Consumer complaint received 2025-12-05 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Closing an account — Funds not received from closed account
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: FL

Complaint narrative:
Complainant : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX Phone : XXXX Email : XXXX Bank : Citibank , N.A . 
Subject : Citibank stopped payment on my official closeout check and is refusing to return my funds while blaming third-party deposits XXXX. Summary ( what happened in plain language ) Citibank closed my accounts, calculated my closing balance, and issued an official Closeout Disbursement check payable to me for {$7800.00} from my account. I deposited that check at my new bank ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ) and the funds were credited. After that, Citibank placed a stop payment on its own closeout check, which caused XXXX XXXX to reverse the deposit and remove {$7800.00} from my account. 
Now Citibank is telling me and the regulators that the funds in question are third-party deposits that can not be disbursed to me at all, even though : The money was shown as my account balances on my Citi statement , and Citibank already treated those funds as mine by issuing an official closeout check payable to me and mailing it to my address. 
I believe this is bad-faith, unfair banking behavior that contradicts Citibanks own Consumer Deposit Account Agreement and has caused me financial harm. 
XXXX. Detailed timeline with dates and amounts XX/XX/year> Account closing notice Citibanks Fraud Prevention department sent me an Account Closing Notification for my account ending in XXXX. The letter states that Citi is terminating our relationship and that if there are funds that belong to me at the time of closure, Citi will issue an official check for the balance and mail it to my address. 
XX/XX/year> Citi statement shows my balances On my combined statement for XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/year>, Citis Relationship Summary shows : Access Account ending XXXX/3691 : ending balance {$7800.00} Citi Accelerate Savings ending XXXX : ending balance {$6000.00} Total in my name : {$13000.00} The savings account activity shows XXXX external XXXX deposit from XXXX XXXX for {$6000.00} on XX/XX/year>, plus interest, resulting in the {$6000.00} balance. The {$7800.00} in the Access account is my own money already at Citi, separate from the XXXX deposit. 
XX/XX/year> Citi Update on Your Request letter Citibanks Executive Response Unit sent me a letter ( Citi Reference XXXX ), copied to : OCC Case # XXXX, and CFPB Case # XXXX. 
In this letter, Citi confirms : Account ending in XXXX and account ending in XXXX were closed on XX/XX/year>. 
A {$0.00} refund check was mailed to me. 
For the savings account ending in XXXX, Citi states that if there are any funds that belong to me at the time of closure, Citibank will issue an official check for the balance and mail it to me. 
XX/XX/year> Citi issues a closeout disbursement check On XX/XX/year>, Citibank issued an official check with the following details ( copy attached ) : Check Number : XXXX Amount : {$7800.00} Payee : XXXX XXXX XXXX Account Code/Number : XXXX ( my Citi Access account ending XXXXXXXX ) Memo : CLOSEOUT DISBURSEMENT This check is drawn from the Access account, not from the savings account where the {$6000.00} XXXX  ACH was deposited. By issuing this check and labeling it Closeout Disbursement, Citi clearly treated {$7800.00} as my closing balance that belonged to me under their own agreement and correspondence. 
XX/XX/year> I deposit the check at XXXX XXXX On XX/XX/year>, I deposited Citibank Official Check # XXXX at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, branch deposit into my account ending in XXXX. XXXX XXXX transaction details show : Transaction Type : Branch Deposit Transaction Date : XX/XX/year> Posted Date : XX/XX/year> Amount : {$7800.00} The deposit was accepted and my XXXX Federal balance increased by {$7800.00}. 
XX/XX/year> Deposit returned because Citi placed STOP PAYMENT On XX/XX/year>, I received an email alert from XXXX XXXX titled Alert : Your Deposit Was Returned. The message states : Your deposit of {$7800.00} on XX/XX/year> to your account ending in XXXX was returned unpaid by the issuing financial institution because of STOP PAYMENT. 
As a result, {$7800.00} was debited from my account. 
My XXXX XXXX account shows an Adjustment DR for - {$7800.00} dated XX/XX/year>, reversing the deposit. 
In a secure chat on the same day, a XXXX XXXX representative confirmed : The item was returned because Citibank placed a stop payment on the check. 
The check number is XXXX and the amount is {$7800.00} this matches Citibank Official Check XXXX ( with a leading zero ). 
XX/XX/year> Citi changes its story On XX/XX/year>, I received another Executive Response Unit letter from Citi ( Citi Reference XXXX ). In this letter, Citi now claims that : The funds in question were received via a third-party transaction and was made payable to an individual who is not an owner of the account, and Due to banking regulations and our internal policies concerning third-party deposits, these funds can not be disbursed directly to you. This includes the {$0.00} you were recently informed of. 
In other words, after Citi : Listed the funds as my account balances, Closed the account, Issued and mailed a closeout disbursement check in my name for {$7800.00}, and Allowed that check to be deposited and credited at XXXX XXXX, Citibank then placed a stop payment on its own closeout check and told regulators that the very same funds can not be disbursed to me at all because of third-party deposits. 
XXXX. Why this is unfair and inconsistent with XXXX own agreement Based on Citis Consumer Deposit Account Agreement ( CDAA ) and their letters : The Agreement says Citi can close a deposit account and will send the remaining balance ( after any amounts owed ) to the customer, typically by mailing a check. That is exactly what they did on XX/XX/year> when they issued Official Check XXXX as a Closeout Disbursement to me. 
The Agreement also explains that official checks are not subject to normal stop-payment rights and describes limited conditions ( lost, stolen, or destroyed check ) where a stop payment may be requested with an indemnity form and a waiting period. In my case, the check was never lost, stolen, or destroyed. It was delivered, deposited, and cleared at XXXX XXXX. I did not request a stop payment ; Citibank independently chose to place a stop payment after the check was deposited. 
If Citi had genuine concerns about a single {$6000.00} XXXX from XXXX into my savings account, they had options : delay availability, reverse that specific deposit, or resolve it before calculating and issuing a closeout disbursement. Instead, they allowed the accounts to show a total of {$13000.00} in my name as of XX/XX/year>, then closed the account, then issued a closeout check from the Access-account portion of my money, and only weeks later did they cancel that check and label all the funds as third-party. 
Citis own documents show that only about {$6000.00} of the total came from XXXX. The {$7800.00} check that Citi issued and later stopped was drawn from the Access account, which held my non-XXXX  funds. Calling all of these funds third-party is inconsistent with Citis statements, account records, and actions. 
I believe this pattern of behavior is unfair and deceptive : Citi represented that it was returning my money, Issued an official closeout check in my name, Allowed me to reasonably rely on that check and deposit it, and then Quietly reversed that decision by stopping payment and claiming the funds could never be disbursed to me in the first place. 
XXXX. Harm to me I lost access to {$7800.00} that I reasonably believed had been paid to me as my closing balance. 
XXXX XXXX had to reverse the deposit and debit my account after initially crediting the funds. This put me in a worse position and could have caused overdrafts or other issues. 
I have spent significant time and effort trying to get a straight answer from Citi and to explain the situation to regulators. 
The situation has created uncertainty about whether I will be flagged internally or externally ( e.g., XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ) for something that was entirely caused by Citis own stop payment.

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