Consumer complaint received 2024-03-22
Product: Checking or savings account — Savings account
Issue: Closing an account — Can't close your account
Company: CITIBANK, N.A. (AZ)

We have 1 account Accelerate Account with Citibank, and bank with them online only. 
XX/XX/XXXX Called Citibank to discuss our savings account. During that call asked if we could have an extra step of security, such as an additional 6-digit password over the phone, because someone had compromised a credit card of my husband 's from another bank and had his name & some personal information, this particular account was never compromised. We were told no & they wanted us to close this account and open another one. We explained that we didn't want to do that, even if we opened another one, someone still had his name & info, we just wanted an extra password asked when we called. The call resulted in us agreeing that the 6-digit code they would send to our phones would be sufficient, as this is a common way we have been identified up until this point. 
XX/XX/XXXX Called Citibank to ask if I could transfer {$23000.00} out of our Citibank savings to an outside Credit Union that day, which is an account we had already transferred in and out to multiple times. I was told that the previous person we talked to put a block on the account for fraud, which we did not request, but that they had to identify me, and then they could take the hold off to allow me to transfer the money while I was on the phone with them, and it would go through right away, and then they would put the hold back on. I was transferred to the Security dept ( regular customer service couldn't help me due to the hold ), and we performed the transaction. I did it, transaction was made. Because it was a weekend, the transfer did not go through immediately but had the date of XX/XX/XXXX. I called back because I was worried that it would decline on Monday since the hold would be back on. The first person I called asked me for my phone number to verify me. As usual, I gave it to her. Oddly, she paused and asked for a second number. My husband was sitting there listening to me and heard me give them correctly both times. Normally the rep would also just send the text to the phone, which she did not. She just said that these were not the correct numbers, and hung up on me. I called again, and that person identified me, confirmed the numbers were correct and I was told they didn't know why I was hung up on previously. I was then assured-in fact told they were 100 % sure that my transaction would still go through on Monday, even with the hold back on. We waited anxiously all weekend as it sat pending on the account. 
XX/XX/XXXX At approximately XXXX XXXX  Monday we received an email that the transaction was cancelled. I immediately got on the phone with Citibank. The next 3 hours were an agonizing nightmare of talking to about 7 people, with the supposed supervisor ( who he claimed had no authority to correct their mistake ) being the most rude and unhelpful. Every customer service person we talked to that day, with the exception of the supervisor, would identify us in various ways such as by our account password, or by sending the text to the phone, one even called me back on the phone listed on the account. The supervisor refused to help in any way or even tell us why our account was suddenly blocked out we couldn't transfer or get information, and we couldn't have our money. He just kept repeating that a letter had been sent and we had to wait 7-10 business days for the letter. He repeated it for the entire length of the conversation, and at one point said he refused to identify me because WE reported that our account was compromised. I told him that I never reported that our account was compromised, that we specifically asked that this account was not blocked, we were just told that we would be sent the 6-digit code to the phones, like always, and that if the bank employees made a mistake, he needed to help us. He said no. I asked him to go back and listen to the recording of the phone call of us with the customer service rep that day ( it says it's recorded ). He said no. I asked him to overnight the letter he said they sent to us, he said no. I begged him and said if he was a supervisor, he had the power to decide to overnight a letter when the bank made a mistake like that. He said no he would not help me. I said that if I walked into one of their branches with all of my IDs and they identified me, Citibank would give me our money. He said, " no, you can't get your money without going through us. '' He was very intimidating and sounded controlling like he had the power and we could do nothing. We gave Citibank every single piece of evidence they had to identify us that day. We asked them to call both phones they have, email both emails, and ask about every transaction that's ever been made, and they said no. We said that we are asking Citibank to transfer to an account that has had multiple transactions in the past with the Credit Union and incoming account, you can see that. Why does this appear to be fraud? Can you explain this? No answer. So ultimately we said to just close the account and send the check to the names and address on the account. Surely since you claim to have sent a letter to those names and addresses, you can send a check there. No, they wouldn't do that according to the supervisor. I told him he was holding our money hostage!

We have still heard nothing. We can sign in to our online account, which ironically will send a 6-digit code to the very same phones, and identify us. We still get our statement to our email address. So they are identifying us, they just don't want to give us our money.

We are traumatized, living in fear of financial institutions now, and have suffered reprocutions over their mistake and their actions after their mistake. People and businesses will make errors, but they did not handle this correctly, and it should not be ignored. I told them all that day that they had no reason to hold our money. We gave them the correct information every time, and never once was that account compromised, and we NEVER asked for that account blocked, on hold, or closed. We were kind, calm, and understanding until Monday morning XX/XX/XXXX when we became desperate and practically begging for them to help us in any way they could because we needed the funds to make a large payment. Now we are paying financially and emotionally. 
Citibank should not be allowed to hold people 's money hostage. I have worked in 2 different financial institutions, and we never treated customers like this even when there was fraud on their account. We went out of our way to help customers. Even our credit card account that had the fraud on it was able to identify us quickly.

Please help us resolve this with Citibank, and have them send us all of our funds immediately.