Consumer complaint received 2025-07-28 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Closing your account — Company closed your account
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
XX/XX/year> : I initiated XXXX payments via Bill Pay through XXXX XXXX to my Citibank credit card : XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX ( from XXXX account ) XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX ( from another account ) I regularly split payments between accounts allocated for different types of expenses. This has been a consistent practice throughout my time as a Citibank cardholder. For comparison, on XX/XX/year>, I made similar payments of XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX which were credited by Citibank on XX/XX/XXXX. 
XX/XX/year> : I received a text from Citibank indicating no payment had been made. I called customer service and explained that payments were sent on XX/XX/XXXX. The agent stated that if Citibank had received the payments, they would have already been credited, and that I should make a payment immediately to avoid late fees. 
I expressed concern about double-paying, but she assured me I could stop payment on the checks through my bank. I was told the total payment due was XXXX XXXXXXXX due to some credits from returned items. 
Following that call : I contacted XXXX to investigate the status of the checks. They confirmed that both checks were still outstanding and uncashed. Upon further review, I discovered that the XXXX XXXX check was sent to XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, KY XXXX and the XXXX  XXXX check to XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, AZ XXXX XXXX This was inconsistent with previous payments, which were sent to XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX, IL XXXX. 
XXXX informed me that these addresses are managed by the payeeCitibankthrough the XXXX XXXX vendor, XXXX. At that point, I submitted stop payment requests for the XXXX checks. 
XX/XX/year> : I received an email notification from Citibank stating that my XXXX XXXX payment had been returned unpaid. I called XXXX again and was informed that no XXXX transaction had been initiated during that period. The likely explanation was that the account number was entered incorrectly during the phone payment. 
Same day ( XX/XX/XXXX ) : To avoid further issues, I logged into XXXX, linked my XXXX account via trial deposits, and successfully made a payment of XXXX XXXX covering the entire outstanding balance including all new charges posted after the statement, to prevent interest charges. 
XX/XX/year> : I received emails from Citibank confirming receipt of the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX payments. Then, on XX/XX/XXXX, I received another notice requesting replacement for the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX checksdespite having already made the full payment online and being instructed to stop those original checks. 
XX/XX/year> : Later that day, I attempted to use my card to pay for my childs XXXX  exam and found that it had been declined. Upon logging into my account, I saw that the card had been canceled. I called Citibank and spoke with a representative named XXXX, who informed me that the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Department had closed the account just XXXX hours earlier. He indicated that the likely reason was the stop payment on the XXXX checks. 
XX/XX/year> I contacted Citibanks Executive Response Unit to discuss the matter. The questions that I was asked sounded like a new application for credit, including whether they can pull my credit report again. It is all fine, but the timeline of up to 15 days to give me a response when the issues seem related to Citibank seems very unjust. 
________________________________________ My Concerns I believe the closure of my account is unwarranted and does not reflect my payment history or intent. I made every reasonable effort to ensure timely payment and acted in good faith based on Citibanks own guidance. The problems I encountered appear to stem from XXXX key areas : XXXX. Payment Address Discrepancies : Different payment addresses were used by XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX whichaccording to XXXX managed by Citibank. 
XXXX. Delayed Check Processing : Checks sent on XX/XX/XXXX were not processed until XX/XX/XXXX, in contrast to the previous month when checks were credited within XXXX days. 
XXXX. Conflicting Instructions from Citibank Support : I was advised by a Citibank agent to make a new payment and place stop payments on the original checksonly to later have those stopped checks cited as the reason for account closure. 

It makes me wonder whether Citibank has a handle on Bill Pay address maintenance, check processing, Citibank support, and XXXX XXXX XXXX operations. Alternatively, is the addess and delayed processing times deliberate so Citibank can either get overpayment or charge late fees and interest.

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