Consumer complaint received 2023-02-12
Product: Checking or savings account — Savings account
Issue: Opening an account — Didn't receive terms that were advertised
Company: CITIBANK, N.A. (GA)

On XX/XX/XXXX I opened a Citi Accelerate XXXX XXXX Account. Citi was offering a Tiered Bonus offer where you had to deposit new to Citibank funds into this new account within 20 days of opening the account. The offer was {$150.00} cash bonus for $ XXXX {$49000.00} or {$450.00} for balances of $ XXXX or more. I deposited $ XXXX of new to Citibank cash on XX/XX/XXXX and then another $ XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. To be safe, I also deposited another {$6100.00} of new to Citibank cash XX/XX/XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I received an email from CitiBank thanking me for enrolling in the Citi Accelerate High-Yield Savings Tiered Bonus Offer. The email included a reminder as to what was needed to receive the Cash bonus : - Deposit New-to-Citibank Funds into your XXXX savings account within 20 days of account opening. The balance on the XXXX calendar day after you open our account will determine your maximum cash bonus. 
- Maintain the required Minimum balance in your eligible account for 60 days from the XXXX day after account opening. 
The email also included a link to the full " Terms and Conditions '' which essentially reiterated this offer. 
Finally, the email said the cash bonus would be paid to my account within 30 days of completing the required activities. It also said that this account and my Citi Credit Card had to remain open and in good standing. 

I maintained the balance of $ XXXX or more from XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX. My new savings account and Citi Credit Card remained open and in good standing. 

I never received the bonus. 

I called CitiBank multiple times over the months after I met all of the stated criteria and asked why I hadn't received the {$450.00} bonus. Every time I called the CitiBank representative would research my account and say the I'd met all of the requirements and that I just needed to be patient as it sometimes took a bit longer for the bonus to be applied to a customer 's account. This is a clear " unfair and deceptive act '' violation as they did not pay the bonus as advertised. After receiving this same response repeatedly for months, I called again on XX/XX/XXXX and registered a formal complaint with Citi. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I received a letter saying that CitiBank had completed their research and that the promotion was not offered on my account. They asked for me to send them a copy of the disclosure that was addressed to me or they would consider the matter closed. This should not be up to the consumer to have to provide the financial institution with their offerings and terms and conditions. The institution should have that information readily available. 

Regardless, I researched the matter and found the XX/XX/XXXX email from Citi that contained the offer on the account I opened along with the aforementioned Terms and Conditions. 

I called again on XX/XX/XXXX and the representative said that I could not email them the disclosure that they asked me for, but that they needed to further research the matter and someone from the " back office '' would contact me. I let them know that I would be submitting an " Unfair and Deceptive '' complaint to the CFPB as soon as we got off the phone as Citi continued to refuse to pay the bonus offer that Citi advertised and for which I met all of the terms and conditions.