If Citibank is hiding fees in your bill, you may have legal options.
Citibank is an investment banking company that has been around since 1812. The company offers a wide range of financial services to individuals and businesses alike. However, being such a large and prolific company, there have been complaints in the past of fraudulent Citibank accounts or fraudulent activity on a credit card. Some customers have problems with hidden fees in their statements. So what can you do?
You should start by looking over your CitiBank statements regularly. If you see something that doesn’t look quite right or isn’t explained by the list of potential fees below, contact Citibank customer service to see if they can fix the problem.
Citibank checking accounts have monthly maintenance fees. There are three different checking account packages for everyday checking. On the lowest end, your monthly service fee is $10 and on the highest, your monthly service fee is $25. Some of these accounts come with no overdraft fees. Instead of charging you overdraft fees, they just decline your transactions. Other accounts will charge you an overdraft fee. All of the checking accounts have free ATM transactions if you use a Citibank ATM, but if you use a non-Citibank ATM, you can expect to pay a few dollars on your next statement.
Citibank also has 3 Premium checking accounts which have monthly maintenance fees of $30. These include reimbursement for non-Citi ATM fees, but you also have to have a few hundred thousand dollars or million dollars in your account to enjoy those benefits. With some of the Premier checking accounts, you have overdraft protection that gives you a line of credit to automatically protect against any overdraft. This is a revolving line of credit available for those who qualify.
Depending on the savings account package you choose, you might pay higher fees for your monthly service or have increased fees for check writing or getting an ATM card linked to your savings account. With savings accounts, you are limited to 6 transactions every month, and if you exceed those six transactions, you can expect to pay a small fee. Similarly, you get overdraft protection, but you still have to pay a monthly service fee the same as the checking accounts.
Citibank breaks down the hidden fees in your CitiBank statement into two main categories: fees related to your transactions or how you use your card and fees related to your payment or how you pay off your card.
When you use a Citibank credit card, you can expect to pay your annual fee. You will also find your interest charges. Many credit cards through Citibank have different deals when you first sign up, and these deals might include no interest for the first 12 months. If you signed up with such a promotion, you might find what look like hidden fees or unexpected fees on your next statement but are actually the change in interest rates.
Other fees related to your transactions include a balance transfer fee. If you have more than one card and you want to consolidate the amount you owe by moving at all to a single card, there is a thief, usually between 3% and 5% of whatever amount you transfer.
Your CitiBank statement might have a cash advance fee if you use your credit card to get cash from an ATM. There are also ATM fees associated with this transaction.
Even if you are not personally overseas, any foreign purchase you make will incur a charge of up to 3% of your total purchase amount. If you go over your credit card limit, you will face a small fee. This is not more than $40.
If you need to get a replacement card, the amount of money you are charged will depend on how quickly you need the card. You might even face a fee to redeem the rewards that are part of your credit card.
There are CitiBank fees related to your payments. If you are trying to make a payment and your check gets returned, you might be charged up to $40 each time this happens. If you look at your CitiBank statement and you see a late payment fee, that is because a payment was not made on time or at least not processed on time. Some customer complaints have to do with payments being made on time but not processed on time.
If that doesn’t work, you can file a complaint against Citibank, although there’s no guarantee that this will get a resolution.
If Citibank incorrectly charged you, start by reaching out to Citibank customer service. In some situations, a reversal or pending charge results in what looks like an incorrect fee on one statement but gets resolved in the next statement. Speaking with a customer service agent can help explain these potential discrepancies.
Still, there might be times when customer service doesn’t have an explanation or when they aren’t helpful. If this happens, you still have two options.
The first is to sue Citibank in small claims court. Small claims court allows you to use your local courthouse to get compensation. It’s up to you to have the right paperwork, file in the right locations, and invest the time and money going back and forth to court. However, this might be a great option as long as your case qualifies. Every state has different limits.
The second is to use something that’s potentially easier, faster without the same restrictions: consumer arbitration is a great alternative with much more flexibility. When you use consumer arbitration, you typically get a faster result.
Share your complaint about Citibank with FairShake today.
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