Consumer complaint received 2019-09-14
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I received my paycheck in the amount of around {$2300.00} ( I will have to give round about numbers at this point since Citi has also blocked my online access so I am unable to view transaction history as I write this ). I have a Citi Priority Account which also is supposed to provide dedicated service with having a priority account. I did a transaction in the amount of {$8.00} on my XXXX flight for airline XXXX via the XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX feature. Once I did this transaction I received an email shortly thereafter stating my access has been blocked due to suspicious transaction. They sent me an email and a text to both of my phones to verify the transaction in question. I verified through the email they sent as well as answered the verification text messages on both of my phones. The status was still showing as blocked when I tried another transaction. I contacted the fraud team at that point ( XXXX XXXX time on XX/XX/XXXX ) and somebody assisted me and cleared the transactions and unblocked my account. After that I proceeded to use my card throughout the day until around XXXX when I received a call from Citi Fraud team at XXXX on both of my phones and a gentlemen indicated he was a supervisor with Citi Fraud Prevention and needed to verify the transaction I just attempted to lift the block on my account. He said everything was cleared. When I attempted to use my card again after that my card was not only blocked but now my entire online and mobile access was disabled as I received another email notification stating that they had reason to believe my user ID may have been compromised. They provided a phone number and the options to select to speak with somebody XXXX that can assist with any fraud issues. When i then called in, they said that that " back office team that is looking into your account is not in until XXXX eastern time. '' SO I then proceeded to call in this morning when they were supposed to be there and I was told then that this department is actually not available until MONDAY at XXXX XXXX XXXX. This means that I am forced to go from Friday evening to Monday without having any access to cash or food because of CITI PRIORITY. Throughout the process I also asked multiple times to speak with supervisors and i was placed on 30 minute holds with nobody checking in on me. There seems to be nobody that can address this issue or even give consistent information on what I can do or what can be done to clear this or give me the opportunity to withdraw my funds at a branch by providing proof. I have a Social Security Card, Birth Certificate, California Drivers License, Credit card and many other forms of identification to provide yet they will not allow me to access or withdraw my funds. This contradicts what this company advertises as being a XXXX XXXX Customer in addition to the fact that they falsely claim that you can speak to a fraud team member to address the issue 24/7. This is absolutely a travesty and no bank should be able to put a customers money on hold for that amount of time without having the proper departments available to address these issues not only during the week but on weekends and at night when consumers are spending their hard earned money.

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