Consumer complaint received 2026-06-06 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem when making payments — Problem during payment process
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NY

Complaint narrative:
I am filing this complaint regarding Citibank 's practice of placing extended, unannounced holds on credit card payments made from non-Citibank bank accounts. I hold a Citibank XXXX XXXX AAdvantage credit card. Prior to XX/XX/year>, my payments were applied within 12 business days without issue. In late XXXX, without any prior notice, Citibank began placing 2-week holds on my payments. Incident 1 XX/XX/XXXX/ XX/XX/year> : A payment of {$16000.00} left my external bank account on XX/XX/year>, but was not applied to my credit card. I only discovered the hold when my card was declined on XX/XX/year>, while attempting to pay my moving company so they could unload my belongings at my new home. The movers stood waiting while I called Citibank, was required to complete a XXXX verification on the spot, and argued for the hold to be released all in front of the moving crew. This was embarrassing, stressful, and time-consuming, occurring during an already difficult moving day. Citibank did ultimately release the hold that day, but only after I initiated contact and completed the verification myself. I received no prior notice that a hold had been placed or that any action was required on my part. Incident 2 XX/XX/XXXX/ XX/XX/year> : History repeated itself. A payment of {$18000.00} left my bank account on XX/XX/year>. Again, no notice was given that a hold would be placed. I was told by customer service the funds would not be available until XX/XX/year> a hold of nearly two weeks. On XX/XX/year>, I again had to contact Citibank myself, complete another XXXX verification, and argue for the release of my own funds. The hold was released only after I took these steps again with no proactive communication from Citibank. I was only made aware of their hold policy when it was shared with me during a customer service chat on XX/XX/XXXX after the fact, and only because I called to complain. I understand that Citibank may have a policy of reviewing larger-than-usual payments. However, placing a hold for up to two weeks without any notification to the customer and only releasing it when the customer discovers the problem themselves and calls in is unreasonable and disruptive. At minimum, Citibank should notify customers at the time a hold is placed and explain what steps are needed to resolve it promptly, rather than leaving customers to discover the problem on their own. I want to highlight what I believe is an additional unfair practice : my husband separately holds his own Citibank checking account and his own Citibank XXXX XXXX AAdvantage credit card neither account is joint with mine. When he transfers money from our XXXX account to his Citibank checking account and then pays his Citibank credit card, the payment is applied immediately. This demonstrates that Citibank is technically capable of applying payments without a hold, but chooses to impose holds specifically on customers who do not maintain a Citibank deposit account. This policy appears to penalize customers for banking elsewhere. This hold also causes a secondary harm : because my available credit is reduced for up to two weeks, I am unable to use my card for everyday purchases during that period. Since this is a rewards card, every purchase I can not make results in lost XXXX XXXX AAdvantage loyalty points, directly reducing my ability to earn status on XXXX XXXX. I am requesting that Citibank be required to notify customers immediately and proactively whenever a payment hold is placed, including the reason for the hold, the expected release date, and any steps the customer can take to expedite the release before the customer is impacted, not after.

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