Consumer complaint received 2017-01-28
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: FL
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
On XXXX XXXX, 2016, the father of my son and my fianc was XXXX. He had a checking and savings account through Citibank- which per XXXX law- became the inheritance of our XXXX son. My attorney instructed me to freeze his accounts until an affidavit could be completed to allow the release of the funds to our son. I called Citibank on XXXX XXXX and froze both accounts. He had XXXX auto debits coming out of his checking account- a mortgage payment for his condo and one for the monthly assessment fees. The Citibank representative who froze the accounts assured me repeatedly that no funds would be allowed out of his accounts while the accounts were frozen. And, upon his death, his ex-wife who is on the deed, became solely responsible for the condo and all financial obligations associated with it. I called back a few days later to confirm that the accounts were frozen and that no debits would be allowed out while the accounts were frozen- again- I was assured this was correct. There was an auto debit attempt made by the condo association in XXXX and that was declined- the condo association has a record of this. Additional proof that the freeze was in effect. Somehow between that time and XXXX when the affidavit was complete- Citibank allowed an auto debit to occur and the condo association debited out {$1200.00}. The accounts were still frozen and remained frozen until they were closed and a check was issued in XXXX. When I received the check, I realized the amount was less than what was in his accounts when he died. I called Citibank and was informed about what happened- the supervisor could not give me a reason as to how or why it happened and told me a check would be mailed to me for the amount since it was clearly an error by Citibank and Citibank would then work to retrieve the funds from the condo association. I was told this check would be received within 10 business days. I never received this check. It was then that the horrible battle began in trying to get this money credited back. Numerous supervisors all telling me different things, not calling me back as promised, no resolution at all. I could not visit a branch to discuss this in person since I now live in XXXX where the closest branch is XXXX hours away. Finally, a branch manager in XXXX submitted a statement of unauthorized debit and this went to the condo association to retrieve the money. The condo association will not give back the funds because the ex-wife has not been paying the fees and they want to recover them even though they are taking the money from a XXXX versus the person financially responsible for the property. Independent of this, however, Citibank refuses now to credit back the account even though I was told initially it would be, because they can not retrieve the money from the condo association. Everyone from Citibank who I have spoken to has acknowledged that the money should have never been allowed to be debited out while the account was frozen but Citibank refuses to accept liability for this bank error and credit the account. I still have no answer as to how or why this happened, why our son is being penalized for this when it was an error by Citibank, and why the account has not been credited. The last response I received from the branch manager was, " those are all very good questions and you are correct, however there is nothing I can do. '' Citibank allowed an unauthorized debit to occur- they have record of it and so does the condo association and have admitted that this should have never happened, however refuse to credit the account the amount of money they allowed to be debited out. This money was to go to our XXXX son 's college account and it needs to be returned. I did everything right, as instructed. Citibank made the error and they need to take liability for it.

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