Consumer complaint received 2026-05-21 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Trouble using your card — Credit card company won't increase or decrease your credit limit
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NC

Complaint narrative:
I am filing this complaint regarding Citibank 's handling of my Citi XXXX XXXX ( formerly XXXX XXXX ) credit card. I have been a Citibank cardmember since XX/XX/XXXX with a perfect XXXX year payment history. Citibank caused substantial documented harm to my credit through a 90 % reduction in my credit limit immediately following my exercise of fraud reporting rights under the Fair Credit Billing Act, and has subsequently refused to remediate that harm based partially on reasons that do not exist in my credit file. FACTUAL CHRONOLOGY As of XX/XX/XXXX, my XXXX credit score was approximately XXXX. My all-time highest balance on this card was {$7100.00} against the {$26000.00} limit ( 27.3 % peak utilization ). My utilization at the time of the events below was approximately 9.33 %. From March 10-13, 2025, I traveled to XXXX, XXXX for XXXX XXXX cross-functional XXXX meeting ( I am a federal employee with 15 years in the agency ). Between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX fraudulent charges totaling approximately {$280.00} posted to my account at merchants I had no relationship with, across multiple states. On XX/XX/XXXX, I reviewed my account and reported the XXXX unauthorized charges as fraud. Citi closed the card and issued a replacement. On XX/XX/XXXX, Citi issued provisional security credits for XXXX of the XXXX disputed charges. XXXX days after my fraud report, on XX/XX/XXXX, Citibank revised my credit limit from {$26000.00} to {$2500.00} a reduction of {$23000.00}, or 90.04 %, with no prior notice. My account balance was {$2500.00}, leaving approximately {$70.00} in available credit. This drove my utilization on the account from 9.33 % to 97.26 % overnight. XXXX XXXX independently documented the change : " Between XX/XX/XXXX and XXXX XXXX, XXXX, the limit on your CITICARDS CBNA credit card decreased by {$23000.00} from {$26000.00} to {$2500.00}. '' The adverse action notice cited " Your credit report shows your balances on your revolving accounts are too high in relation to those credit lines '' a condition that did not exist before Citi created it and also cited ; " Your credit report reflects multiple credit accounts opened within the last 2 years. '' XXXX days later, on XX/XX/XXXX, my scheduled annual membership fee of {$95.00} posted. Based on my account history, I was aware this fee was scheduled to post on or around this date. Combined with end-of-statement interest charges, the fee would have exceeded my newly-constrained {$2500.00} limit. I had to proactively make payments to avoid being pushed over my limit a circumstance Citi created by cutting my available credit while leaving the scheduled annual fee in place. ATTEMPTS TO RESOLVE On XX/XX/XXXX, I called Citibank to request reinstatement of my original limit. After the first agent declined, I escalated to XXXX XXXX. During the call, I expressly raised the suspicious timing between my fraud report and the limit reduction. XXXX explicitly denied that the reduction had any connection to the fraudulent charges. I provided my income at that time ( {$110000.00} ) per their request and rent ( {$1200.00} ) for re-review. On May 5-6, 2025, my reinstatement request was denied. The denial cited a XXXX XXXX of XXXX as of XX/XX/XXXX a score that had dropped from my XXXX score of XXXX substantially because of Citi 's own action. Citi used the credit damage they caused as the justification for refusing to remediate that damage. During this same period, Citi initially ruled against me on a separately-pending fraud dispute ( a {$70.00} charge labeled " XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX '' ) on XX/XX/XXXX, despite the merchant 's own submitted evidence showing the buyer was named " XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX salon services from a business categorized as " XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX I had to escalate to have the case reopened. It was finally resolved in my favor on XX/XX/XXXX. Citi separately sent me a dispute response form dated XX/XX/XXXX with a response deadline of XX/XX/XXXX already XXXX weeks past at the time of issuance. As a result of having to formally dispute Citi 's initial incorrect ruling against me, an XXXX dispute notation now permanently appears on the credit reporting record for this account a mark that exists solely because Citi initially mishandled my fraud claim. THE XXXX DENIAL CITING A NONEXISTENT CREDIT PRODUCT On XX/XX/XXXX, I submitted a second request for limit reinstatement. Citi denied it citing : ( XXXX ) " insufficient information regarding the credit limit of your Home Equity Line of Credit, '' and ( 2 ) " your credit report shows that your combined balance on revolving accounts is too high. '' I have no Home Equity Line of Credit. I have never owned a home and have never held a HELOC. I have confirmed this by reviewing my credit reports from all three bureaus XXXX ( the XXXX Citi cited as the source of their information ), XXXX XXXX XXXX. None show any mortgage, HELOC, or real estate account, current or historical. Citi denied my reinstatement request based partially on the credit limit of a credit product that does not exist anywhere on my credit file. The second cited reason high combined revolving balance is a direct continuation of the XXXX Citi created XXXX XXXX. My XXXX report itself currently lists " Available credit on your open bankcard or credit card accounts is too low '' as a factor hurting my score. The single largest reason my available credit is artificially low is Citibank 's elimination of {$23000.00} of available credit on this account. COMPARISON WITH OTHER LENDERS During this same multi-year period, XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX both proactively granted me credit limit increases. Two other major lenders evaluating the same credit profile saw me as a less risky customer, not more. Citi 's treatment is an outlier and is not justified by any objective change in my creditworthiness. DOCUMENTED HARMS XXXX XXXX dropped from approximately XXXX ( XX/XX/XXXX ) to XXXX in XXXX ; currently XXXX, still significantly below the pre-action level. Unable to qualify for 0 % XXXX on a vehicle purchase in XX/XX/XXXX, forcing my spouse to be primary applicant with me as XXXX a credit position I had not been in since I was a teenager. Currently paying approximately $ XXXX in excess interest on that vehicle loan ( 3.49 % APR vs. the 0 % I would have qualified for previously ). Approximately {$1700.00} in excess interest paid to date, with $ XXXX projected over the loan 's XXXX term. Additional interest on other revolving balances I have been unable to consolidate at 0 % promotional rates due to the credit damage. Required to take on a second job ( freelance work ) to mitigate the financial impact. XXXX ability to pursue planned home purchase due to credit profile damage. Citibank also holds my XXXX XXXX travel card and has been my issuer across multiple products for over 8 years. I am not seeking confrontation. I am asking that the harm caused by what appears to be an automated risk response to my legitimate fraud reporting be remediated.

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 non-monetary relief