Consumer complaint received 2024-06-07 00:00:00
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Money order, traveler's check or cashier's check
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CO

Complaint narrative:
Citibank closed my account, but has been holding my {$10000.00} for XXXX months! 

What happened : I live in my children 's community in Colorado, and I am a retiree. Considering that Citibank is a century-old company, I went to the XXXX XXXX Citibank branch when I traveled to New York in early XX/XX/year>. A lady named XXXX ( customer service staff ) received me, and she was very nice! She opened a bank account and online banking for me. Then she said that the debit card machine in their branch was broken and asked me to go to another nearby Citibank branch to get a debit card. During this period, XXXX XXXX, a Citibank customer service representative, also said that in order to have a high interest rate, she suggested that I open a premium account with a deposit of XXXX yuan. And she hoped that I would deposit money within XXXX week, so that I could receive a XXXX yuan account opening bonus. 

I adopted the advice of XXXX XXXX, a Citibank customer service representative, so I transferred my {$10000.00} retirement fund in XXXXXXXX XXXX to the newly opened Citibank account through ACH on the same day. After I returned to Colorado from my trip, I tried to transfer another {$20000.00} to my Citi account in order to get a {$300.00} bonus for opening an account. Due to my age and poor memory, I entered the wrong password several times in a row, resulting in my account being frozen. 

Because Citibank 's online customer service is so bad, after several attempts without a satisfactory answer, I was forced to use translation software ( I don't understand XXXX ) and call Citibank 's telephone customer service to explain the reason and request to unfreeze my account. Citibank customer service asked me to wait for news XXXX times after fully verifying my identity repeatedly. Until the fourth call, they suddenly said that the security team decided to close my account, but they did not explain any reason throughout the process. 

This made me feel confused, innocent and disappointed : I did not violate any regulations, and the {$10000.00} I deposited was my retirement fund, and it was transferred from the same name account at XXXXXXXX XXXX. I thought, since you have closed my account, I can choose other customer-friendly banks such as XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX but you should return my deposit to my XXXX account as soon as possible! ( Because it is a remittance from an account with the same name ) But it has been 2 months, and the Citibank security team and customer service team have been dragging their feet and doing nothing. They once promised to send the money to my address by check, but they have not sent it. I called no less than 3 times. XXXX time, the customer service replied to me that they had sent it to me by check on Saturday, and then I was worried. After I repeatedly verified the request, they said that they were not working on Saturday and would send the check next Monday. The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. After I waited for a week with hope, I was forced to call the customer service again. This time, the customer service 's statement was completely different from the last statement. They completely overturned their original promise and regretted that they would review it again, asking me to wait for news again! 

Put yourself in their shoes. You Citibank is a bank and don't care about the amount of money, but every XXXX we ordinary people save is not easy. You don't care about the interest for 2 months, but we care a lot. Moreover, the house I rented is about to expire, and I must fulfill my promise to the US government and leave the United States in time around XXXX to avoid visa overdue! At that time, even if you send the check to my rental address, I may never receive the deposit! 

This account opening experience has exhausted me, wasted a lot of my energy and time, and phone bills, and it made me very painful. The inaction of Citi Security Team and Customer Service Team is XXXX of the main reasons for this incident. 

Can you understand the feeling of going to my residential mailbox every day with hope, day after day to see if there is a check, and experiencing disappointment every day? 
Can you understand the feeling of exhaustion caused to your customers by your inaction? 
Can you understand the despair of not receiving a refund when my rental and visa are about to expire?

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