Consumer complaint received 2019-11-19
Product: Checking or savings account — Savings account
Issue: Closing an account — Funds not received from closed account
Company: CITIBANK, N.A. (AZ)

[ NOTE : Some of these dates are estimated since I did not keep the names and dates/times of my contacts with the bank. I never expected to have this much trouble with Citibank. ] On XX/XX/2019, my wife ( XXXX XXXX ) and I ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ), began the online process required to open a Citi Accelerate Savings account with Citibank. We wanted to get the account established to hold  funds held elsewhere with a much lower interest rate and to receive our occasional retirement fund distributions. I am not sure why, but the online application portal would not allow us to complete the application online so we called a toll-free number we saw on the screen and were connected with a telephone representative of Citibank. He assisted us in completing the application by phone since the online application was not working for us. After 20+ minutes, we were told that we had completed all we could by phone and that we would receive a packet of information to complete the application process and to fund the account. We received the packet on/about XX/XX/XXXX. I reviewed the packet over the weekend and called the bank the following week ( XXXX ) with a few questions to clarify their instructions for completing the application and funding the account. On XX/XX/XXXX we completed the two separate steps the bank required submitting a W-9 form and signature card ( going to one address ) and the funding check ( {$6000.00} ) and deposit slip to fund the account ( going to a different address ). About a week later, I contacted the bank at the same telephone number as above and asked for a status update on our account application and the documents we had submitted. The customer service representative was not able to confirm that any of what we had sent had been received. However, they informed me that we had not responded to an email from Citibank, one that I had not seen and as a result had not responded to. The email informed us that we had to provide a copy of a credit card or utility bill in order to verify our address. I was facing a deadline to use the new account to transfer my wifes annual Required Minimum Distribution ( RMD ) from her IRA account. That payment was due to be made on XX/XX/XXXX. Because of this deadline, I asked the representative to help me expedite the submission of the additional required documentation. I was hoping for an electronic submission online since I wanted to speed-up the process, hoping for something quicker than a mailed submission. I was transferred to a manager who assisted in setting-up this online document submission option. He sent me a link to a submission portal and I then submitted a scanned copy of a credit card bill. After I clicked the submit button, a screen popped-up which told me that I could expect the submission to be processed in 5 10 business days which was much longer than I had hoped. This meant the online submission was still not going to be done in time. I established a new destination for forthcoming RMD payment. I also decided to wait to see if the process would be completed as I had hoped. The XX/XX/XXXX deadline came and went and I had the RMD funds transferred to another account. On XX/XX/XXXX I called Citibank to ask for an update. I spoke with XXXX ( Team # XXXX ). I wanted to find out the status of our application and to confirm that they had received our funding check sent two weeks earlier. They were unable to confirm that the check had been received so I decided I wanted nothing more to do with Citibank. I requested that they immediately return my check and withdraw our account application. I asked the representative to confirm where the check was in the Citibank system and to call me with that information and to confirm that the application had been withdrawn. I have yet to receive a response from her. On the next day, XX/XX/XXXX, I went online at XXXX XXXX since that is the bank we wrote the {$6000.00} funding check on. I noticed that our check was presented for deposit on that day. On XX/XX/XXXX I saw that the check had been deposited. On XX/XX/2019, I called Citibank again and spoke with XXXX ( Team # XXXX ) and asked for an update. I was told that there were no notes in our accou8nt file from XXXX ( Team # XXXX ) with any reference to the request to close the account and to refund our {$6000.00}. I would like to receive my funds from Citibank immediately, but they have no process for committing to do that. I dont trust that the money will ever be seen again. Others would be wise to stay away from Citibank ... they seem unable to provide anything like good customer service.