Consumer complaint received 2017-02-18
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: MI
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Account opening, closing, or management

Complaint:
My family and I have had the worst experience with Citibank that we have ever had with any bank or business. In XXXX, my elderly father went to his local NYC Citibank branch, with his XXXX, to put me and my sister on his bank account because he was XXXX and wanted us to manage his finances, pay his bills, and monitor his accounts to protect him from exploitation. He and his XXXX reported that the branch manager was extremely rude to my father - they both thought because of his age - but nevertheless Citibank received all the paperwork, including a power of attorney listing me and my sister, and said we would be put on his account. This never happened. I wrote to the Citibank manager repeatedly, expressing the urgency of the situation, I called and left messages dozens of times, as did my sister, and we could never get a response. My sister and I live in another state where there are no branches of Citibank, flying back and forth to help and care for our father was consuming and our top priority and we could not continue pouring our time and energy into banging our heads against Citibank 's brick wall. They never did put our names on his account or help him or us in any way. 
My father died in late XXXX of XXXX. We have submitted every single document they have requested, but they still refuse us access to his checking account so that we can pay his bills. Instead of being helpful when we are grieving, for almost four months now Citibank has been giving us the runaround. In XXXX, for example, they told me to fax XXXX more document to them and we would receive a check for the account balance within XXXX10 days. That was over two months ago, and we heard nothing. In desperation, I contacted their Executive Response Team, and have gotten the same runaround from them. They tell me to fax something to them, for instance, and I do. Then I hear nothing for awhile, and then get a phone call that the fax was not what they needed, they actually need something else. It 's a seemingly endless runaround. On XXXX XXXX I sent them, by certified mail, XXXX legal documents either XXXX of which they told me would suffice to release my father 's funds ( my sister and I are his sole heirs, and the amount in his checking account is not very large ). Since then I have heard nothing, and have been unable to reach them. It has become clear that this is a deliberate policy of giving customers false information and giving them the runaround so that they can hold onto customers ' funds, which is highly unethical if not illegal. I 'm sure they do not do this to wealthy, powerful XXXX XXXX customers ( my father lived in New York 's XXXX ), but if they treat enough regular customers like this, they can make a lot of money by holding customers ' funds hostage. I can not think of any other explanation for treating customers so badly. I 'm now turning, in desperation, to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection for help.

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