[Resolved]  Citibank — Malpractice

I never considered Citibank the best or most ethical bank to deal with, but after this experience, I am shocked at the extent to which the bank is willing to go to harass people.

I work with Hewlett Packard and therefore hold a Citibank salary account, no. [protected]. Recently, on the 1st of October, Wednesday I walked into an ATM for a cash withdrawal and my card was retained by the machine. I made several calls to the customer care number and spoke with several Citiphone officers. Finally, one of the officers informed me that there was a “Debit Hold” on my account, due to which I will not be able to make any transactions or use my account. My salary for the month had just been credited, and I had balance of Rs.86, 500 odd, to which I was being denied access.

Now, this is my money, for which I work the entire month, and I don’t think anybody has the right to deny me access to my own money. What was really shocking is that nobody at Citibank knew the reason for this block. I called again several times hoping to get some answers, but every officer I spoke with asked me to wait for a couple of days to investigate this block and get back to me with the reason. Thursday, the 2nd being a holiday, I waited and started making calls to the bank at 10:00 am on Friday, 3rd October 2008. By the end of the day I would have easily made close to 50 calls, without a resolution. Until now, no one in the bank has any information on this block. Every time I called, I was put on hold for several minutes, at times for up to 35 minutes, and was told that there is a hold, but they are not aware of the reason for this hold and that I’d have to wait for a minimum of 4 working days for them to be able to investigate the reason for this hold.

Incidentally, I have a loan account with Citibank, no. LCBBIS2285837 in a default state. This is an old loan which moved into default some time ago, the reason for which has been made ample clear to the personal loan officers at Delhi, with whom I am in constant touch. I unfortunately lost my father to lung cancer a few years ago, after which I was unemployed for a while and had to relocate to Chennai. While in Chennai, I did approach someone at the bank to continue paying my monthly payments from where I left off, but they refused and requested for a settlement, which I couldn’t afford. Finally after much back and forth, no one got back to me to have this issue resolved. Eventually, I moved back to Bangalore, and received a call six months ago from the personal loan department at Delhi. I again told them that I would be happy to make monthly payments until the time I can afford a settlement.

Since then, for the last six months, I have been making regular monthly payments of Rs. 2990/- followed by a call to Preethi Sharma the loan officer at Delhi confirming my payment. Recently Mr. Vikas, also from Delhi, approached me with an offer to settle this account. I was in regular conversation with him as he offered to settle the outstanding for Rs. 40, 000. I requested him for some additional consideration, and he said he would check and get back to me. However, this was a request for negotiation, not a refusal on my part to settle.

The next day, my account was blocked and I have since been making more than 50 calls a day on an average to have this issue resolved. But no one seems to know the reason for this block. I can fully understand if Citibank would issue this hold on my account if I was absconding / not making payments / refusing to settle. But in spite of being proactive in wanting to settle this defaulted account, I do not see a reason for Citibank to block my salary account, deny me access to my own money and refuse to act on this matter urgently. Being the beginning of the month, I am facing severe difficulty, since all my important payments, including rent and ration are due, which I am unable to carry out due to this hold on my account. I did have some family emergency, where my mother was in need o[censored]rgent treatment, and I had to undergo the additional hassle of borrowing money from a relative at the last minute.

Even if the bank wants to argue and state that they had every reason to put a hold on my account, why would no one at Citibank know the reason for the hold. The least I would expect of a so called professional Multi National Bank is to send me a message or a letter stating the reason for the block, and mentioning the necessary action on my part for having the account reactivated immediately. But instead I have been making calls day and night for the last three days, literally begging every officer to please provide me with a reason, so I can take immediate action to have this issue resolved. However, the clichéd banking procedures require up to 4 days to investigate the reason. This is the most ridiculous situation I have ever come across. First of all, the bank has absolutely no right to touch my salary account. They can send me a legal notice if they please. They know I am in conversation with the personal loan officers, looking to have the outstanding settled. This is purely with a intent to harass. I am being victimized for absolutely no fault of mine. And now, I am at the mercy of the bank, since there is nothing I can do. All I can do is beg and plead with the bank to release my account and let me survive.

In a democratic country, being a salaried individual, is Citibank questioning my right for survival. Can any bank in the world deny an individual access to his own hard earned money? Is this ethical? Will any government warrant such drastic actions? Can any individual be put through such misery in spite of being co-operative? I am ashamed to be a part of this system, where there is no justice. Where someone can be made to suffer to this extent. Is this how Citibank chooses to deal with subprime delinquencies? I understand that federal banks world over and the Reserve Bank of India are providing assistance to banks to control the subprime crisis, to avoid unnecessary harassment of the subprime borrowers. I am certain such actions by any bank are unwarranted and illegal and I am willing to go to any length to shed light on this malpractice.
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Aug 13, 2020
Complaint marked as Resolved 
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