Consumer complaint received 2023-12-31 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems — Other problem
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CT

Complaint narrative:
I opened an XXXX XXXX Citi Bank credit card to receive a bonus XXXX points offer, requiring me to spend {$2500.00} within the first three months of account opening to receive the promotion. My credit is excellent and I was approved instantaneously. 

Upon receiving my card I added it on XXXX XXXX. Shortly after I began receiving alerts that my account was considered to be under fraud. I received a phone call asking from a representative. I gave them my security word that I set on the website when I opened my account. They asked if I had another phone number they could text me on because they were unable to text my cell phone for some reason. I said no, that was my only number. They asked if I had another Citi credit card and I said no. They asked if I have a checking or savings account with Citi and I said no to that as well. I felt these questions were strange and didnt trust that I was actually getting a call from Citi XXXX I hung up. 

I called them the next day and got the same set of questions. I was informed they had to send me a letter that would arrive in XXXX business days with a reference code that I would have to give them to remove the fraud alert from my card. I asked if they could email it to me, they said no. They told me in the meantime I could use my physical card but not XXXX XXXX. A few days later, the physical card began declining every transaction as well. Extremely frustrating. I began to do research and found out this is a common occurrence for all sorts of people who do business with Citi. 

After a week I received the letter. I called with the reference number. They then asked if I had a phone number they could text a code to verify. I thought this was very strange because they had told me they needed to send the letter since they couldnt text me. I gave them my only phone number and then read the code to them that was texted. From here, the representative said they needed to verify transactions with me. They began asking me about charges from the last month that were on my account. I did not recognize a few of them. I had my Citi app open and was looking at all the transactions listed there, and verified the ones I could see. I was told my account would be shut down due to the transactions I didnt recognize and that it must be fraud. 

At this point, I am ashamed to say I lost my temper with the representative. I was irate because of this run around. Ive never had a company behave this way before. I asked to speak to a supervisor and after a brief hold I was on the phone with one. It was explained that Citi mobile does not show declined transactions in the app. I was being asked about several declined transactions when I had tried to use XXXX XXXX after they flagged my account. XXXX wallet was only showing the most recent XXXX transactions on the card that I could see. The supervisor removed the security locks on my account and said XXXX XXXX would be ready in about XXXX minutes. I have not tried to use the card again yet, but I am highly upset that I have now missed weeks of being able to use my card to meet the purchase requirement for the XXXX XXXX miles that were the only reason I opened the card in the first place. 

The representatives were highly professional and did their best to help, even when I was extremely rude to them on the phone when my frustration got the better of me. It is not their fault, this is a terrible system that Citi bank has put in place. I love having credit cards that can earn me points, but I will be closing this one as soon as I can use the promotional offer. XXXX XXXX is a XXXX times better than this awful, stressful company.

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