Consumer complaint received 2024-10-02 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems — Problem with rewards from credit card
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
I signed up for the Citi strata premier card and was approved on XX/XX/XXXX. I signed up through the offer page for the spend {$4000.00} in 3 months and get {$700.00} in bonus points. There is no offer tracker on my thank you points so I called to confirm the offer was active. The representative said they dont know what offer Im talking about and that the offer I mentioned doesnt exist but that I could send in proof of the offer via mailing a letter. I spent {$5.00} to send printed screenshots via certified mailto the address given to me by the citi representative and although it was delivered almost a month ago I never heard back. I have now been charged a {$95.00} card fee for a card I only opened because of the offer in addition to the {$5.00} I spent to send a letter because the representative said there was no other way to send in proof. 2 weeks after the letter was delivered I called Citi Bank again and after multiple calls that were hung up on finally was transferred to someone who gave me the following email : XXXX which all previous representatives said did not exist. They told me I should send the same proof I had already mailed in to this email address and I would receive a reply within 24-48 hours. I sent that email on XX/XX/XXXX and never heard back. Once again I called Citi and they then told me I shouldn't expect a reply and that the people receiving the email will fix the issue with the promotion within 1-2 billing cycles. I have now sent information twice after being misdirected and denied a bonus that is still being offered. I sent the screenshot of the offer as well as the approval notice for the card for XX/XX/XXXX as well as a screenshot of my approval for the citi premier card I received a bonus from on XX/XX/XXXX. Citi has a policy only allowing XXXX bonus per 48 months per card and the new strata premier card I opened on XX/XX/XXXX complied with those terms. For the representative to say there was no such offer when I was able to pull it up immediately, lie about there being no email address ( to try to dissuade me from getting resolution ), and then to give me an email address later on since I have certified mail tracking showing they received the information they asked for seems purposeful to prevent new credit card owners from getting the promised bonuses all the while Citi Bank gets to collect the annual fees and any other associated charges. I searched online and found a few different forums where people are talking about this being a pattern of abuse from Citi Bank with card bonuses and that's where I was directed to file a complaint here. I just want the bonus offer to be applied to my account and a reimbursement for the {$5.00} I spent to send them the information since there was no need to mail it physically if they hadn't lied about there not being an email.

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