Consumer complaint received 2021-03-30
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Opening an account
Sub-issue: Didn't receive terms that were advertised

Complaint:
Hi, Thank you for taking this complaint. 

My case is simple and straightforward - Citi doesn't fulfil the {$400.00} Bonus for my new {$15000.00} funded Checking / Saving Account after 90 days. 

The attached are the original ad to the link. I have other snipped images that contains the fund transferred date, account info for further needs. 

The process was simple and I had done the promoted bonus with Citi bank a few years ago. This time my husband and I both opened individual accounts through their advertised links by clicking on the $ XXXX funds to {$400.00} optional tab, NO CODE needed. We each transferred $ XXXX to both personal accounts on XX/XX/21 and XX/XX/21 successfully. 

We both also called the bank several times to verify our qualifications on the {$400.00} bonus after account funded, all the calls confirmed that our accounts both met for the {$400.00} bonus qualifications. The reason why we had to call several times, 1 week in the first month, and another week in following month specifically, was for the online banking access. It happened to me and my husband that user names / passwords didn't work after the funds were transferred in. 

Since it happened to both of us, we felt fishy. My husband on the phone with them to get his online access re-established, Citi bank claimed that it was a fraud protection. For me, I was never able to access my online banking since. Their routine protocols were representative -> technical assistance -> technical director -> put you on hold for more investigation -> hang up after 40-min to 1hr wait. These transferred calls all happened overseas ( XXXX  ), it never resolved and all ended up disconnection. Though each call we started by verifying my account info, account fund balance, and qualification of the bonus, I was never able to log into my online banking. 

I gave up on fixing the online access, patiently waited for the bonus after 3 months of funding, and planned to close the accounts in person. However, the bonus never arrived. Same thing happened to my husband 's account. Citi bank representatives were confused and gave us all types of answers : Code needed, what was the initial code, or he and I must have clicked on the wrong tab. The last claim had been more insisting from them once my husband pursued to the director, who claimed my husband clicked on $ XXXX fund for {$700.00} bonus and never fulfil the full fund of $ XXXX. 

It seemed so strange that me and my husband who applied for on the different computers at different times had made the same mistake. And the fact that they had verified our qualifications several times while we tried to fix the online banking access, they never found the " tab mistake '' or " wrong bonus category to our fund '' issue. Then there were nothing that we could've fixed early on - if there was any issue. We were just surprised and felt unbelievable. 

Throughout the immediate access denial after funding, I'd suspected the fishy bonus policy. Since I received their bonus successfully a few years ago, I decided to trust the system and their verifications through the phone calls after two months. Now it's clear that they deceive us to " lend '' them $ XXXX in total for their free investment, and we lost the total {$800.00} bonus after 3 months, and other opportunities for investing to other more trustworthy institutions.

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