Consumer complaint received 2023-09-04
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NC
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Savings account
Issue: Closing an account
Sub-issue: Company closed your account

Complaint:
( This information is reproduced in a better format as an attachment, below. ) To whom it may concern : Citi has wrongly accused me ( XXXX ) of violating the terms of my account, presumably due to alleged fraud, and is holding $ XXXX hostage against our will. This is almost our entire life savings, which we have been saving to use as a down payment for a house ( we would be first-time homeowners ). Despite hours of discussion, Citis customer service representatives will not give us any additional information about why Citi has taken this action and have promised no more than that our funds will be returned after 60 days. Accounts from similar customers online say that Citi does not always honor this 60-day timeline, and often holds the money indefinitely. 

We are frustrated and angry about this entire ordealand frankly we are scared to death as we feel like two powerless, relative nobodies ( a XXXX and a XXXX at a small manufacturing company ) staring into the face of an uncaring, multi-trillion-dollar corporation. They are keeping our hard-earned money for who knows how long, and they are telling us there is nothing we can do about it. 

We allege that Citis behavior in this matter is itself unethical and violates their agreement with customers. We request that the full amount of our funds, complete with all accrued interest, be returned within five business days ( XX/XX/2023 ) so that we can move forward with a potential purchase of a house ( should we find a good option ). 

We are asking for your help in resolving this matter. A full account of our experiences can be found below. I ( XXXX ) handle most of our financial matters and am the best point of contact. We both work full-time, but we can make ourselves available at the same time if needed since XXXX name is the one on the account. 

Sincerely, XXXX and XXXX XX/XX/2023 THE DETAILED ACCOUNT We have been saving money diligently for a house down payment for the last five years. I ( XXXX ) received a mailer from Citi in XXXX advertising the Citi XXXX XXXX XXXX account. We signed up, closed our old XXXX XXXX savings account, and began the process of trying to move $ XXXX into the XXXX XXXX  XXXX account . 

Because Citis ACH transfer software was not compatible with XXXX XXXX, we had to use our account at XXXX XXXX  XXXX as a go-between. The process of closing the XXXX Account, depositing the check into our XXXX XXXX  XXXX account , and waiting for it to clear took nearly a month. I ( XXXX ) was cognizant that this delay had already cost us a significant portion of the perks promised by the Citi XXXX XXXX XXXX account due to lost interest. We were XXXX to re-start interest accrual as quickly as possible. 

Wed, XX/XX/XXXX Once the check from XXXX XXXX cleared our XXXX XXXX  XXXX account , we logged into the Citi account and attempted to transfer the full $ XXXX from XXXX XXXX  XXXX to Citi. However, Citis software has a $ XXXX monthly transfer limit. We decide to transfer $ XXXX and postpone the final $ XXXX until XXXX. 

Thu, XX/XX/XXXX The initial $ XXXX transfer goes through. 

Sat, XX/XX/XXXX We logged into the Citi account to see if it would let us transfer the remaining $ XXXX. We were not sure if the per-month limits were enforced by a 30-day waiting period, or if they were monthly totals. Since we made the initial transfer in XXXX, and it was now XXXX, we thought we might be able to transfer the rest. Upon reaching the transfer origination page, we were given a message that Citi was in the process of upgrading their software and was limiting all deposits to XXXX XXXX/day. This was annoying, but we did not think it was a problem. We setup four consecutive $ XXXX transfers to be processed Mon-Thu of the following week. Citis software allowed us to set these up without any issue. 

Mon, XX/XX/XXXX The first of four $ XXXX transfer goes through. I ( XXXX ) receive a confirmation email. 

Tue, XX/XX/XXXX I ( XXXX ) receive an email that the second $ XXXX transfer has been cancelled. No reason is given. 

Wed, XX/XX/XXXX I ( XXXX ) receive an email that the second $ XXXX transfer has been cancelled. No reason is given. 

Thu, XX/XX/XXXX I ( XXXX ) receive an email that the second $ XXXX transfer has been cancelled. No reason is given. 

