Citibank Help- Anyone know someone who can get something done? OVERDRAWN $36,000

"called my branch and they don't seem to be able to find anything out".

I had a problem with a check overseas. The best answer I got was from an "online support email". Have you sent out an email to support asking about this yet from your online account?

Good luck.

Only small-timers have just $6,000 in their checking accounts. My bank could put holds on 100 $100,000 deposits and I'd still be as liquid as the shits in Tijuana.

nah, real big timers (like me) keep only $6,000 in the bank but have the rest turned into pennies and then dump all of the pennies next to a large body of water so we can have a beach made of money.


In reality, Citi is a big web, go right to your branch manager.

A beach? All this time I've just been using them to create ass pennies.

I'm too lazy right now to check all the details (and they may have changed since I last inquired) but banks have to follow certain Federal Reserve rules for how long they can put a hold on your check. (You can probably google it.) What the bank is doing is protecting itself should that big fat check of yours come bouncing back. They know pretty quickly if it will so it's annoying that they're continuing to hold your funds. You should have immediate access to some of the money, about 10%. (If it's a US Treasury check, you should have access to all of it but then you wouldn't be inquiring.) You should get the rest according to a schedule that depends on which other (if any) Fed Reserve districts your check has to go through. And foreign checks -- they could hold those for weeks. Here's what you need to do -- call during normal business hours and ask to speak to a manager. Explain the problem and tell them your deposit will not bounce. Ask that they honor every check you're written. If you're a good customer, they'll do this. Banks do not bounce checks without someone higher than a low-level munchkin giving approval. You may be too late. On the other hand, if you're overdrawn by $36k, they may have paid those checks and are simply waiting to be certain your deposit is good money. In the future, NEVER make a deposit for significantly more money than you normally have in the account and just assume it will clear as before. The bank will know the exact date it has to give you full access to your deposit. Call the bank to ask. Take their answer into account before you start writing checks. If you're selling $50k of securities and transferring money into a checking account to write a check for a new car (let's say), assume you'll need a week before the bank considers that brokerage company check to be valid. When, in fact, the bank knows within 24 hours that the check cleared. Everyone has to learn this the hard way. Good luck.

Usually a good idea in these kinds of situations: Put it all in writing, and send via certified mail/fax/email them a letter.

Wow dude, you really have become a SuperTroll - must be a side effect of the pig flu.

I have had this problem several times and have not found a good way around it yet other than talking with the bank beforehand to ask their policy. I have found that if you deposit it at the branch where you originally opened the account and have had the account over a year, the check will clear faster but still around 4 days. Good luck

Most likely you will end up at fault on every count and it will cost you time and money. I have had the same problem with BofA . Don't try to resolve this issue on the phone unless you r recording your conversations. Try to resolve it via e-mail, so that when you start writing to Federal Trading Comission you would have a data trail of Citi's bullshit..

Wait, so it sounds like the bank mistakenly put a check into your account that belonged to someone else? Is that correct?

And then they withdrew or held the check from your account twice freezing the money that was really yours? Is that correct?

I'd storm into the managers office and start raising hell. For being less than cooperative, I'd also close my accounts with them and move to a different bank.

Kiting.

http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/RegCC/regcc.htm

What delay applies depends on who the check is from, where it's from,
how it was deposited, and how much it's for.

My guess is the bank will stall you as long as possible. They probably won't want to give information until they finish their investigation.