Consumer complaint received 2025-02-03 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Fees or interest — Unexpected increase in interest rate
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: WA

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I paid {$13000.00} ( {$3500.00} and {$10000.00} ) into my Shop Your Way credit card ( Citibank XXXX ) to pay off a balance with a zero-interest balance transfer promotion purchase offer. Citibank also offered me a zero-interest balance transfer using checks or electronic transfers. I accepted the offer and made XXXX balance transfers, totaling {$25000.00}, after paying a balance of {$13000.00} ( {$3500.00} and {$10000.00} ). The XXXX balance transfers are XXXX interest until XX/XX/XXXX, and I spent a 5 % transfer fee for each transfer, totaling {$1100.00}. The promotional balance transfers were posted on XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, at XXXX XXXX I logged into my Shop Your Way credit card ( Citibank XXXX ) account and noticed that I had interest fee charges since XX/XX/XXXX. At XXXX XXXX, I called Shop Your Way at XXXX ( on the back of the card ) to resolve the issue. They reversed all interest charges and explained that they received the payment in XX/XX/XXXX. Still, they mistakenly applied it to the wrong balance, and it should have been used to the balance with the promotional offer expiring in XX/XX/XXXX. He asked me to call back so they could correct the error and stop any further interest fee charges. 

According to the credit card statement of XX/XX/XXXX, the balance due by XX/XX/XXXX, was the {$13000.00} that I paid on XX/XX/XXXX. The XX/XX/XXXX statement reflects that {$13000.00} was applied, and XXXX new promotion offers expiring XX/XX/XXXX with XXXX transfer fees totaling {$1100.00}. 

According to the XX/XX/XXXX statement, Shop Your Way ( Citibank XXXX ) reversed the payment allocation and applied an interest fee to the amount already paid. The balance from the promotional purchase of zero APR was paid in full on XX/XX/XXXX, yet Citibank reversed the payment allocation and applied XXXX XXXX APR. 

On XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX XXXX, I called Shop Your Way ( Citibank XXXX ) at XXXX. I spoke with representative XXXX ( ID : XXXX ), who explained that they would resolve the issue to prevent further interest fee charges and that the previous representative left a note about the problem. He placed me on hold to speak with a supervisor. He returned to me XXXX XXXX later and told me that the supervisor had said they would not reverse the additional interest fee and would not stop charging me interest. The supervisor would not speak with me, so XXXX ( XXXX ) had to find another supervisor. 

Another supervisor, XXXX ( ID : XXXX ), who spoke with me, said they would not reserve the interest fee and would continue to charge interest. I asked why. She said they could apply the payment to whichever balance and that there was no guarantee. According to the promotional purchase agreement, that is incorrect and unethical. 

Later in the conversation, she said that they applied the payment to the balance with the highest XXXX. She further said that the previous expired promotion in XX/XX/XXXX, and the new promotion offer has the exact APR of XXXX XXXX. I verified her statement a couple of times because she contradicted herself. According to the XX/XX/XXXX statement, the only balance with an APR was the promotional purchase balance that I paid off on XX/XX/XXXX. However, the XX/XX/XXXX statement reflects that the payment was applied to the promotional purchase balance that expired in XX/XX/XXXX. 

I reminded her that the most recent XXXX balance transfers are zero interest until XX/XX/XXXX. There is no way the promotional offer expiring in XX/XX/XXXX will have the exact APR of XXXX XXXX as the previous promotional offer expiring in XX/XX/XXXX. Yet, another contradiction from XXXX, according to the XXXX and XXXX statements, is that only the promotional purchase balance that will paid reflects a XXXX XXXX interest rate. I reminded her that the promotional offers were an agreement, and they could not disregard it and charge me interest as they wished. 

According to their statement, Shop Your Way ( Citibank XXXX ) states, " How to Avoid Paying Interest on Purchases. Your payment due date is at least XXXX XXXX after the close of each billing cycle. We will not charge you any interest on purchases if you pay your New Balance by the payment due date each month. This is called a grace period on purchases. To get a grace period on purchases, you must pay the New Balance by the payment due date every billing cycle. '' The statement was dated XX/XX/XXXX, the closing date, and I paid the entire balance on XX/XX/XXXX ( posted on XX/XX/XXXX ), XXXX XXXX after XX/XX/XXXX. 

They did not honor the statement above but contradicted themselves to continue charging me interest on the amount I paid in full.

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