Consumer complaint received 2025-01-30 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Fees or interest — Charged too much interest
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: IA

Complaint narrative:
Citi has don't nothing but lie to me and deceive me throughout my entire relationship with them. When I first got the card, I was led to believe that I would receive 5 % Cash Back on my " Top Spending Category ''. However, after opening the account and using it, I found out that this was a lie. Your spending must fit THEIR spending category to qualify ( and most don't ). Citi 's advertising states, " Earn XXXX ThankYou Points per {$1.00} on purchases in your highest eligible spend category** each billing cycle. Those little ** don't even show you the fine print. You have to navigate to a webpage, scroll to the bottom and read the fine print. Their claim leads me to believe that I get 5 % Cash Back on whatever I spent the most on for the month. Whether it be Gas ( one category they actually DO honor ), or whether it be for gaming, streaming, shopping, etc. For example, in one month, I made {$2700.00} in purchases. How much of that money do you think " fit '' into one of their categories? {$170.00}. That's it. I earned XXXX ( XXXX points per {$1.00} x {$170.00} ) for the Top Spending Category and XXXX ( XXXX point per {$1.00} x {$2500.00} ) for everything else. Tell me, does that sound right to you? This is typical for most months too. This wasn't an outlier. I would usually earn more points in the " Everything Else '' category than the " Top Spending Category ''. That's because Citi has mislead and intentionally labeled things in a way that misleads. 
Then, I was offered Citi Flex Pay. I was told I could split large purchases into XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, or XXXX  month payments. I actually used this approximately 5 times. However, on my XXXX time, I made my large purchase expecting to be able to split the purchase into XXXX payments, as I had literally just done previously. However, Citi removed the 6 month option and only gave me a XXXX  month option with large monthly fees attached. This is after I've already made the purchase and can not undo it or use a card with lower interest rates. Now, speaking of interest rates. This month, I received my statement and was charged more interest and interest outside that of industry standards ( as in XXXX ). My previous balance was X amount, minus Payment of Y amount, so my balance subject to interest would be Z amount. For example. My previous balance as {$550.00}. I made a {$200.00} Payment. So my balance subject to interest would be {$350.00} ; as with industry standard, and the way every other Credit Card Account I have works. However, Citi tells me they take my balance, every day then divide it by the number of days in the statement period and that's what my balance subject to interest is. Doesn't matter that I made a payment, I'm just subjected to their daily balance. Overall, I feel I've been defrauded by Citi time and time again. It's ridiculous. I have no intention of ever using this card again, unless it is an absolute emergency. I have removed it from my wallet and placed it in my safe. But I feel appropriate action needs to be taken against Citi, to prevent them from defrauding other defenseless people. I'm fairly accounting savvy. I went to college for accounting. And if Citi was able to defraud me, then I'd hat to see what they're doing to others with less knowledge.

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