Consumer complaint received 2023-02-18
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: MT
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Savings account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
I opened a CitiBank Accelerated Savings account via an online deposit of {$50000.00} on XX/XX/2023 in response to an email offer. I initiated withdrawals of {$10000.00} & {$5000.00} on XX/XX/XXXX & XXXX, respectively, in order to procure funds to cover costs that I would be needing to close on a home purchase that I had just made an offer on. Needing a few thousand more than what the online transaction would allow, I contacted the bank by phone on XX/XX/XXXX to see what could be done & was told that funds could be wired back to my bank account, but they needed the debit card number that was mailed to me, which I did not receive. I found out that it had been sent to the address of temporary rental where I'm living, instead of my mailing address, which I had already updated on the website for existing credit cards I have with CitiBank ( the postmaster said there's a " Vacant '' slip in the mailbox & any mail would be returned to sender ). The agent said a new card would be sent via XXXX  to this address to arrive XX/XX/XXXX. In the meantime, I logged on to the website & made sure the mailing address was correct under the Savings account profile. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, having not seen a delivery by early afternoon, I called again to check the status of the card & the agent said the order got canceled & a fraud alert triggered by the address update. I was put through to someone on their fraud department with a strong Indian accent, whom I could barely understand, & requested to get the card issued again. When I asked to get a confirmation on the address it would be sent to, I was told that they can't tell me that & the conversation got heated, then the agent went silent. 

I logged on to CitiBank 's website a couple of hours later that afternoon to provide information to my loan underwriter that I had {$35000.00} remaining in this account & found out that I was locked out entirely, unable to view neither the savings nor credit card accounts. I called CitiBank twice through different support numbers with the exact same menu options before finally getting someone who said that there is a notification from the fraud department that my account is under closure & I will be getting a letter explaining why. I called in again on XX/XX/XXXX to try to get someone else who could assist with my lockout issue & spoke to a lady named XXXX ( speaking clear English ), who documented this same information & said she had to forward it on to someone else, as she could not undo the block on the account, & said I should hear back with two days. 

I didn't receive any reply as of XX/XX/XXXX, so I called the number XXXX provided me in case I needed to follow up. I spoke with a US agent ( XXXX  ) initially regarding my credit card accounts & she said they were still showing active, even though I could not log in. She directed me to proceed as if setting up a new online user account & I was able to gain online access to see these credit card accounts again. Upon getting resolution with the Savings account, she said those are serviced " offshore, '' but put me in through another english-speaking agent ( XXXX ) XXXX I was on the phone with him while he had me holding several times, but ultimately he said that only the department that put the block on the account can remove it. He put me on through to another agent who was Indian from their accent, but still relatively understandable. After just a few minutes with this man & having been on the phone for two hours to get to this point, all he could tell me was my account is in closure & remaining funds will be paid back by check within 30 to 60 days ( confirmed the {$35000.00} amount that I knew I had remaining, as well as the mailing address ), & I should be receiving a letter of explaination as to why this week, since his information says it was dated XX/XX/XXXX. As of the date of this writing ( XX/XX/XXXX ), I have not received any communication whatsoever from CitiBank.

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