OK, I will give you the summary first so I will not get TL;DR. And yes it is a long story. But first a quick summary. If you are like me a recent college/high school graduate you may be looking for a bank. Here is a quick note on Citibank/CITI --- DON'T. I too graduated recently (in 2019). I opened an account with Citibank. Now they refuse to let me take my money out. You heard correctly. I sent about 6 letters starting in March 2020 and I still do not have my money. They are holding $1,000 plus interest a hostage.
Now the LONG story.
Now the long and painful story. I opened my account with Citibank in 2019 after I talked to several banks and asked about low cost account without any hidden fees. Two people Jeff and Carmen in CITI told me in the branch that all I need is to have is consistently a certain balance ($1,000) and I am guaranteed to have a free account. That was not true.
I opened the account in 2019. At first it worked fine - they did not charge me any extra fees. I did not go to the branch even before COVID and actually did not do much with the account as I opened another account in a small bank. But I kept CITI bc I wanted a backup and it was (supposed to be) free.
Suddenly, one year later I am getting a letter that my account is closed bc it was not active. I went to my account online and there is says, you account has been closed bc it was not used. I called and said, okay, give me my money and I will go elsewhere. Greg told me that to take the money I have to come to the bank. I told him that I am not going to the bank bc of COVID. He said contact the the CITI Executive main offices at citieru@citi.com.
I sent email to CITI Executive. I explained to them that they lied to me when I opened my account bc Jeff and Carmen told me that as long as I keep a balance over $1000 (which I was) I can keep the account for free. But when I went to my account there was a message that I need to deposit my paycheck to CITI if I want to keep my account.
I told them that I no longer want to keep my account at CITI and want my money sent to me.
March 2020.
Jeniffer responded: We are studying the issues will get back to you in 15 days.
15 days later - No response.
March 28, 2020.
I resent my letter.
Jeniffer responded: Essentially same letter. We are studying the issues will get back to you in 15 days.
15 days later - you guessed it - No response.
April 2020.
We are examining your complaint. You have one way to reactivate your account. We sent you email in your account. I look in the account and it says. Your account is disabled. To activate the account you need to make regular deposits. [That conflicts with what they told me when I was opening my account 2019.]
May 2020. (I was too busy to deal with the assholes.)
June 13, 2020.
Sent them another letter. They said you must go to the branch. I sent this letter. "I do not know where you live, but here we have COVID. I accept that you do not want my account because I am not depositing my check in your bank, I am fine with that, now give me my money back you fucking morons."
Response a few weeks later. We have received your letter and we will get back to you in 15 days. Signed. Manager Emily (no last name). No actual response when the trahsbank will give me my money.
August 1, 2020:
I sent another letter. Their response: We have received your letter blah blah crap. 15 days.
So now I decided to communicate with CITI here.
Dear CITI. If there is anyone at your bank who can read, please read this twice and then contact me. Or you can just send me the check with $1,000 plus the interest.
I will update this report as new information becomes available.
For now. To summarize. The morons are holding my $1,000 hostage. If you are looking for a bank I suggest you ***AVOID CITI***. There are plenty of other banks.
Note to Jane Fraser CEO of Citibank. Congratulations -- you got the job.
Please fix your damn bank. Start with firing all the fat asses in the Executive Office.
-regards read more