Consumer complaint received 2026-05-01 00:00:00
Product: Mortgage — Home equity loan or line of credit (HELOC)
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage — Foreclosure
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
My ex and I are in divorce proceedings. We jointly owned a real property located on XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, CA. The Property was acquired in XXXX during the course of the marriage. In XXXX, my ex obtained a Home Equity Line of Credit ( HELOC ) from Citibank without my knowledge and consent. Somehow, my ex and Citibank were able to connive to have me sign a Deed of Trust that was not shown to me or explained to me. Only the signature page was brought to our home by the notary to be signed. While my ex and Citibank had perfect knowledge of what is being signed, I, on my part had no clue that a HELOC encumbering the property was involved. Nobody explained anything about a HELOC of XXXX to me. So, Citibank and my ex basically connived to fraudulently obtain my signature without disclosing the involvement of a HELOC. As shown on the Deed of Trust ( See Exhibit A ), the first page has information about the HELOC in the amount of XXXX. The second page has my signature as if I knew about the HELOC. The question is : How can I sign for something I knew nothing about? The evidence shows that the signature page was inserted into a prepared Deed after the fact. Even though the HELOC was granted to my ex in XXXX, I only knew of its existence in XX/XX/XXXX. Because my ex and I are in divorce, and division of debts & assets is imminent, my ex now felt the need to inform me about the HELOC. ( See Exhibit B ). She stated : just so you know theres XXXX second mortgage on the property of XXXX The accompanying image in that text, of a HELOC statement, was the first time of me seeing a statement about a HELOC. My ex attached it so as to convince me beyond any doubts of the existence of a HELOC. The HELOC was made only to my ex. She managed it. She benefitted from it. Even though, both spouses own the property, only her name is on the loan documents and statements. ( See Exhibit C ). I have no knowledge of a HELOC and did not consent to a HELOC. Fast forward to XXXX. My ex, for reasons best known to her, could not meet up with the repayment obligation of the loan and Citibank wants to foreclose on the property ( See Exhibit D ). My position and contention is that Citibank can not and should not foreclose on the property because they knew full well that the property is jointly owned and went behind my back to grant a HELOC only to my ex. I can not be punished for something I know nothing about. The action of Citibank is not only fraudulent, but it is a sharp business practice that Citibank should be held accountable for. What I want : XXXX. XXXX shady business practice should be document, published, and added to data base of fraudulent practices of banks. XXXX. Citibank should NOT FORECLOSE on the property but wait for the divorce process between my ex and I to conclude. At the conclusion and sale of the property, then Citibank can get what they are entitled to.

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