Citibank
ATM Deposit Held Days After Overdraft Fee Dispute at Branch

I opened an account with Citibank in Vacaville, CA, as it is the closest bank to Winters, CA that has an ATM near my house. This was about a year ago. The account I opened was a student account with no overdraft limit. Two weeks ago a bill collector tried to take money out of my account without my permission. I noticed Citibank had allowed them to try to take the money out twice and charged me 2 overdraft fees, even though I did not have any money in the account and my account was set up to not allow overdrafts. I called the bank, and they said to come in and they would open me a new account and remove the fees, which I did.

I explained to the manager who was opening my account my problem with not having automatic deposit with my job, and that I needed a bank close by with an ATM so I could deposit quickly and pay bills. She also suggested that I pay my creditor with a prepaid card and not give them my account information. I happily took her suggestion. The next week I deposited both my checks into the bank's ATM, thinking the money would be available to me the next day, as the manager had said nothing that day about ATM holds. Also, the ATM did not give me a receipt with the deposit information.

On Wednesday I needed to pay the creditor, and I checked my account online and noticed I had a hold on my account. So I called the bank and was told that on Thursday my money would be released. So I called the creditor, as they were threatening to put my bill in collections. Thursday came around, and my money was still not released. I called the bank again. I was told Saturday my money would be released for sure. I was also told that the bank could not release the money because it had been deposited in the ATM. Happy, I hung up and called the creditor again.

On Saturday no money had been released. On Monday I called the bank again and was very rudely told my money would be released Tuesday at 7 am and that the bank could not do anything about it because I deposited in the ATM. So I called the 800 number and talked to a manager who informed me that if she could release my money she would, and that the bank manager was the only one who could do it. In fact, she put me on hold to call the branch personally, only to be told the bank manager had left early for the day. She was very nice and apologized to me for the inconvenience. Meanwhile, I called the creditors again, who by this time were very nice and understood the ordeal I was going through with my bank.

Today I was finally able to get my money out of Citibank and pay my creditor. I then called the bank manager and explained to her that I was very unhappy with their branch's service. The manager, Yvonne, instantly went on to tell me that I was wrong and that she could not have released the money. She did not apologize for all the inconvenience or for the fact that I was given wrong information. I feel like Citibank not only held my money hostage but treated me very poorly. I will be taking my money out and returning it to First Northern Bank, a bank I know will help me and with which I trust my money.

Company: Citibank
Country: USA

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