How Citibank Stole Thousands From Me And No One Seems To Care

To say I’m frustrated would be an understatement. This scenario seems like something from a movie in which the evil bank blatantly abuses their power over the financial system to push people into economic hardship.

I write about this here for two reasons:

1. Maybe this will bring it to someone’s attention that will help and
2. All we generally hear about is the bad customer service in healthcare which pales in comparison to this.

Here’s the scenario:

• On 6/3/13, we paid off our Bank of America mortgage when we sold our house in St. Louis.
• On 6/17/13, BofA sent us a payoff check for our overpayment of our escrow.
• On 7/5/13, that money was deposited into our Citibank account.
• On 7/18/13, BofA confirmed that the check cleared.
• On 7/23/13, Citibank removed the funds from our account and stated that BofA had rejected the check.
• After several calls, Citibank could not explain the reason for the funds being removed other than to say the check wasn’t paid by the institution. Here’s some of the reasons that they’ve made up to try to tell me why:

• First they told me that we both didn’t sign the check. That was wrong.
• Then they told me that it was made out to a business. Which it wasn’t.
• Then they told me that BofA rejected it. Which they didn’t.
• Then they told me that it was because I used an ATM. Which I didn’t.
• Then they told me to go into the branch office where I made the deposit. I used the same lock-box that I’ve used for years. There are no branches in St. Louis or Charlotte.
• On 7/30/13, we had a 3-way call with Citibank and BofA to confirm the check was paid.
• On 8/1/13, BofA faxed proof of payment to Citibank.
• As of 8/5/13 after more calls with the 3rd supervisor at Citibank, they still couldn’t prove that the check was paid or find the BofA proof even after they had selected the location for the proof to be faxed.

So, what have I done to try to get this resolved:

• Called Citibank numerous times. I personally have spoken with 3 supervisors.
• Called Bank of America several times.
• Had Citibank talk with Bank of America.
• Followed the @AskCiti Twitter account and asked them to direct message me contact information for someone who could help me…with no response.
• E-mailed the CEO of Citibank with no response.
• E-mailed 3 members of the Committee on Financial Services with no response.
• E-mailed the Ombudsman at the CFPB with no response.
• E-mailed 3 members of the Citibank Board of Directors with no response.
• E-mailed the WSJ reporter who wrote the article about Citibank’s use of Twitter for customer service.
• E-mailed 6 other members of the Citibank executive team with no response yet.

After weeks, we still have no access to our funds.

Annoyed…Yes.

Pissed off…Yes.

Frustrated…Yes.

Do you ever feel like no one can help you with your issue in a company? It’s not like I have hours of free time to play games with the bank. Why can’t big companies ever actually resolve something themselves?

(The strange thing here is that I have an issue or two a year with someone that triggers a formal complaint from me. I’ve complained to US Bank, Disney, Marriott, Panera, and several others. In all cases, an e-mail to the CEO gets a response within 24 hours with a person trying to triage the issue.)

From Citibank, all I hear is…