Consumer complaint received 2020-09-15
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NC
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Savings account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
My unresolved issues with CitiBank have now lasted two months and I am still not able to access my money and remove my + {$60000.00} cash. I received a promotional email from CitiBank to open a Citi XXXX XXXX Savings account to receive bonus AAdvantage miles for maintaining a certain deposit balance in the account for 90 days, plus I would receive 25 % more AAdvantage miles on every credit card purchase while the account is open. I opened the account on XX/XX/XXXX and reached a {$50000.00} balance on XX/XX/XXXX. I did nothing with the money or the account until I noticed my balance had fallen by {$9800.00} due to a fraudulent ACH withdrawal Citi authorized on XX/XX/XXXX. I immediately called Citi to inquire about this ACH and, after waiting on hold for more than 90 minutes, opened a fraud inquiry/dispute and was told I would hear the findings in 7-14 business days. After opening the dispute, I asked that they put an ACH block on my account to prevent any more fraudulent activity because closing the account would lose my chances at the bonus miles ( the only reason I opened the account ). After completing this step, I was transferred to a separate department ( an additional 2 hour wait ) to discuss what impact this fraudulent activity would have on me earning the 40,000 bonus miles for maintaining a {$50000.00} balance for 90 days. The manager confirmed that if determined to be fraud, Citi would not view the balance as having changed since the debit would be reversed, and I would receive my full 40,000 bonus miles. She also said that she could not at that point view how many miles I was eligible to get but that, if for some reason I only received 20,000 after the time period, all I had to do was open a request and they would provide the additional 20,000 I was owed. I received confirmation from Citi on XX/XX/XXXX that the {$9800.00} debit was fraudulent and they had reimbursed my account for that amount. Based on my previous conversation with the representative on XX/XX/XXXX, I assumed everything was still in order with my bonus eligibility and there was nothing else I needed to do. Fast forward to XXXX when I knew I had satisfied the 90 day on deposit promotion requirement ( satisfied XX/XX/XXXX ) and wanted to remove the majority of my money, the representative at Citi informed me that it could take up to 60 days ( XX/XX/XXXX ) for the bonus miles to hit my account. However, she could not confirm how many miles I would be receiving, but did say that I should not remove my money from the account until the miles had been deposited into my AAdvantage account or it may mess up the process. When I checked my AAdvantage account on XX/XX/XXXX, I realized only 20,000 miles had been added to my account. I opened multiple complaints/disputes/research requests with departments and managers and still no one at Citi reached out to me to solve the issue or provided a valid explanation for why I have not received the 20,000 additional miles I was promised. When I checked my account and found only 20,000 AAdvantage miles, I immediately opened a dispute to get the additional 20,000 miles I was owed. On this same call, I asked to remove the ACH block on the account so I could transfer my money out because I now rightfully felt that Citi had taken advantage of me as a consumer. Between then and XXXX, I called Citi SIX separate times, each time being transferred to someone else or a new security department ( I was given THREE different numbers for the security department I needed to contact ). After EVERY SINGLE ONE of these calls I was assured that the block had been removed and I could transfer my money. Someone went so far as to guide me through adding an external account, getting the account approved, and providing an overview of the daily and monthly limits on one of these calls, only for me to wait 5 business days for the account to be approved and 2 days for my ACH requests to be processed, to find out that the block had not been removed and the ACH transactions were unsuccessful. 

Given these two issues, I submitted a XXXX complaint on XX/XX/XXXX, and it took 14 days for Citi to reach out to me regarding my complaint. XXXX XXXX with Citi called me on XX/XX/XXXX to inform me I was correct and I was owed an additional XXXX AAdvantage miles, and these miles were deposited into my account on XXXX. XXXX stated that he listened to all of the recordings of my many calls with the various departments at Citi and that he was looking into why my disputes were incorrectly denied and why I was provided such poor service and incorrect information. XXXX also gave me his personal phone number, and stated he was working with the fraud department to remove the block on my account so I could access my money. I also told XXXX during this conversation that my father also has {$50000.00} in a Citi XXXX XXXX Account that has an ACH block, and XXXX assured me he would be able to remove the block on his account too so he can access his money. Further, XXXX told me he would call me XXXX to update me and, when we talked on XXXX he said he submitted the request to remove the block and that I would be able to access my funds at the absolute latest, XXXX, and that he would call me back on XXXX or XXXX to confirm when the block was removed and my funds were available. Finally, on the initial call with XXXX on XXXX, he told me he would provide a {$100.00} credit to my account for everything that I had to go through. I told him that was a good starting point, BUT I STILL HAVE NOT RECEIVED THE {$100.00} CREDIT and here I am again unable to access my money and unable to get in contact with anyone at Citi!! After not hearing from XXXX by Friday XX/XX/XXXX, I called XXXX on his personal phone number on Friday XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX XXXX  EST, Monday XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX XXXX  EST, and Tuesday XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX XXXX  EST - leaving a voicemail each time and requesting he call me back. I have still not heard from XXXX, can not access my + {$60000.00}, and believe Citi is violating numerous regulations by holding my savings account money for now +90 days without allowing me to access it and providing me nothing more than additional headaches, frustration, and wasting hours and hours of my time. I believe every consumer should have the right to decide where they want their money held or how they want it invested, and Citi has taken this liberty from me.

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 monetary relief