Consumer complaint received 2025-10-08 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: PA

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I made a payment to Citibank for my Citi XXXX card. This payment was in the amount of {$11000.00}. This payment brought my account balance to XXXX. It completely paid off my current balance. This balance was a result of my cat needing XXXX XXXX for a life-threatening condition. I made this payment to ensure that my full credit limit of {$17000.00} was available in case any other emergencies happen to come up. To my dismay, my dog needed XXXX XXXXXXXX for an intestinal obstruction the next week ( XX/XX/XXXX to be precise ). 

When I went to pay the {$4500.00} deposit so that the vet could work on saving my dog 's life, I was surprised to see " insufficient credit limit '' on the payment card reader. This caused a needless delay to my dog 's XXXX, and as highlighted above, should not have been an issue, as I had fully paid off my account prior to the visit on XX/XX/XXXX. The only charge on the account was the balance remaining when picking up my cat the previous week for {$3700.00}. Anyone who has basic math skills can tell you that {$3700.00} subtracted from {$17000.00} is much much greater than {$4500.00}. 

After securing alternative payment, I logged into the Citi website, and then my bank website. I found that Citi had credited the {$11000.00} payment to my account, but had not updated the available credit. Additionally, my bank, XXXX XXXX, had reported the ACH payment as having been cleared, and the money was removed from my bank account. 

According to Citi 's website, payments may take up to 7 business days to reflect and update in the available balance section. More specifically, the informational popup says this : " Your available credit is the amount of your credit line that you havent used. Pending transactions are deducted from your available credit. Please allow up to 7 business days for your available credit to reflect any payments made to your account. Your credit limit is {$17000.00}. '' That 7 business day deadline has come and gone. The payment was made on XX/XX/XXXX, and it was made at XXXX XXXX  7 business days is XX/XX/XXXX. It is currently XX/XX/XXXX. When I reached out to Citi representatives, they have given me a continuously shifting date by which my available credit will be updated. The first representative said that it would be on the XXXX of XXXX, then I was told the XXXX of XXXX. When I called to speak with a representative today, I was told that the available credit will be updated on XX/XX/XXXX. That is 11 business days after the payment was made, which is 4 days past when Citi told me my available credit would be updated. 

At this point, I am unable to use my card, but Citi has taken the money from my bank account. They have essentially stolen over XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX from me, with no date at which my available credit will be adjusted. Prior to this, the Citibank card in question was paid in full every month and in amounts of XXXX to XXXX XXXX dollars. At this point, Citi seems to be pushing forward the date at which my available credit will be adjusted to reflect the money that they have been given with no end in sight.

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