Consumer complaint received 2025-02-21 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Closing an account — Company closed your account
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CT

Complaint narrative:
I opened an account at Citibank to take advantage of a {$320.00} account opening bonus the were offering ( to get the bonus, they required you to make at least 2 ACH deposits totaling at least {$3000.00} within 60 days of opening the account ). They immediately flagged my account for fraud, and insisted that they had to send me a code via regular ( snail ) mail, which I would receive within 10 business days, and when I received the code that I would need to call them back and provide the code, and only then could they unlock my account. I waited and provided them the code when it arrived, and they successfully verified my identity and unlocked my account. I then proceeded to deposit a little over {$3000.00} into the account over the next week, though after the first few deposits, they placed another fraud lock on my account ( 2 days after the last lock was removed ), and tried to insist that they send me another code via standard ( snail ) mail, which would take another 10 business days, to verify my identity and unlock the account. I insisted they find a quicker way to resolve the issue, and they said the only other way would be to text me a code to a cellphone number, but that the cellphone number needed to meet they're criteria to verify my account ; I provided my phone number ( which they then verified met they're qualifying criteria for a phone number that can be used to verify my identity ), which they then sent a security code to and successfully verified my identity and unlocked my account, again. I then attempted to transfer the funds back out of Citibank, which resulted in another fraud block, after which I successfully withdrew most of the remaining balance at the ATM. The bank informed me that a temporary limitation had been placed on my account while a team reviewed my account, which would take 24-48 hours. I asked to use my cellphone number again to verify myself ( like I had just done 2 days earlier ), but after receiving the code and verifying myself I was then told I still needed to wait the 48 hours. Several days later, my account access was still blocked, so I called customer service and verified myself by text ( again ), and they proceeded to go over and verify several attempted transactions with me, all of which I verified. They told me another team had to remove the final block on the account. That team said the account was being reviewed, and either the block would be removed, or I would be contacted for further verification within 2 hours. 2 and a half hours later I called them back ( account access was still not restored ), and proceeded to verify myself again, this time by receiving a voice call, as I was now told that my cellphone number didn't meet they're criteria to verify my identity ( despite the fact that the same number met they're criteria two hours prior ). I was then informed that my account had been permanently blocked and would be closed within 60 days, and any credits or debits to the account would be blocked. I informed them that my {$630.00} tax refund was set to be deposited into that account ( likely in the next 3 weeks ) and that there was no way for me to change it to a different account and that if they blocked it that it would not be reissued and I would lose the whole {$630.00}, and that I was also owed {$320.00} for the account opening bonus I completed on XX/XX/year>2025, which I was due to be paid by them by XX/XX/scrub>/2025. They informed me that the deposit of the tax refund would be blocked/rejected and that I would not receive the {$320.00} bonus, despite having already completed all the required qualifying activities for the bonus.

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 monetary relief