Consumer complaint received 2019-04-16
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NC
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Closing an account
Sub-issue: Company closed your account

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I opened two accounts with CitiBank as part of a promotion they had for a {$600.00} cash credit after 90 days. The terms were that I needed to fund an account with {$50000.00} and they'd open both a Checking and Savings account under their " Priority '' package. In order to get the {$600.00} bonus I needed to keep both accounts funded with a total of {$50000.00} for 60 days and then in 90 days I'd get the promotional bonus. 

The savings account was funded with {$50000.00} on XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX I called CitiBank customer service to confirm that I had done everything necessary to receive this bonus. The Citi representative confirmed that I had met the funding requirements and that I am good to receive the bonus if I do not touch the {$50000.00} in my savings account. At no time did the representative tell me that I needed to have any amount of money in my checking account with Citi. I was led to believe that as long as I had {$50000.00} between the two accounts I would be in good standing. 

On XX/XX/XXXX my checking account was closed by Citi due to a zero balance. I was not notified that the account was in danger of closing or that all I needed to do was transfer in {$1.00} to keep this account open. I logged into Citibank.com to check my accounts on XX/XX/XXXX and found out my checking account was closed. I immediately called Citi customer service to get the account re-opened. 

On my XX/XX/XXXX call with Citi I was told that my checking account was closed due to XXXX balance and that it can not be re-opened. Furthermore, they told me that I would no longer be eligible for the {$600.00} promotional bonus as I would need to have both a checking and savings account in good standing at the time the promotional payment period came up ( 90 days after meeting requirements ... approximately XX/XX/XXXX ). I escalated to another level of management and was then told that I needed to go to a Citi branch location to try to re-open my account. There is no Citi branch location anywhere near where I live so this is not possible. 

I called Citi back on XX/XX/XXXX because I read that they should be able to re-open closed accounts within 30 days of closing. I spoke to the first level of support and then was transferred over to the support manager. The manager tried to re-open my checking account but told me that there was a reason code that did not allow for re-opening. She also confirmed that I would not be eligible for the {$600.00} promotional bonus without having this checking account opened. I asked for another escalation and she said that she was the highest level of support that I could get. 

In summary, Citi has held {$50000.00} of my money which they have been earning interest on while I have earned {$13.00} in my savings account due to the small APR/APY that the account earns. They failed to notify me that I needed to fund my checking account multiple times ( first when I called in XXXX, and then when they closed my account without asking me ). They refused to re-open this account even though I requested twice within the 30 day window after closure. They have also made me ineligible to receive the {$600.00} promotion which was the only reason I opened the account. I feel like I have been defrauded and tricked by Citi.

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