Citi bank blocked my account

cortina18

Hi there,
This is my first post so apologies if it is in the wrong group.
I live abroad and opened a Citi bank account back in London 6 years ago and at the time went through the normal due diligence requirements.
Just recently i received an email telling me they were updating their client accounts and needed more info from me. I had informed them before of my fathers death and that i had inherited a property but in their newly required info they were asking for my fathers name and date of death, how many properties i inherited, how much they were worth and if i generated any income from them.
Now as far as i can see this is none of their business as they account was open before my fathers death and i haven't added any money to it or removed any. It sounds to me like they are fishing to see if i am worth pitching something. Anyway this annoyed me so much i requested clarification on why they required this information and where their "regulator" stipulated these questions. I of course did not get my questions answered...therefore i wanted to close my account and i went to move my money by online transfer and found out my account was blocked.
I emailed them and got the response that because i hadn't answered the questions they had blocked my account......No emails, no phone call, no nothing...just blocked without letting your clients know......:mad::mad::mad:
I am so :mad::mad::mad: right now...
Anyone got some ideas on how to handle this. Is it even legal what they have done?
Thanks in advance for all your help.
Mark

mgdavid

cortina18 wrote: »

Hi there,
This is my first post so apologies if it is in the wrong group.
I live abroad and opened a Citi bank account back in London 6 years ago and at the time went through the normal due diligence requirements.
Just recently i received an email telling me they were updating their client accounts and needed more info from me. I had informed them before of my fathers death and that i had inherited a property but in their newly required info they were asking for my fathers name and date of death, how many properties i inherited, how much they were worth and if i generated any income from them.
Now as far as i can see this is none of their business as they account was open before my fathers death and i haven't added any money to it or removed any. It sounds to me like they are fishing to see if i am worth pitching something. Anyway this annoyed me so much i requested clarification on why they required this information and where their "regulator" stipulated these questions. I of course did not get my questions answered...therefore i wanted to close my account and i went to move my money by online transfer and found out my account was blocked.
I emailed them and got the response that because i hadn't answered the questions they had blocked my account......No emails, no phone call, no nothing...just blocked without letting your clients know......:mad::mad::mad:
I am so :mad::mad::mad: right now...
Anyone got some ideas on how to handle this. Is it even legal what they have done?
Thanks in advance for all your help.
Mark

Look on the bright side, they are safeguarding the contents of your account, nobody else can get at it either! Just write to them detailing that you wish to close the account and tell them where to transfer the funds to.

cortina18

You think they will allow me to close the account without providing them with their requested docs? I hope they don't ask me to come to London.....that would really p*** me off....
Thanks again

colsten

cortina18 wrote: »

I had informed them before of my fathers death and that i had inherited a property

Why did you provide them with this information? Presumably there was a valid reason, so you shouldn't be surprised if they ask further questions.

cortina18

Hi there,
I updated my information four years ago when they asked for an account update and that was just after my fathers passing.
I don't see what the rental income of any properties i may or may not have inherited 4 years has anything to do with my current holdings due diligence if only to give them the knowledge to try to sell me something.
Then without answering my questions on where it is written and to provide evidence to me that i need to produce this information they, without any warning, go ahead and block my account...
And will not open it again until i answer those questions...
Isn't this called blackmail and isn't this illegal????:(:(

Robin9

Do you have another Bank account abroad or could you open one ?

PeacefulWaters

Do you have links to the USA?

If so, I suspect regulations imposed by federal law are reaching you.

cortina18

I am actually Czech and live in the Czech Republic and the plan was to move the money and close it anyway but the fact they actually blocked my account at this point really got me mad. Today i will write an email asking for closure of the account and see what they say. I can't see the need for their questions to be answered (in a black mailing way) will affect my ability to close the account and move the money but i will let you all know.
Thanks for all the help and suggestions so far

Djene

I think they will be fishing to see if you are still eligible to bank with Citi. I'm sure recently, Citi UK have tightened up the criteria for accounts. Now their services appear to be for HNWI's. So they will be wanting to check if you earn enough or have enough investable assets to merit being a Citi client.

If you decline to tell them or prove not to meet their criteria, they will want to close your account.

cortina18

Well the update is i requested to close the account and within an hour i received the necessary docs to do it. No begging me to stay etc so yes from what i have read they are actually trying to get rid of their non HNWI.
Fair enough, glad to be rid of them thank you very much.
thanks for everyones input on this matter :T:T

Ballard

Banks have a legal obligation to ensure that all bank accounts are operated as they would expect. If any account has significantly more cash going through it than expected then they have to investigate. This is the process known as Know Your Customer (KYC).

If they fail to investigate and the regulator gets wind of this they will face large fines and in theory a prison sentence isn’t out of the question.