Consumer complaint received 2018-12-05
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: GA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Money was not available when promised

Complaint:
This complaint is for Citibank. 

On XX/XX/2018, I opened 3 CD accounts ( with different maturity dates ) online at Citibank. I have transferred {$25000.00} to each of these CDs using the funds I have in my checking and savings account ( {$75000.00} total for the 3 transactions ). None of the transfers were successful. Two of  these {$25000.00} came back, while one of the 25,000 was missing. It was supposed to go back to my savings account but it never did. 

I called Citibank on XX/XX/XXXX. They have opened a case for me, XXXX. They said it will take 1-2 business days to get investigated and resolved. 

It did NOT. 

I called back on Monday and asked for an update, and there they told me it will take 5-7 days. One agent said it will actually take 10 days max. It is a computer error on Citibank 's end. They shouldn't be allowed to hold a large amount of my money, XXXX, hostage while taking their time to " investigate ''. It is not acceptable. What if I need this money to pay rent and utilities, and I would be kicked out on the streets if I dont?! It should have been escalated and should have corrected within 1 business day. I don't know why I have to be in queue for 5-10 days without a concrete promise that the funds will go back to my account. 

It is my money and they lost it, and some reason it takes them 10 days to rectify. This does not make any sense to me. 

I was in touch with the bank daily, but all I get was the case was not assigned to any investigators yet, and there is nothing they can do. There was not an option for me to be assigned to one agent so I don't have to  explain myself every time I call. Two supervisors ( XXXX, XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX around XXXX ET ; and XXXX, XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX around XXXX-XXXX ET ) offered to call me back for an update / time frame and one of them offered to personally monitor the situation, no one called me back. Two times I was hung up on as I was being transferred to a supervisor / manager. One of the agents at the dispute department, XXXX at the Texas location ( XX/XX/XXXX around XXXX-XXXX ET, I didnt get his team # as he was quite defensive ), refused initially to transfer me to the supervisor or call into the investigation team to get updates. 

I asked to be transferred to the " investigation / premium escalation / back office '' who will be investigating the case to get more information, they said they can not do that as they won't take calls. I asked if the case can be escalated, they said that can not be done. On XX/XX/XXXX, an escalation case was created by a supervisor ( Team # XXXX ), but it is in queue behind the case that was opened and that will also take 5-7 days to even be looked at. So that wouldn't help. 

To this date ( XX/XX/XXXX ), I was told that my case wasn't assigned to anyone, it will take 5-7 days / maximum 10 days from the day the case is opened, and there is no guarantee that funds will go back to my account when they actually investigate. This is terrible. XXXX can be someone's life savings, and I was not able to sleep at night because of this, yet, nothing can be done by no one. I would like to file a complaint, and please do help me get my XXXX back into my account, PLUS any interest that it would have accrued at this point. 

Another complaint I have is, how would it be so challenging to transfer money into a CD via online banking to begin with?! 

Thank you.

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