX called " thankyou from XXXX. '' The " thankyou from Citi '' credit card awards " thank you '' points that can be redeemed for various rewards. The " thank you '' rewards program is administered by an independent division of Citibank,XX/XX/XXXX but it relies on input from XXXX XXXX XXXX 

XXXX XXXX has a rolling promotion for bonus " thank you '' points that generally occurs monthly, and the terms of the rolling promotion will change from time to time, but often it is the exact same promotion, along the lines of, " spend X dollars within the time window and receive X bonus points. '' During XXXX, I participated in several of these rolling promotions. For the promotion period of XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX, and again during XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX, the promotion was " spend {$750.00} in online purchases and receive 7,500 bonus points. '' For each of the two promotion periods I met the minimum online purchase requirement, but I only received one of the 7,500 bonus points rewards. 

The terms and conditions of the promotion specified that the bonus points would be awarded within two billing cycles. The bonus points that I did receive were posted to my account concurrently with the end of the 2nd promotion period, i.e., XX/XX/XXXX. So the question became, for which promotion period were the bonus points applicable? 

When I first called Citibank to inquire, I was told that the bonus points awarded on XX/XX/XXXX were applicable to the 1st promotion period that ended on XX/XX/XXXX, and that I should wait out the two billing cycles for the 2nd promotion period bonus points to be posted. After two billing cycles had passed, no additional bonus points were awarded. 

Some time in late fall XXXX, I called again and when I explained that I had not received the bonus points for the 2nd promotion period, I was told that those points were awarded on XX/XX/XXXX. I said that contradicts what I was told the first time, i.e., that those points were for the 1st promotion period, not the 2nd, and if so, then what happened to the 2nd promotion period bonus points? Now I was told that the matter would be escalated for resolution. 

Hearing nothing, I called again on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke to a supervisor, " XXXX. '' She understood the issue and gave me a case reference number, # XXXX, and advised that I would get something in the mail between 7 and 10 business days.

Once again, I did not receive any correspondence from Citibank, so I called yet again on XX/XX/XXXX. The person I spoke with said they would re-escalate the matter and I should receive a response within 5-7 business days. The case reference number was now # XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I called again for status. I was told that my case had been resolved, and that the additional bonus points were approved on XX/XX/XXXX, and that the points should post to my account by XX/XX/XXXX. The case reference number was now # XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I called Citibank to advise that the approved bonus points had not posted to my account. I was told that the matter would be " re-investigated. '' The case reference number was now # XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I spoke to a supervisor, " XXXX, '' who told me that despite the bonus points being approved, they were not applied to my account, because it appeared that I already received those points on XX/XX/XXXX -- - except that these were the same original bonus points that I received for only one of the two promotion periods. 

It appears clear that Citibank 's rolling " thank you '' promotions are designed to purposely deny customers the benefit of the promotion by a sophisticated " bait-and-switch '' whereby the same benefit can be deceptively manipulated without being tied to a definitive promotion period, all at the whim of Citibank and apparently with no accountability whatsoever.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief