Consumer complaint received 2025-03-03 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem when making payments — Problem during payment process
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: FL

Complaint narrative:
I had a Citi XXXX XXXX card which I closed on XX/XX/year> due to issues with the account which the bank was unable to explain. For more details regarding the foregoing, please see the included chat transcript. As XXXX online payment system prevented me from making a timely payment, during the same chat session in which I closed the account, immediately following account closure, I sought to make a {$150.00} payment to the account to cover XXXX pending transactions and to completely resolve all remaining matters pertaining to the account. The first chat rep who I requested assist in making the payment verified my payment information but was unable to schedule the payment, advising me to call a phone number which I had previously called that same day and was on hold with for roughly XXXX minutes, unable to reach a human. When I asked to have the chat escalated given that I had been on the chat for roughly XXXX hour at that point, I was sent to a supervisor who advised I am not able to pay due to the XXXX transactions not having yet posted. I believe this to be an excuse in order to force me to have a balance on the card long enough for next years annual fee of {$95.00} to apply to the account later this month despite the account being closed at my request. It should be noted that this annual fee was the subject of a prior CFPB complaint years ago where I applied for the card with advertising showing no annual fee only to have an annual fee applied to the account. Upon production of screenshots of the advertising, in conjunction with the CFPB complaint, the annual fee had been waived for a number of years only to be surreptitiously added once again. Given the full content shown in the chat transcript where I was repeatedly transferred and Citi could not explain why my account was in penalty status which prevented transferring to a card product which did not have an annual fee leading me to close the account, it is certainly appears intentional. After roughly an hour and a half, XXXX from Citi advised me that annual fees can not be refunded unless the card product is downgraded to a product not containing an annual fee or account closure is requested. At the start of that very chat, I requested just such a downgrade and, as it was denied, I then asked repeatedly to close the account. The annual fee was slated to apply later this month. It has not yet posted but it appears Citi simply wishes to wear me down with hours-long chat sessions in order to be able to assess an unearned annual fee. In particular, at the end of the chat, the supervisor, XXXX provided conflicting information about the annual fee and was unable to explain when I pointed out the discrepancy in his statements. I was told the fee would be refunded which implicitly suggests it will be charged. Later, I was told the fee won't be charged at all.

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 explanation