Citi suspicious activity

[Anonymous]

I have been a citi cards holder for about 8.5 years. The first is a general spend card but recently I obtained a 2nd card from them. I added both cards to apple pay to try to pay for $1 chewing gum and transactions declined on both for "suspicious activity." Their fraud team was of no use and they placed a block on my account despite my pleas. I am without access for at least the next two weeks at citi until they verify at my address. I would like to end my relationship with them but they take about 40% of my allotted credit.  I'm at 30% utilization?

[Anonymous]

Get some new cards from someone else and cancel the Citi products then. 

It's kind of a known issue though with some issuers that they'll put holds on your cards when adding them to mobile wallets while they verify you're the one that did it.

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry....maybe I missed it, but what is your question? 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I'm sorry....maybe I missed it, but what is your question? 

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There's not one.  Other than the UTIL portion at the end I think.... ?

[GApeachy]

So they said it would be about two weeks for verification process?  Did they tell you to be expecting something in the mail?

[Remedios]

Hi and welcome
If you want to cancel Citi cards over this, that's fine, but based on your post, your utilization will negatively affect scoring.
Might be wiser to wait. There is no guarantee that the next lender would not do the same thing. Fraud dept. going to fraud dept.
Dont make rash decisions because you're upset today. You'll only be hurting yourself

If you decide to close, make sure your balances are paid off, and watch for trailing interest if you've carried balances.

You may want to snag an approval or two before you close those cards, if you need additional credit
If you wait till after cards are closed, you may not be in position to do so afterwards.

Probably the best thing you can do is let the process play itself. Nothing good can come out of decisions based on anger only

In any case, good luck and I hope this gets resolved for you quickly

[Anonymous]

I understand better now, but the move to apple pay is due to automated cashier less kiosks at some locations. I used another issuer that worked well with apple pay because of this. I will wait then since it is a known issue on their end.

[Anonymous]

What people don't realize about these mobile wallets is that it's basically creating another card number which is why a lot of banks take extra precautions when adding them. I would just call my banks in the future when adding to Apple Pay that way they know it's you doing it and it doesn't get sent to be reviewed by the fraud team. 

I wouldn't close my accounts over this. Security is a good thing at the end of the day. 

Also, small transactions are a huge red flag for incoming fraud. It's not uncommon for these transactions to get cards frozen. Happened to me the other day. 

[Anonymous]

I had issues with Citi on how hairtrigger they were with fraud freezes. I ultimately wanted to close my AA Plat so I did. But that is the nature of their process. Each lender will have their own quirks.

But now I am back with Citi as of now due to a good DC offer. I'd say what Remi and other have said is the better advice: keep it open.

[CreditInspired]

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@Remedios wrote:
Hi and welcome
If you want to cancel Citi cards over this, that's fine, but based on your post, your utilization will negatively affect scoring.
Might be wiser to wait. There is no guarantee that the next lender would not do the same thing. Fraud dept. going to fraud dept.
Dont make rash decisions because you're upset today. You'll only be hurting yourself

If you decide to close, make sure your balances are paid off, and watch for trailing interest if you've carried balances.

You may want to snag an approval or two before you close those cards, if you need additional credit
If you wait till after cards are closed, you may not be in position to do so afterwards.

Probably the best thing you can do is let the process play itself. Nothing good can come out of decisions based on anger only

In any case, good luck and I hope this gets resolved for you quickly

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OP, this response is nothing but the truth. Take a few days to cool off and rethink your next move. You wont regret it.