Woman lost $120,000 life savings after money vanished from her bank
A woman has told how her entire life savings simply disappeared from out of her account.
Margaret Lomax had just sold her home in California to move to Arizona, and decided to transfer a part of the proceeds from the sale to her account with Citibank from Farmers & Merchants Bank.
This came yo around $120,000, she told KBHO.
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"I decided I would transfer $120,000, which is basically my life savings," she said.
But things took a turn for the worse when she then went to use a debit card which was affiliated to her account with Citibank.
Having just transferred the $120,000 there, it seems unlikely there would be issues with most of the payments you would want to make, short of maybe buying a house or a car.
But when Margaret went to make a purchase using the card, she was surprised when the card was declined.
Concerned, she checked her Citibank account to see if there was a problem, only to discover to her horror that all the money had gone from the account.
She said: "It was actually right there on the screen. And then poof! It just disappeared."
This was a big problem, as she knew for sure that the transfer of the money had been successful.
But neither Citibank nor Farmers and Merchants were initially able to locate the missing money.
She said "I’m at my wit’s end. I don’t know what to do anymore.
"I’m climbing the walls. There are nights that I’ll go through half a box of Kleenex crying.
"My biggest fear is that they sent it somewhere and somebody else got it and they are saying, ‘Christmas came early this year!’"
She added: "I’d like my money back. I’d like to buy a home so I can live my last 20-30 years comfortably."
Fortunately, Citibank were able to return the funds. A spokesperson for Citibank explained that with transactions involving large sums of money, the bank will sometimes withhold funds while it checks that the transaction is authentic.
A spokesperson for Citibank told UNILAD: “We truly appreciate the trust our customers place in us to keep their accounts safe.
"To safeguard financial integrity, we may temporarily hold funds to review the authenticity of a transaction. We regret any inconvenience this caused our client, and we’re grateful to have resolved the matter.”
The bank also overnighted a cheque to Margaret, who was delighted at the return of her savings.
Kit Roberts