Consumer complaint received 2019-10-30
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NY
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Problem caused by your funds being low
Sub-issue: Non-sufficient funds and associated fees

Complaint:
I am a long-term client of Citibank - since XXXX. For all these years I had a Checking, Saving and IRA accounts, which accumulated a total balance of over {$10000.00} in all the linked accounts, so I was automatically qualified for the package, where my Checking account was automatically fee-free. I never ever called Citibank to make sure my Checking account has this specific status. 

I eventually decided to downgrade and have my Checking account to be a Basic one. I made sure I satisfy the requirement of having {$1500.00} in all the linked accounts as per their website info, and then transferred the rest to the other institution. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I saw that I had insufficient funds in the account. I went online and saw that as of XX/XX/XXXX - I had {$39.00} balance. Then on XX/XX/XXXX I was charged {$15.00} for non-Citi ATM use and {$25.00} - monthly fee ( both never charged before ) and as a result of it - I had not sufficient funds for one of the automatic XXXX expense charges, which was attempted and thus - Citibank charged {$34.00} for insufficient funds on XX/XX/XXXX. 
Again, as I mentioned I never had to call Citibank to elevate the level of my Checking account - so I had assumed that I did not have to call and ask them to do anything to downgrade the account so that it becomes a Basic Checking. I simply assumed it was enough to have a specified balance and the account will be considered a Basic one automatically. So when I called on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke to a representative about the fees - I was told 1 ) I had to call in order to convert the account to the Basic one, 2 ) my IRA account balance is no longer going to be linked to the Checking one. All to my surprise was not mentioned anywhere on their website. Again I saw the info though that the Basic Checking could be linked to the retirement account, but for whatever reason the representative told me no, it can not be linked to my IRA in this package. When I expressed a valid concern that I was not aware of this information - the representative tried to alleviate the situation by promising me that they are going to make sure that the fees, which were caused by me not being informed of the new rules and thus not having enough funds in the account for the monthly and Atm fees - would be reversed. I saw the reversal on XX/XX/XXXX. However, prior to the reversal XXXX still tried to attempt another charge at the same date and I saw another {$34.00} charge of insufficient funds, which appeared on the account on XX/XX/XXXX. This charge was never reversed without any explanation at that time. 

While still on the phone with a representative on that same call on XX/XX/XXXX I was also made informed of another option to be able to convert my Checking account to Basic one with no monthly fees, since my {$1500.00} balance in IRA was no longer linked and thus this specific balance requirement could not be fulfilled. But the option was 1 ) to have direct deposit/month, 2 ) process 1 bill pmt/month and 3 ) open a saving account. 
I agreed to this option, it seemed easy to implement - and I was helped with the opening of the saving account right there and was assured that there was no need to do anything else. I was told my account was going to be converted to the Basic Checking as of that date. I only had to be sure that I process bill pmt in order not to have monthly fees. I had already had direct deposit requirement fulfilled by that time. 
I made sure that I process a bill pmt next cycle - which I did on XX/XX/XXXX. 
Again I already had direct deposits into my account running every two weeks, and my new saving account was open as of XX/XX/XXXX. 

So the current Issue is - on XX/XX/XXXX XXXX there shows up another fee of {$25.00} - monthly fee. 
I call the bank on XX/XX/XXXX about this charge and the one that was never reversed of {$34.00}. 
I explain the whole situation to the financial associate XXXX. She seems to be understanding but then tells me that their system does not let her reverse {$25.00} because they are allowed only to do one per year?! This seems to be a nonsense reason! The fee is not supposed to be there and I honestly do not care what their system can or can not do. Someone has to be able to overwrite this, if this is clearly a Citibank 's error and they should be held responsible and take measures. Ok, XXXX is not able to help me. I ask for her supervisor, who spends about 20 min with me, she tells me another surprising fact : my account was still not converted to the Basic checking one as of XXXX for more than a month since I originally called in XXXX and was assured that nothing else needs to be done, all is taken cared of. 
And so now the Supervisor tells me that I apparently had to call them again 2-3 days after I called on XX/XX/XXXX to make sure the Checking account is converted. Again - this WAS NEVER RELATED TO ME on the call on XX/XX/XXXX. And so the {$25.00} on XX/XX/XXXX is there because the account was never converted. 
Next thing - she agrees to try to reverse the charges, is putting me on hold and returning every 5 min and eventually the call gets disconnected. I call again, all over again explain the whole situation and speak to a new supervisor XXXX. He eventually tells me the same thing as XXXX did - they are not able to reverse the fees since they have already done one in XXXX. 

The bottomline is that I wasted more than an 2 hours with Citibank on the phone on both calls, they repeatedly ask for address and phone number before they proceed with trying to help. But when the call got disconnected no one bothered to call me back. When I call again and speak to XXXX - there are no records of the first Supervisor to be involved as if this time spent on the phone with her just disappeared! So I had to start all over! I wasted {$59.00} because of Citibank 's employees negligence and incompetence and uncooperative attitude. it's a story when one employee does not seem to care about what another one had said. Even though the situation is clearly a fault of Citibank : missing detailed information about what's involved with the conversion, inconsistent information provided on the phone, and promise! to reverse the fee, and then reassurance that I do not have to take any more steps to make sure the account is converted to the Basic one - and then when I called XX/XX/XXXX I hear that it still was not converted. I was also assured on XX/XX/XXXX call that now when my account was converted it was also put on a transitionary cycle when there was supposed to be a note that no fees are supposed to be charged. And as a result of all of this - I see the fees charged and am told that they can not be reversed. 
It is frustrating and makes me think that Citibank does not really care about its clients.

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