Complaint Review: Home Depot Consumer Credit - San Diego California

On 05/07/2011, I was talked into opening a line of consumer credit at Home Depot for the instant discount I would receive on a rather large purchase. The clerk at Home Depot processed my account and had me input my username and password, along with all of my personal information...home address, s.s.#, and email address, phone number along with my driver's license and a swipe of my B of A debit associated with my personal checking account. She said I would be receiving my Home Depot credit card in a week to ten days. 

I never received the card, and I have absolutely no recollection of enrolling in online billing. I prefer to receive my billing by snail mail so I will 1. have a hard copy bill as a physical reminder laying there with the rest of my bills that an outstanding balance needs to be paid, and 2. as a record that the balance is correct and that the bill has been paid. So even if I had established an online access to my Home Depot Consumer Credit account, I certainly would not have enrolled in online billing. I NEVER opt for paperless billing. Yet, when I did a search of my email more recently (which Citibank had the moment I signed up for the account), lo and behold...there was an email from Citibank (Home Depot's Credit Processor) confirming that I had enrolled in online bill payment on May 18, 2011. Exactly 10 days after opening the line of credit. This is another thing uncharacteristic of how I operate. I wouldn't have bothered opening online access to my credit account until it was time to pay my bill. While I prefer hard copy billing, I pay electronically after I get my hard copy billing in the mail. In addition, I can verify through my email records, that I only received ONE online statement 80 days after opening the credit account, and that one statement could not be accessed for viewing online. When I clicked on the button that said, "VIEW STATEMENT", I got an error prompt that said, "This server did not understand your request. The file you requested is missing." So it wasn't even until July 26, that I was notified that my account was delinquent. 

So...no credit card sent, no paper billing sent, and no online billing until my account was delinquent for more than 50 days. The rep from Home Depot Consumer Credit (actually Citibank) made out as though I was mistaken and that my enrollment in online billing could not have been done without my knowledge because 1. My bank's checking account number was given, 2. My street address, s.s.#, and email address and phone number were given, and 3. To input any of that information, I would have had to provide the three digit number on the signature panel of my card. All of this information (with the exception of the three digit number) was given to Home Depot Consumer Credit (Citibank) by me...the day I signed up for the account through their debit card system at the check out counter. My debit card (that I used) is tied to my B of A checking account, so all of the information the rep insists that I must have input when I enrolled in online billing could have been processed automatically the day I opened the line of credit.

I realize this sounds very conspiratorial and hard to believe, but there are couple of things that make me suspicious. I never enroll in paperless billing. I have gotten myself in trouble before with that because I tend to miss online statements and they cycle out of my email inbox to quickly.  Second, if I HAD enrolled in online billing, why didn't I receive any online billing until my account was delinquent over 50 days? If you ask me, this sort of feels like a well crafted scheme to extract interest payments and service fees from people that are too busy to spend hours traversing automated phone menus to figure out what happened. In the end, the rep made me feel like it was my mistake and that I had inadvertently torpedoed my own perfect credit score. The more I looked at the facts, the more I came to the conclusion that something stinks in the state of Denmark. I tore my house apart and emptied my file cabinets looking for a misplaced Home Depot credit card or any accompanying paperwork. NADA. ZIP. The only indication that I had a Home Depot Consumer Credit account were two emails spaced 80 days apart. One of which was electronically irretrievable. 

The money I had to pay in late fees and interest are nothing compared to the damage done to a perfect credit score. My advice, stay the hell away from Home Depot Consumer Credit and Citibank.