Consumer complaint received 2025-11-05 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Deposits and withdrawals
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: DC

Complaint narrative:
Company name : XXXX for XXXX XXXX XXXX I had written this complaint in XX/XX/year>, but did not file it. I am filing it today due to another egregious overreach on Citibanks part, cloaked in Know Your Customer rhetoric, which ended in a threat to deny access to our funds. 

I was contacted today asking to provide personal information on an individual who may or may not be an employee of our organization. Citibank staff refused to provide information on why this information was required, why they were contacting our organization and simply demanded I appear at a branch to resolve this or they would deny access to our funds. I am continuing to attempt to resolve this, but am uncomfortable with demands for personal information without justification. 

In XX/XX/year>, our organization attempted in good faith to comply with Citibanks Know Your Customer ( KYC ) requirements, yet the process was marked by repeated missteps, conflicting guidance, and unnecessary burdens on our staff. Without prior notice, our accounts were blocked, leaving us unable to conduct normal business transactions and requiring more than 20 hours of senior staff time on calls with Citibank representatives. We have experienced redundant requests for information already on file, contradictory directions from staff that forced repeated resubmissions, and quality review demands that changed without explanation. We were directed to provide information that was either inaccurate or irrelevant, and at one point our Chief Financial Officer was forced to spend six hours at a branch correcting errors caused by Citibanks own processes. Compounding these issues, communication has been slow or nonexistent, escalation paths limited, and technology systems within Citibank appear unable to share basic customer information. The cumulative effect has been an undue hardship on our team and a serious disruption to our banking operations, for which we expect both immediate resolution and assurance that these failures will not recur. 
________________________________________ Examples of Issues Encountered Redundant Information Requests : Citibank staff repeatedly requested information already on file, including lists of authorized signers and personal identification. These details were required verbally at the start of each call, yet still had to be resubmitted via forms from scratch. 
Contradictory Staff Guidance : Forms completed per Citibank staff instructions were later rejected by analysts as incorrect, forcing resubmission of all documentation. Each cycle required re-entering the same data from the beginning. 
Inconsistent Quality Review : Forms deemed sufficient by call representatives were subsequently rejected by Quality Assurance, which demanded new information or revisions without consistent rationale.

Incorrect Legal References : Citibank Staff cited non-existent rules or laws as the basis for certain requests, only to later concede the information was unnecessary. 
Delayed and Inadequate Notification : Accounts were blocked by analysts without prior warning. Outbound Citibank stafftasked with notifying customersoperated with little urgency, often delaying outreach by up to five days. In some cases, no notification to our organization occurred at all. 
Lack of Escalation Options : Customers can not escalate issues to the analysts who enact account blocks. The only escalation channel leads to Outbound staff with no authority to resolve core problems.

Unreasonable Demands on Staff Availability : On one occasion, we were informed on a Friday at noon that accounts would be re-blocked unless information was submitted immediately. With signers unavailable, the only option presented was for a senior official to drive to a branch and hand-complete forms already submitted electronically. This six-hour ordeal consumed significant executive time unnecessarily. 
Requests for False or Irrelevant Information : Staff at times directed us to enter information we knew to be false, which we refused. Other requests included providing irrelevant details, such as the address of the U.S. Department of State.

Disjointed Systems : Branch systems are not integrated with KYC systems. For example, all signers completed account setup in person at a branch without the branch manager being aware that the account was already blocked.

Technology Failures : The Docusign process failed to accommodate required actions, leading to document rejections even when we followed system rules. This forced yet another complete restart of forms. 

Please note that we are a 40 year customer of Citibank and funded by Congressional Action.

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