Consumer complaint received 2021-09-27
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: FL
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Savings account
Issue: Opening an account
Sub-issue: Confusing or missing disclosures

Complaint:
The best way to submit my complaint to you would be to copy you on my last email to Citibank 's executive office, as follows : Eight ( 8 ) weeks now, of phone calls and emails going nowhere ... and my Citigold account is still frozen, and my FICO scores have dropped about XXXX00 points now, because of this. 
My money is locked up by you and I can not pay my credit cards. 
Will you please tell me what I need to do to unfreeze my savings account? 
I already gave you so much proof of my identity, including... 

My XXXX Bank statement My Credit card statement A copy of my drivers license Then you asked me for a government document in your letter, and I emailed you my social security statement. 
All of the above have the same address on them, except my drivers license, because our new address will not be official until XX/XX/XXXX and I don't believe the XXXX allows XXXX addresses on licenses. 

I also received the debit card ( to the frozen account ) you sent me, and called to activate it, reciting this debit card number to one of your reps on the phone : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX If my address is not verifiable, how was I able to give you the above debit card number off of the card you mailed me? 
And why would you mail a debit card to an account with XXXX deposited in it to an unverified address anyway, if you really believed what you are accusing me of??? 

When I log into my Citibank account online, I see all my accounts but it will not allow me access to my money. On one of the countless phone calls to your bank, I was told that my account was flagged for fraud. But no one could give me a reason, still, after XXXX weeks of disputing this. 

As I have said before ... My husband opened the exact same account with the same address, same day, same deposit amount, and he was not asked to verify anything! He was welcomed with no requests. 
While I am a long-term Citibank customer and I am being treated so badly for depositing money to a new CitiGold account. 

What is going on? Why am I being singled out? Why didn't you just reject my ACH deposit I sent to fund my new account from my XXXX bank account? Or tell me that I needed to pay utility bills to prove my identity, before I sent the money to fund the account? At least my money would have been safe at my XXXX bank account, if you were more fair that way. 

I keep telling you that I don't pay utility bills. My drivers license has my previous address on it ( and so does my husband 's ) because we are in the process of moving and our new address won't be official until XX/XX/XXXX I called the phone number you gave me in the letter to me, and the person taking the call claimed he was escalating my complaint and someone would get back to me, and no one got back to me just like I told him no one would, as usual. The last 10 calls all promised that someone from their back office would contact me, and that never happened. 

Do you think maybe you can actually help a Citibank customer out? What else do I need to do, a blood test, finger prints? 
There has to be another way to verify my identity instead of antagonizing me for 8 weeks and ruining my credit. At least offer a solution before my credit is completely ruined! 

Please have someone call me. If you want me to go to a local branch I can do that too, but you can't just freeze my account and forget about me ... .you still have my money! 

( end of email copy )

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 explanation