Consumer complaint received 2024-10-15 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Deposits and withdrawals
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
On or about XX/XX/year>2024 my Citibank account was flagged with a " fraud alert '' for potential unauthorized transactions. After careful study of my transactions, I determined there was no fraud on my bank account. I notified the bank of this by email on the same day. I soon found my account limited and my transactions being denied. I called Citibank 's customer service to instruct them to lift this alert from my account and that I don't need any help from them. Their customer service helpers said they needed to verify my phone number. I gave them my phone number and they claimed it was unverifiable, despite it being registered in my name. They said that I must wait on a " letter with a code on it '' before they would talk to me. The week this happened, I had to move from my home in an emergency involving criminal activity at my place of residence. I explained to their customer service helper that I would just have to wait to have this " letter '' mailed after I moved to my new safer residence since I was no longer going to be at the one they have on file by the time the letter arrived two weeks later. This employee told me he would send it anyway whether I was there or not, which was highly unprofessional and hostile in my opinion. ( To this day, I'm still not sure if it ever came there. ) After arriving in XXXX XXXX, I quickly set to work updating my residential and mailing address with all important entities. Before I had a chance to go to the DMV and update my registration and license, my entire account was frozen and I could pay for nothing with my bank account. I called Citibank again to ask why they were doing this to me. They said I had to wait on " a letter with a code '' before they explained anything to me. I told them that I didn't do anything wrong, and this is harming me in an adverse way. I was only met cold indifference in the name of " protection. '' In my opinion, my account was totally frozen in retaliation for telling the customer service rep that this demeaning experience made me want to withdraw my money from Citibank and switch to a different one. Within 48 hours, I had no access to my money at all, not even a {$10.00} ATM withdrawal. Before this, I could at least sustain myself. It went entirely against Citibank 's alleged " Code of Conduct. '' To be completely blocked from my funds by my own bank has left me in a position where I have no gas for my car, no food in my refrigerator, bills and rent coming up, all within the first few weeks of me arriving to my new life. I went to several branches to confirm my mailing address was correct, because I have read so many stories of people never receiving the letter at all. I offered to prove my identity to them in person. I have nearly a dozen documents proving my identity, except Citibank says there is nothing an actual human at a branch can do. We can only " call customer service to prove our identity. '' On XX/XX/year>2024, I went to the XXXX XXXX XXXX, CA branch of Citibank to follow up and make sure this " letter '' was actually on the way because I was really hurting from this. I was directed to some sort of analyst " XXXX XXXX '' or " XXXX XXXX '' who took my driver 's license and credit card, then gave me a hard time by interrogating me when all I had come in to do was ask a simple question. I filed a complaint with Citibank XXXX regarding her behavior that day because she lied a few times to me, threw up roadblocks by asking non-questions ( strange ) and stared directly at my banking password as I entered it into the Citibank mobile app. After being left in uncertainty by Citi, this was the final slap in the face for me. She insinuated that my correct address was my old address when my correct address was not only on file with Citi, but also the Social Security administration and my credit card company among others. 
My current driver 's license is the first and only DL I have ever had. She threatened to have my verification letter resent to my old DL address when I begged her not to do that because its XXXX miles away and I haven't live there in three years. I'm still wondering if my verification letter was cancelled and sent to somewhere I'm not. If so, it's a violation of trust that is unacceptable. I left XXXX XXXX XXXX 's Citi branch and drove over to their XXXX XXXX branch where I had a reference letter printed up in a mere few minutes by XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX that confirmed my address. 

What started out as a simple fraud alert ( that I didn't need ) has turned into a nightmare for me where I am treated like an suspect and left to fend for myself in a situation where I am left entirely vulnerable with no money and no way to even get to my family in XXXX for help. I can explain every single major purchase and withdrawl in detail from the birth of this account blindfolded. I did nothing wrong to Citibank and it seems like their lower level employees put up constant road-blocks to take from me in the name of " protection. '' At this point, no scammer has done the amount of damage Citibank has done to me by unjustly withholding my bank account from me and insinuating that I essentially don't exist. It has been a month now, and I am expected to sit in my home wondering what's going to happen to me and how will I pay for anything next month if this doesn't stop.

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 non-monetary relief