Consumer complaint received 2020-07-17 00:00:00
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Closing your account — Can't close your account
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
In XX/XX/XXXX, I accepted a HELOC loan from by bank, XXXX XXXX XXXX in order to consolidate my debt. XXXX required that my credit cards be paid off by them. My intent was to cancel all but 1 or 2 credit cards including this Citibank card. I planned to keep open a couple of cards to use in case of emergency. In mid-XX/XX/XXXX, I noticed that a Citibank card was not paid off. I contacted Citibank. I was told that no payment was made toward the card balance of {$19000.00} and to call XXXX. I contacted the XXXX loan officer who said that the credit card number on the check was incorrect but that it had my name on it and Citibank should have been able to credit my card in any event. In another conversation XXXX gave me the wire transfer trace and check numbers and told me that Citibank had processed the check on XX/XX/XXXX. I then called Citibank with the information and was told there was no record of the wire transfer even with the numbers. In late XXXX/early XXXX, I officially asked that both XXXX and Citibank open an investigation. On one call, Citibank told me they wanted paper proof of the wire transfer. I contacted XXXX with this request. 

After many emails to the XXXX loan officer 's supervisor and his supervisor, a representative from XXXX was assigned to my case. However, there is no way for me to contact this individual directly and I asked for that information. Instead I call a number and tell the individual who answers the new information. That person then emails the information to my contact. I received two calls from my contact, the first to introduce himself and tell me he would be assisting me and the second to tell me that I needed to obtain an address from Citibank so that XXXX could send them the requested proof. That was last Friday, XX/XX/XXXX. I did as he requested. No word yet on whether or not that information I provided was used and the proof was mailed. 

Citibank is worse. Even though an investigation was opened in XXXX, I have not received any information or messages from them. It is XX/XX/XXXX today. My last call to Citibank was very unpleasant. I spoke to a supervisor who gave me the address to send the proof and a FAX number. He recommended that I send both the proof via USPS mail and FAX just in case one was lost! Are you kidding me? I dutifully told XXXX that information too. I asked for the phone number of the investigation department or a name of an investigator but was told there is no phone number and no specific investigator by the same supervisor. I asked the supervisor about the interest accruing on my card. He said he would give me {$20.00} credit to my cash rewards. The irony is that in order to use the cash reward, the value must be {$25.00}. I not so kindly declined his offer. 

I am making monthly payments plus interest not only on the HELOC loan but also on the Citibank Card. I have been making minimum payments to the Citibank card since XX/XX/XXXX so that my credit is not damaged by a missed payment and so that I don't incur penalties. I don't know what else to do to get a resolution. I would think that approximately 6 weeks to conduct an investigation would have been enough time to resolve this. I wonder if that {$19000.00} has been stolen by someone at Citibank or XXXX. How can they continue to charge me interest when the account is under investigation? How do I get the banks to work together and find the 'lost ' money! 

In order to calculate the payments I made in XXXX and XXXX, I went to my Citibank account. I see that on XX/XX/XXXX a conditional credit for payment has been added with a total of {$18000.00}. This amount reflects my XXXX and XXXX payments and interest charged. There still has been no communication from Citibank! At least I don't have to make a minimum payment to the card in XXXX! 

I know that the conditional payment is a small step in the right direction but I am still submitting this complaint. It has taken too long and too much of my time to get anywhere with this issue. I hope you can help.

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