Consumer complaint received 2024-01-11 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: CA

Complaint narrative:
Appeal : Dear Citibank, I hope this message finds you well. 

I have contacted many people who have not helped me or who have not given me a fair chance. I am confident that with writing to you I will be able to get my 4 Citibank credit cards that were mistakenly closed re-opened.

I am writing this letter to request my 4 Citibank credit cards get re-opened and remain opened and my great relationship with Citibank to be re-opened and remain opened. 

Credit cards needing to be re-opened and remain opened : 1. Citi/AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite Mastercard ending in XXXX XXXX. Costco Anywhere Visa Card ending in XXXX XXXX. Citi Diamond Preferred Card ending in XXXX XXXX. Citi Premier Card ending in XXXX With gratitude, as a loyal Citibank active member with multiple years of great business with Citibank, I need my 4 Citibank credit card accounts and great relationship with Citibank to be opened. I have never missed a payment, have always paid in full or even extra than the statement amount, and have been exemplary in this. This is evident by the current negative balance as I have always paid my cards in full or more. I have never missed a payment and have always paid early or on time. One of the bankers at Citibank even called me an exemplary customer. Thus, I am not sure where the errors happened and likely could be miscommunication on both ends.

I spoke to a representative recently who stated that indeed Citibank did make errors on my account and they should not have been closed. When both Citibank reached out to me and when I reached out to Citibank to confirm these charges were mine, the representatives I spoke to prior to this recent one said they would help me resolve this issue yet they failed to.

In the past few months, I have talked to many representatives who misheard me or gave me wrong information regarding my accounts when I was simply trying to get new credit card account numbers as someone was gaining access to my account and me misplacing my wallet for a brief second. I was told multiple times it was an error and they acknowledged that it was due to someone not verifying my information. I was also told by someone that they were closed because someone else applied for them and not me. I have been hearing multiple things. I was then told it was due to disputes made which I never made at all. There was also a security flag on my purchases despite my verifying those were indeed my purchases multiple times. Those I spoke to on the phone clarified that indeed it was not me but someone who made them in error and they assured me they would cancel them out per my request, but no one followed through.

Yet no one has reopened my 4 credit cards yet even though I was promised they would as I was told it was an error but still have not gotten any of my 4 credit cards re-opened yet due to this error. They mentioned there or was that someone was placing disputes under my name and they were able to cross reference with all of my cards and indeed found that I mentioned that all the purchases I made on my account were my purchases except for one thumbtack purchase which someone had asked me specifically about in one of the calls. Multiple times, I clarified the disputes and charges are mine. 

I want to make it very clear that I never made a dispute at all except for one inquired claim against thumbtack for {$250.00} due to no one showing up for the service they promised and Thumbtack refusing to refund me. Moreover, if there were disputes under my name that I did not place no one at Citibank even called me to clarify whether or not these were legitimate and no one contacted me. I had to personally let Citibank know multiple times when I received notification of disputes that were not mine and I clarified that the charges were valid multiple times over the phone but it seems like they either misunderstood me, kept transferring my calls, or failed to do so, which unfortunately has impacted me and has now caused me weeks of anxiety and frustration. I just had a complete shock when I found I was not able to use my credit cards even though I personally reached out to get this issue resolved. All I got was an errored closure of all 4 of my cards ( one of them being brand new ) without notice and getting trouble re-opening them. Fraud, disputes, and customer service team referred me to the executive team as no one has been able to help me but even the executive team is also trying to communicate with fraud who do not even know how to re-open them.

I have not been able to reach anyone to fully help me who will work with me and willing to work with me to get my 4 Citibank Credit Cards reopened. I am pretty much desperate and frustrated. I use my cards to get my medications and if I delay getting them further I will get severely sick on top of that I use it for subscriptions that are automated and I have multiple bills attached to the Citi Credit Cards which I absolutely love ( hence I applied and got approved for 4, with good credit and good limits, with my credit limits recently being increased and also a new card opened with you both ). I have been a loyal Citibank member for over 11 years and I hope this error gets fixed and I can get my 4 Citibank credit cards reopened and reactivated. 

In the midst of all of the confusion, which was also could have been partly my fault because of miscommunication, it triggered activity on my one of my accounts leading to someone closing all 4 of my accounts on XX/XX/2023 in error. The letter I got was false and stated, misrepresented disputes and this is false because I said I made no disputes at all aside from an inquired claim for thumbtack on my statement and I verbally told Citibank to cancel out any disputes that were placed under my account multiple times aside from my Thumbtack inquiry. Every time I try to resolve this issue or try to work with Citi to get my credit cards re-opened, I get this same generic answer which is false. 

I am also not very technologically savvy and have a XXXX. It was a simple request to get new numbers due to someone potentially gaining access to my account and me misplacing my wallet a while ago and possible one thumbtack claim. I had not even gotten the chance to fully use my XXXX card which is what I was excited about. Moreover, this is going to hurt my credit score ( as I have a combined {$36000.00} credit limit on all 4 of my credit cards ) and will overall hurt my credit really badly so I want to avoid this. I also only own my Citi credit cards as I have been a loyal customer appreciative of Citibank for a decade. I am also traveling and need to purchase my medications and other items and will need to use all 4 of my credit cards.

I have talked to countless representatives and associates even going directly to the bank but I have had no luck so far and no one has been able to help me. I am confident that in writing to you, I will get this resolved quickly and smoothly and get my 4 Citibank credit cards re-opened promptly and I am very appreciative of this matter.

I have developed an action plan and I pledge to you that I will do my due diligence moving forward to have optimal security avoid any misplacements or even fraudulent activity. I can assure you, this will never happen again, as I have took the proper measures to secure my accounts and identity. I also placed extra security including security alerts on both my social security card and the credit bureaus, changed my passwords to make them more secured, placed 2-factor authentications, and removed any authorized users. I am also happy to oblige and comply with any further action plans that Citibank may want to ensure my security for my 4 credit card accounts moving forward including but not limited to any additional security measures you can work with me to ensure my accounts are safe and secure.

As I have been, I assure you my credit card accounts will remain secure, satisfactory, safe, and I pledge to you and I assure you, there will be no further miscommunication or misunderstandings as I have now placed all the necessary security measures to avoid this issue happening again. I pledge to put forth great effort to establish a clear relationship and maintain the security of my credit card accounts. I pledge continue to abide by all of the rules, regulations, and policies of Citibank. I pledge to be cautious and take advocacy for my account fully, promptly, and with clear communication moving forward.

I am more than happy and willing to provide any further information or documentation you may need and I am willing to work with you to get my 4 Citibank credit cards re-opened and remain opened as I whole-heartedly know this errored closure is unfair.

I would like you to please consider all of this, please consider my great relationship with Citibank, please consider my personal outreaches and efforts, to get issues resolved ahead of time, please consider my excellent history including payment history, and please consider the negative impact these errored closures have been making on me and will continue to make on me including my credit, my medications, my purchases, my XXXX XXXX membership and travel, my Costco membership and purchases, and others all due to this error that could have been prevented and I feel this is unfair, and please re-open all 4 Citibank credit cards with new numbers and send them overnight to : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX CA XXXX I am highly appreciative of your time and of you re-opening my 4 Citibank credit cards and sending me new numbers. Please do not close any of my accounts again. Please re-open and keep open my great relationship with Citibank.

Thank you for your time, understanding, and patience and thank you for re-opening all 4 of my credit cards. I am highly looking forward to my 4 credit cards getting promptly re-opened and me resuming my loyal secure credit card relationship with Citibank again. 

Warmly, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX CA XXXX Cell Phone Number : XXXX

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