Consumer complaint received 2025-08-23 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — Store credit card
Issue: Fees or interest — Problem with fees
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
Subject : XXXX interest credit card offered by BestBuy through their lender CitiBank. 

XX/XX/XXXX : {$760.00} authorized purchase on a 24-month zero interest payment plan XX/XX/XXXX : First payment due date. I missed it ( my bad ). 

XX/XX/XXXX : I made the minimum payment due that they were demanding. {$69.00} even. Their online portal was demanding payment for both XXXX AND XXXX as a " minimum payment due '' with no option whatsoever to work around it. 

Instead of dealing with the headache, I gave into it and carried on. No harm in being a little ahead I figured. 

XX/XX/XXXX : {$98.00} authorized purchase XX/XX/XXXX : {$21.00} authorized purchase XX/XX/XXXX : Next payment due date. CitiBank violated the 25-day grace period stipulated in my cardholder agreement and immediately applied a {$30.00} late fee ON the payment due date.

I was never informed before, on the day of, or even within a reasonable amount of time afterward of a payment amount, due date, etc. No notification. No text, no email, no letter in the mail, no statement. CitiBank is obligated to do this under the FCBA. 

XX/XX/XXXX : I logged into my account. Regardless of what happened on XX/XX/XXXX, at this point, I was still late and also not enrolled in auto-pay yet ( my fault ). After 2mos, I mixed up the actual due date. I met the " minimum payment due '' they were demanding of {$73.00} even.

Initially, I did not notice the {$30.00} late fee applied until a few months later when I viewed the itemized invoices. Due to the lack of transparency in terms of an actual bill break-down, I assumed that it reflected the additional purchases I made on XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, so at this point, I did not attempt to reach out to customer service for clarification YET. 

I decided to enroll in auto-pay, and out of sight out of mind. 

Looking back at the invoices, I noticed that no charges ( besides interest on XXXX 's purchases ) were imposed in XXXX, therefore the demanded payment on XX/XX/XXXX must've also been combined with the XXXX balance, similar to what happened in XXXX, against my initial assumption, but even then, it doesn't reconcile the applied late fee, therefore either way, it doesn't make any sense in hindsight! 

Why can't they be transparent with itemizing the actual bill??!! Break-down the f * ing bill! Not just vague monthly invoices! 

XX/XX/XXXX : I have a healthy checking account. Auto-pay fails. CitiBank immediately applies a late-fee of {$30.00} on the payment due date. NO NOTIFICATION. NO COMMUNICATION. 

XX/XX/XXXX : CitiBank applies yet another late-fee of {$41.00} on the payment due date. NO NOTIFICATION. NO COMMUNICATION. 

XX/XX/XXXX : For the very first time, I received communication from CitiBank in the form of an automated voicemail, just casually suggesting that I log in and take a look at my BestBuy account WITH NO OTHER CONTEXT WHATSOEVER. 

XX/XX/XXXX : I decided to check up on my account and noticed that auto-pay never engaged. CitiBank was demanding a payment of {$96.00} with a minimum payment due of {$42.00}. 

I paid the {$42.00}. I MADE COUNTLESS ATTEMPTS THAT WEEK TO REACH CUSTOMER SERVICE THROUGH EVERY METHOD PROVIDED -- - phone, email, and secure priority message, with all attempts being unsuccessful. The customer service line damned me into an endless loops with XXXX option to speak with an agent no matter how hard I tried, and I was never able to reach a single human being through all of my efforts. 

At this point, I wasted so much time, and I was fuming. For my personal mental sanity, I needed to drop it, let go, and postpone this problem for a later date. 

XX/XX/XXXX : CitiBank applied yet another {$41.00} late-fee on the payment due date. NO NOTIFICATION. I did not have the time nor ' the spare mental energy to re-address this. 

XX/XX/XXXX : So... I made a payment of {$54.00}, no questions asked. 

XX/XX/XXXX : I logged into my account and found that per the usual, CitiBank had yet again automatically applied a {$41.00} late-fee on the payment due date. I did not pay the bill this time and logged out. 

That is IT! I will NOT pay this late fee! 

I finally reached my wits end and decided that I need to take appropriate action and cut straight to the CFPB. 

XX/XX/XXXX : I composed my complaint here to the CFPB and also made another attempt to enroll in auto-pay, assuming that issue will be resolved by the next billing cycle. 

AGAINST CITIBANK : A SUMMARY OF VIOLATIONS : CitiBank violated the Truth in Lending Act ( TILA ), 15 U.S.C. 1637 ( b ) : which requires creditors to disclose and honor grace periods in open-end credit agreements. CitiBank dis-honored the 25-day grace period stated in my cardmember agreement multiple times.

CitiBank assessed late-fees on the due dates themselves before the cut off time, also a contradiction to the federal Truth in Lending Act.

CitiBank also failed to comply with 5 U.S.C. 1637 ( b ) and Regulation Z ( 12 C.F.R. 1026.5 ( b ) ( 2 ) ( ii ) ). which require creditors to send periodic statements for each billing cycle where a balance is owed.

This reg requires that periodic statements must be mailed/delivered at least 21 days before the payment due date for open-end credit ( credit cards ). Instead, CitiBank accumulated late fees for several months with no communication. 

Citibank and BestBuy Card Services customer service channels and touch-points have been functionally inaccessible ( secure messaging, phone support, and online portal ), thereby denying me my statutory right to dispute charges under the Fair Credit Billing Act, 15 U.S.C. 1666, and constituting an unfair practice under 12 U.S.C. 5531 ( UDAAP ). This has caused ongoing financial injury and credit score damage that I can not reasonably avoid.

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