Consumer complaint received 2025-05-02 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:
I had a Citi XXXX XXXX card since XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX I received an email welcoming me to ThankYou rewards for my new Citi Double cash card. I thought this was either a mistake or a scam since I did not request a Citi Double Cash card so I ignored the email. On XX/XX/XXXX I received an email with my Citi XXXX XXXX XXXX statement, which was {$0.00}, but I did not have a Double Cash card so I again ignored the email. A week or so later, I received a Citi Double Cash card in the mail. In XX/XX/XXXX I called the Citi Double Cash phone number to ask why I received the card. The customer service representative I spoke to did not know why and quickly transferred me to the fraud department. I do not know the name of the fraud department representative I spoke to, but her ID number is supposedly XXXX. She did not know why I received the card either and told me it must have been someone using my information to get the card. I didn't think this was right because if someone used my info to open a new card, they wouldn't have had the card sent to me. The representative didn't understand this. I also noticed that both my original XXXX XXXX card and the Double Cash card had the exact same account number, expiration date, and XXXX digit security number on the back. This also seemed very strange to me. At the very least, the security number should be different on the XXXX cards. The expiration date also most likely would have been updated. She told me the only option I had was to close the account. I did not want to close the XXXX XXXX account and didn't want the Double Cash card, which I told the representative. She told me that once the account was closed, it could not be reopened and assured me that she would only close the Double Cash card account. Since the numbers all matched, I confirmed with her twice that there were XXXX separate accounts. She confirmed there were XXXX separate accounts and that she would only close the Double Cash account. Because she twice confirmed there were XXXX accounts and that my XXXX XXXX account would stay, I agreed to close the account. She then closed it and informed me my XXXX XXXX account was closed and couldn't be reopened, which is exactly what I didn't want. I asked to talk to a supervisor and was transferred to " XXXX '', a fraud account supervisor. She told me that she could not reopen the account but she would file a complaint and it would be reviewed to see if the account could be reopened. She told me I would receive a call with the decision and updates about the complaint in XXXX days. I never received a call. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I called the Diamond Preferred phone number and spoke to " XXXX '', a customer service representative and asked why I never received a call and if she could tell me why my card was apparently turned into a Double Cash card without my knowledge or authorization. She did not know why the card changed and didn't know why I didn't receive a call and transferred me to " XXXX '', an account specialist manager. After speaking with her for a while, she could not tell me why my card was changed into a Double Cash card and informed me that there was no record of a request to have my account reopened. She told me she would put in a request and that again I would hear in XXXX days, which I didn't. She told me that my account was closed because of a fraudulent application. I don't know how it was a fraudulent application because I had the account for 9 years and it seemed that Citi for some reason changed my card into a Double Cash card without my knowledge. She told me the numbers on the cards also should not match because they were XXXX separate products from different parts of the company. Also she told me that the original person I spoke to in the fraud department should have let me know that I could have just changed the Double Cash card back into a Diamond Preferred Card. 

I asked to speak to her manager because I wanted answers and for some reason she transferred me to " XXXX '' a manager in the Fraud Early Warning Department. She also told me I could not reopen the account and gave me the phone number to Citi Card Security Operations to check on my complaint. They were apparently closed at the time. Other than that, she was reading from a script repeating the same thing to any question I had. I had asked her, along with every other person I spoke to, if I could open another account without a hit to my credit score ( keep my history with the account, not have an inquiry to my account, keep the same credit limit ) since my original account was closed due to fraud. No one could tell me and " XXXX '' just kept reading from the script. Since she clearly did not understand what I was asking and was in another country, I asked to speak to someone in the US. 

I was then transferred to " XXXX '', a Fraud Account supervisor. I had to explain the entire story again to her, as I did to every person I spoke to, and told her that I was told my account was originally closed because of a fraudulent application. She thought that was very strange since my account was already open for so long. She also did not know why my card was changed but tried to tell me that Citi occasionally sends updated cards and that's what happened and why the cards had the same numbers. I told her I never got any warning and she said it would've been on my statement, but I don't get paper statements and never got an email or any type of message. She didn't say much to that. When I told her I was told the cards should have different numbers because they are different products, she told me they weren't, which isn't right. The cards have different phone numbers on them for support because they are XXXX different departments. I also told her that in the past I have gotten letters in the mail wanting me to switch my XXXX XXXX account to a XXXX XXXX XXXX, but I never switched it and I hadn't received anything recently. She didn't say anything. After a while on the phone with her and her telling me she filed a request to reopen my account, she told me that the " fraudulent application '' reason my account was closed was just credit card jargon and didn't actually mean there was a new application, even though she originally was very surprised that was the reason. She assured me that I would receive a phone call about the decision to reopen my account probably in XXXX business days. That call also never came. 

Today, XX/XX/XXXX, I called the Citi XXXX XXXX XXXX phone number for an update to my claim. " There are no disputed items on record ''. So apparently not XXXX person who said they would put in a request to reopen my account, or file a complaint did so. I want is to know why my XXXX XXXX XXXX was changed into a Double Cash card without my knowledge or consent. I also want my account reopened. If that is truly not a possibility for some reason, I want to know that reason why and I want a new account opened with the same account history, credit limit and no inquiry on my credit report. I don't understand why Citi does not have any protocol to ( re ) open an account easily and without needing to apply for a new card if an account is closed due to fraud. I had also asked at least " XXXX '' and " XXXX '' for their ID numbers, but they told me they were not allowed to give them out or any other identifying information other than their first names, which also doesn't seem right since XXXX person did give an ID number and every other company gives ID numbers because that is the reason for them.

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