Consumer complaint received 2020-02-22
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Savings account
Issue: Opening an account
Sub-issue: Didn't receive terms that were advertised

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I saw an offer online that said the following : " Open a new eligible checking and savings account in the Citi Priority Account Package during the offer period XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX. 

Maintain a minimum balance of {$50000.00} between the checking and savings accounts for 60 consecutive calendar days. 

After all required activities are met, the {$600.00} bonus will be deposited to your account within 90 calendar days! '' The www.citi.com/rates page also showed that their savings account would earn a 2.36 % interest rate as well. The only other stipulation shown was that the {$50000.00} minimum balance needed to come from " New-to-Citibank '' funds. So I opened a new Interest Checking account # XXXX as well as a new Citi Savings account # XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX and transferred {$50000.00} from my XXXX XXXX XXXX account to provide the new-to-Citibank funds. 

I never received any ATM debit or credit cards nor any way to access my account online. Anytime I would call Citibank, I was given multiple reasons as to why I could not access my account online such as there was a " block on my account '' for no known reason as stated in a call I made on XX/XX/XXXX. I was told the reason the {$600.00} bonus was never deposited into my account was due to this " block. '' Another call on XX/XX/XXXX was when I learned that on XX/XX/XXXX they had removed the block on my account, but still the {$600.00} bonus was never deposited. 

I then received a letter dated XX/XX/XXXX stating that the reason I would NOT be receiving the {$600.00} bonus was because I was a previous Citibank customer, and the offer is only for " new-to-Citibank customers. '' This was not what the offer I saw online and applied to stated. Also, during calls with Citibank I was informed that the 2.36 % interest rate is only good for certain customers in locations without any local branches, while another time I was told an entirely different story that the 2.36 % interest rate is a separate offer than the {$600.00} account open bonus and you can not receive both. 

So when I told Citibank I wanted to have my money transferred back OUT of their accounts and have the accounts closed, I was told that I had to do that online - that they could not do it over the phone. And yet they also said I could not access my accounts online since they had made the error of never sending me any debit or credit card in the first place. I was able tonight to log-into my XXXX XXXX XXXX   account, connect it to my Citi savings account, and initiate a funds transfer OUT of Citi and back into my XXXX XXXX  account instead. However, my {$50000.00} has been sitting at Citibank for nearly 7 months earning practically nothing at 0.01 % " interest, '' and I also do not have the {$600.00} new account opening bonus to show for it.

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