Consumer complaint received 2022-08-25
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NY
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Closing an account
Sub-issue: Funds not received from closed account

Complaint:
Hello. I am reaching out to share with you this ongoing issue that I have been experiencing with CitiBank over the past 2 months. On XX/XX/2022, I received an email from Citibank ( XXXX ) stating that " Your Citi account ( s ) will automatically close within 60 days '' and " We found that you have violated the terms of your account per the client manual. ". I have attached pictures of the email below. This came as a surprise as I was not using this account for any illegal or malicious purposes. I used this banking account to make purchases ( food, clothing, etc ), as well as to receive incoming deposits from XXXX, a well known and reputable online marketplace and clothing reseller. Between that time and now, I have called CitiBank 10+ times, constantly getting transferred, being told that there is no specific information they can give me, and that I will receive my funds within 30-60 days. I was also told numerous times that the reason it looks my account has been marked for closure is because of suspected fraud. With that being said, I must say that It is rather remarkable that a large corporation such as CitiBank with hold nearly {$10000.00} of someones money simply because they suspect fraud, as if it would not be very easy to simply have the client verify the transactions that are in question. That same day, XX/XX/XXXX, i called the banks general number, and was transferred over to the fraud department who said that they could not provide any info and they I would need to simply wait it out. I visited a local branch in XXXX XXXX, NY, that same day and was told that I would need to once again call the fraud department because they are the only ones who can help with that concern. For the next 2 months, I repeatedly called trying to get more information to no avail. The 60 day period ended yesterday, XX/XX/2022, and I am yet to have received any further correspondence, email, letter in the mail, or check. I called once again today, XX/XX/2022, and spoke to someone in the fraud department named XXXX. She said that my account has been closed, and the investigation ended, and that I will NOT be receiving any money that is in the account and it will instead be sent to some sub ledger with no further information. She has also said that the account possibly could have been closed because of the frequent deposits ( From XXXX XXXX, yet she did not point out any specific transactions. I then told her that all of the transactions were legitimate and I could show statements/documents showing this. From this conversation, it was clear that the funds werent being held because the transactions themself were illegal, but rather because the frequency of the deposits raised a red flag in the system. However, the frequency of a specific transaction is in no way an appropriate catalyst for these current consequences. I then went to a physical branch location located in in XXXX XXXX, NY, and spoke to a banker by the name of XXXX who called the fraud department once again with hopes to get the funds released. Only this time, we were told that the investigation is still ongoing and that I will still need to wait, a complete contradiction to what I was told earlier. As you can see, I am constantly being told a different story. The gist of this situation is that ALL the money in that account was obtained legally, with records to prove that if requested, yet, Citi has not asked for any of that info, and instead has choses to simply " close '' my account and attempt to steal my funds. At this point, I felt compelled reach out to other entities who could provide some assistance such as the CFPB. In the future, it isn't out of the realm of possibilities that I will reach out to other similar organizations or even a news agency to publicly display the cruel treatment that Citi bank has subjected one of their customers to. I have exhausted the resources CitiBank recommended I use, so now I believe it is time for further measures. I would VERY MUCH appreciate it if you could look into the case so that I can withdraw my funds. I would love it if these past few months of headaches and frustration could come to an end through the help of the CFPB. Thank you dearly for reading my message.

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