Credit card -- Fees or interest -- Complaint #17952343

Complaint Overview

Complaint ID: 17952343

Company: Citibank, N.A.

Product: Credit card

Sub-Product: Store credit card

Issue: Fees or interest

Sub-Issue: Charged too much interest

State: Louisiana

ZIP Code: 70003

Date Received: 2025-11-26T12:00:00-05:00

Date Sent to Company: 2025-11-26T12:00:00-05:00

Company Response: Closed with explanation

Timely Response: Yes

Consumer Disputed: N/A

Submitted Via: Web

Consumer Narrative

I financed a {$1900.00} purchase on a 24-month XXXX percent interest promotion through my Best Buy Credit Card ( issued by Citibank ) XXXX The promotion began on XX/XX/XXXX and was scheduled to end on XX/XX/XXXX. At the start of the promotion, I set up automatic payments solely to pay off the promotional balance on time. The payment amount was calculated as {$81.00} per month over 24 months. I set autopay at {$81.00} to ensure the balance would be fully paid before the promotion ended. Every payment drafted on time. In XX/XX/XXXX, a small additional purchase of approximately {$220.00} was made on the card. I did not realize that this unrelated purchase would change how Citibank allocates payments. Citi applies payments above the minimum to high-interest balances first, meaning my fixed autopay amount was no longer being applied fully to the promotional balance. As a result, although autopay continued each month without any notice of an issue, the promotional balance quietly fell behind. When the promotion ended in XX/XX/XXXX, a small promotional balance of about {$220.00} remained. Because of the deferred-interest terms, Citibank then charged {$1300.00} in retroactive interestnearly the amount of the original financed purchase. I did not discover this until XX/XX/XXXX when reviewing my statement. When I contacted Citibank on XX/XX/XXXX, I was told the deferred interest could not be removed because I noticed the issue a few months after the promotion expired. However, autopay continued drafting the same amount every month, and I received no notification from Citi that the promotional payoff schedule had been disrupted or that a remaining balance would trigger deferred interest. Additionally, my online account does not display statements prior to XX/XX/XXXX, so I can not access the original promotion disclosures. I have attached available statements showing the consistent payment pattern and the sudden balance increase after the deferred interest was added. This appears to be a common issue among Best Buy cardholders : even a small purchase during a promotional period silently diverts payments away from the promotional balance, without adequate warning that autopay will no longer satisfy the scheduled payoff. The payment-allocation method is not clearly communicated, and Citi provided no alerts prior to or after the promotion expiration. I am requesting a review of the retroactive interest charge and an adjustment, given that I made every payment on time for the exact purpose of paying off the promotional plan, and the balance shortfall resulted from unclear payment allocation rules and lack of notice, not missed payments or misuse.

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