Consumer complaint received 2025-02-14 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems — Problem with balance transfer
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
On a monthly basis, Citibank mails me balance transfer checks, XXXX of the services it provides to its credit card holders. I have never requested this service, and have always wished that Citibank would not send me this junk mail. Originally, these balance transfer checks said, Mail this check to another credit card company to pay off your high-rate balance. I am able to quote this directly because I keep all of my financial records and, as I write this, I am looking at the balance transfer checks Citibank sent me in XXXX of XXXX. The balance transfer checks now say, Use these checks for almost anything, like your next big purchase. Perhaps Citibank has always allowed these balance transfer checks to be used as normal checks, but I fear the change in language has opened up opportunities for criminals. 

I received a voicemail from Citibank in late XXXX. When I returned the call, I learned that XXXX balance transfer checks had been forged on my credit card account between XX/XX/XXXX and XXXX of that year. These checks were in the amounts of {$2000.00}, {$550.00}, {$1500.00}, and {$730.00}. As I have never used balance transfer checks, I stated that the charges were fraudulent. I also realized that my mail must have been stolen. Fearing that my Citibank credit card might be compromised, too, I canceled it and had a new one mailed to me. I immediately installed a locking mailbox. That mailbox was torn off its stand and stolen. I then got the po box that I have used to this day. Unfortunately, before getting the po box , my replacement credit card was mailed to my street address, and it was stolen, too. 

At the same time, a check made out to my familys business was also stolen from the same mailbox. The thief attempted to deposit it, and I subsequently learned that it was the same person who had endorsed XXXX of my balance transfer checks over to herself. This woman has such a long criminal history of doing this sort of thing that for a time she was XXXX of the XXXX most wanted criminals in a county of more than XXXX people, and she is still regularly getting arrested to this day for similar crimes. 

A number of months after the balance transfer checks were forged, I was notified by Citibank that a dispute had not been settled in my favor. As no other information was provided, I called Citibank for clarification. The woman who answered my call told me that it was regarding a small purchase that the mail thief had attempted do on the stolen credit card, but that I didnt need to worry about it because that charge had already been removed from my statement. 

After not hearing anything further regarding the forged balance transfer checks, and a number of months passing, I called Citibank again and was shocked to hear that the previous notification was actually regarding my balance transfer checks, and that woman to whom I had spoken in my prior call had made a mistake in telling me that it was regarding a small credit card purchase. 

I was incredulous that Citibank could have possibly ruled that those balance transfer checks were signed by me, so I wrote the company a letter detailing why they were forgeries, including copies of the forged checks, and submitted another Declaration of Balance Transfer Fraud, as I had kept a blank copy in my records. Fearing that Citibank had not previously received all of the information I had provided, I sent this package via USPS Certified Mail. A copy of that package is attached to my complaint. To this day, I have never received another communication from Citibank regarding this matter. Had I known that I could have sought a proper resolution through CFPB, I would have submitted my complaint sooner.

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 monetary relief