Fri, XX/XX/XXXX I ( XXXX ) receive an email with the following verbiage : Hi, XXXX. We periodically review customer accounts and assess account activity. Based on a recent review of your Citi XXXX XXXX XXXX account, we found that you have violated the terms of your account per the client manual. 

As a result, your Citi XXXX XXXX XXXX account and any other Citi accounts you have will be closed within 60 days of the date of this communication. All of your accounts are now restricted from receiving deposits or credits, effective immediately. 

Sun, XX/XX/XXXX Because I ( XXXX ) left town on Sat, XX/XX/XXXX and did not return until Fri, XX/XX/XXXX, we did not notice the email from XX/XX/XXXX until Sun, XX/XX/XXXX. We immediately called Citi, but their fraud customer service department was closed. 

Mon, XX/XX/XXXX We called XXXX, Option XXXX, and were on the line for 37 minutes. During this time, we spoke to the lowest tier customer service, who escalated our request to the second tier customer service. We spoke with a representative named XXXX. She tried connecting us to the third tier customer service, a US supervisor, but that person ( XXXX ) was unavailable. They promised to call us back by XXXX EST. They would not provide any alternative means of following up except to work through the phone support tree again. 

Citi did not call us back that evening. 

Tue, XX/XX/XXXX Citi called me ( XXXX ) while I was at work, in the middle of XXXX an English class at my high school. I was unable to answer. We called Citi after work and had to start at the bottom rung of support again, though we were quickly elevated to the second tier of support. As with the previous night, they were unable to find a US-based supervisor with whom we could speak. They offered to connect us with a third-tier supervisor abroad, and we accepted. 

We spoke with XXXX ( user ID : XXXX ), a Supervisor of Deposit Risk, at the third tier of support. She, like all the other supervisors, refused to give us any additional information about why our account was closed, whether there was fraud ( we were concerned about identity theft ), and if we had any option to recover our life savings sooner. 

After some time, she connected us with her manager, XXXX, whose title was Manager of Deposit Risk, and who was the highest level of support in that department. We spoke with XXXX at length. He was sympathetic to our plight but gave us no additional information. He only promised that the funds would be returned within 60 days. XXXX confirmed that no one in the customer service department would be able to either ( a ) reverse the account closure, or ( b ) return our life savings sooner than 60 days. The call lasted 1 hour, 22 minutes before we finally gave up, exhausted. 
Wed, XX/XX/XXXX Unable to find any recourse from Citi, we scoured the internet to see if other customers had encountered the same scenario. It turns out that we were very much not alone. Even more frighteningly, a cursory XXXX search of online discussion forums has convinced us that Citi often stretches this 60-day window into much longer time periods. 

At present, we now find ourselves separated from our life savings, unable to provide proof of funds ( much less payment ) for a down payment for a house, and wracked with XXXX and fear. We are reaching out to you for assistance in convincing Citi to release our funds immediately so that we can move on from this mess. 


ADDENDUM : ON ALLEGATIONS OF VIOLATION OF TERMS/ FRAUD Friends of ours who have worked in financial sectors have told us that it was likely the consecutive $ XXXX deposits that tripped Citis fraud filter. Neither of us have experience in this field. To us, it seems incredibly natural to use consecutive deposits in the scenario in which Citis software has provided such low transfer limits. 

If suspicion of fraud is truly Citis concern, we can provide ( 1 ) statements from XXXX  XXXX XXXX showing monthly direct deposits from our places of employment going back five years ; ( 2 ) statements from XXXX  XXXX XXXX showing transfers to XXXX XXXX ; ( 3 ) statements from XXXX XXXX showing transfers from XXXX XXXX  XXXX and closure of account ; ( 4 ) a statement from XXXX XXXX  XXXX showing a check deposit for ~ $ XXXX from XXXX XXXX. This chain of documents would prove that the full $ XXXX in question was earned through gainful employment and has always been held in bank accounts in our name. We should note that we offered all of this to Citis customer service representatives, and they were not interested. 

We also offered to disclose to Citi the IP addresses and computer hardware IDs that we used to login to citi.com, so that Citi could cross-reference our activity with any potential third-party access that we are not aware of.

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