Consumer complaint received 2021-06-22
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: MD
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Funds not handled or disbursed as instructed

Complaint:
Complaint for review by Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Date : XX/XX/XXXX On or about XX/XX/XXXX I opened a Citi Priority Checking and Savings account in order to be eligible for a promotional [ {$700.00} ] bonus that was being advertised by Citibank. A Citibank employee referred to as Mr. XXXX XXXX assisted in the completion of paper work needed to open the Checking and Savings accounts. During the meeting, I specific asked Mr. XXXX if I was eligible for the {$700.00} Citi promotional bonus. Mr. XXXX stated that after funding the Citi Priority Checking account with {$50000.00} and the Citi XXXX account with {$200.00} that I would be eligible for the Citi Priority {$700.00} Promotional Bonus within Ninety [ 90 ] days after the funding date. At no time during XXXX did Mr. XXXX discuss with XXXX the following information provided by Citibank Client Care on XX/XX/XXXX XXXX The terms of the above promotion state a customer is not eligible for this offer if they are or were a signer on an existing consumer checking account within 180 calendar days [ 6 months ] of opening the new account. Your account records indicate you had exiting checking account number ending in XXXX which was opened on XX/XX/XXXX. 
It should be mentioned that Mr. XXXX reviewed the Citibank Checking account that I opened on XX/XX/XXXX and closed on XX/XX/XXXX. Citibank Client Care clearly states that a customer is not eligible for the {$700.00} promotional offer if they are or were a signer on an existing consumer checking account within 180 calendar days [ 6 months ] of opening a new checking account. I opened a new checking account on XX/XX/XXXX, almost one year after opening the Citibank checking account ending in XXXX. 
Several day later, I called and asked Mr. XXXX if he could email to me a statement confirming that I was eligible for the Citibank {$700.00} Promotional bonus. Mr. XXXX sent an email stating that I was eligible for the Citibank Promotional bonus. 
Ninety days later, during the month of XX/XX/XXXX, I called Citibank to get a status on the {$700.00} Promotional bonus. I was informed by Citibank that the {$700.00} Promotional bonus would be available in my Citi Priority checking account within a few weeks. 
In XX/XX/XXXX I called Citibank to get a status on the {$700.00} Promotional bonus. I was informed by Citibank that the {$700.00} Promotional bonus would be available in my Citi XXXX checking account within a few weeks. 
On XX/XX/XXXX I called Citibank to get a status on the {$700.00} Promotional bonus. I was informed by Citibank that due to a prior Citi Priority checking account ending in XXXX, as of XX/XX/XXXX I didnt qualify for the {$700.00} Promotional bonus. Victimized by Citibanks alleged grifting proclivities, I immediately went to a local Citibank to close my Citi Priority Checking and Savings accounts. 
While waiting for the Citibank Teller to close my Checking and Savings accounts, I received a call [ XXXX ] from a woman representing the Citibank fraud department. The woman rudely stated that she had attached a fraud alert and had frozen the funds on my Citibank Checking and Savings accounts while I was waiting at the Citibank Tellers window. The Citibank fraud department woman then asked me if I was aware of any fraudulent activity relating to my Citi Priority Checking account. 
I mentioned to the Citibank fraud department woman that I wasnt aware of any fraudulent activity and that I was standing at the Citibank Tellers window waiting an unusually long period of time for the Citibank Teller to close the Checking and Savings accounts and to combined the balances from the two accounts into one check. I wasnt aware that in a sneaky manner the Citibank fraud department woman was accusing me of fraud and was freezing the accounts that I was attempting to close. 
I believe that the Citibank fraud department woman was intentionally delaying the closing of my Citibank Checking and Savings accounts in preparation for police intervention against me, while I was patiently waiting at the Citibank Tellers window. A XXXX  woman calling the Police to investigate alleged fraud activity linked to an XXXX-American male visiting a Citibank is an instant death sentence for the XXXX-American male. 




Summary In an attempt to clean up a very XXXX and asinine event, the Citibank fraud department woman angrily stated that she would remove the fraud alert and release the funds from my Checking and Savings accounts.

Based specifically on my race, Citibank intentionally conned me into participating in a fraudulent scheme while vomiting an XXXX  attempt to create an alleged grifting issue by intentionally freezing my Checking and Savings accounts and initiating an asinine fraud alert and possible police intervention as a method to seize the funds from my Citibank Checking and Savings accounts that I was patiently waiting to close on XX/XX/XXXX. 
Upon activation of my Citibank Priority Checking and Savings accounts on XX/XX/XXXX, Citibank intentionally refused to inform me that I wasnt eligible for the Citibank Priority {$700.00} promotion. Instead, Citibank forced an employee [ Sesan Ogunsemowo ] to lie and to cheat in order to find a way to confiscate funds from my Citi Priority Checking and Savings accounts. 
If I were a XXXX  man, the above-mentioned Citibank employees wouldnt dare attempt to lie, steal and cheat in order to take financial advantage of what they perceived to be a XXXX  and XXXX  XXXX targeted by alleged grifters. This asinine and alleged grifting scheme concocted by Mr. XXXX XXXX and the Citibank fraud department woman was a very humiliating event that couldve easily escalated into police intervention and my murder. Yes, Mr. XXXX, grifting coupled with racism can be very profitable and very noxious. 
CC : XXXX XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. 
XXXX, WY XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, NY XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, NY XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, MA XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX New York, NY XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX 
XXXX, MD XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, MD. XXXX

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