Consumer complaint received 2025-05-17 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Savings account
Issue: Managing an account — Deposits and withdrawals
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: OR

Complaint narrative:
CITIBANK locked my account and froze my funds on XX/XX/XXXX. They have not unfroze it or allowed me access to my {$18000.00} in the account since, despite three hours on the phone with their customer service, security and fraud division, and then their corporate customer liaison. Moreover, I was never notified of the freeze and no one could tell me -- after speaking to seven different people -- why my account was frozen in the first place. If it was for security reasons, then I should have been notified and should have been able to resolve it over the phone with their security and fraud division. They never asked me anything about transactions, which I verified anyway -- and told me they couldn't unfreeze it. Then they kept passing me around departments\people for two more hours until it became pathetically obvious that no one at the CITIBANK customer service could help me access my funds or tell my why they were locked. They offered no recourse to me, not even who I need to contact to get my account unlocked. It should also be noted that there is no CITIBANK with XXXX miles of my home. This is an online account. 

Background : I opened a savings account with CITIBANK on XX/XX/XXXX so that I could transfer the funds from my CITIBANK CD when it matured on XX/XX/XXXX. I opened the savings account with an initial deposit of {$500.00}. On XX/XX/XXXX, I transferred the funds from the CD to the SAV account ( {$50000.00} ). The following three days ( XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX ), I transferred some of the funds to external bank accounts that had been verified by CITIBANK, in the amounts totaling {$33000.00} ( {$620.00} on XX/XX/XXXX, {$8000.00} on XX/XX/XXXX, and {$25000.00} on XX/XX/XXXX ). They froze my account after these three transfers. I have confirmed to them that I made these transfers -- not like they cared, as I told them several times that there were no discrepancies with the handful of transactions on my account. I also told them that I specifically opened the account so I could get access to and distribute the CD funds earlier than waiting for a check in the mail, which was the only other option and took three weeks last time. For the one month they have locked my funds, I have lost {$67.00} in interest because I was not able to transfer my money to my higher yield savings account. 

I finally called a branch office in California and someone there connected me to a corporate liaison. She said she could not give me the phone number of the person she was connecting me to and I still do not have a contact number to a CITIBANK person who can help me. Supposedly, they opened up a case and will notify me in 15 days of the results. Again, I can not contact them because they would not give me a phone number and their public customer service numbers have proven ineffective. In the meantime, I am still locked out of my money for at least another two weeks, which is unacceptable. That will make it six weeks since they froze {$18000.00} of my money! This is illegal and CITIBANK should be investigated, and forced to compensate its clients.

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