Many years ago I opened my first account at Citibank thinking it's a "global" bank and I can use it for years. Since then i moved many times and eventually to a different state. As I found out to my regret that i can't transfer money online between accounts opened in different states. They claim there is some legal issue with that which i find very hard to believe because a teller has no problem doing this transaction.
So i wonder if there are any banks that don't have this kind of restriction.
I use a hack to do this sort of thing: I have an ING Direct online bank account. I link both of bank accounts I want to transfer between to the ING Direct account.
I transfer between them by moving money to ING direct and then from there to wherever.
Any online bank that let's you link regular checking accounts would work for this.
Usually problems like what you're running into mean that the megabank hasn't finished digesting acquisitions, or they cannot meet some state regulatory issue with the main system. Bank of America is/was like this for a few years -- tellers had access to separate Fleet Bank, BankSouth and BoA systems, but you as customer got stuck when doing seemingly routine transactions.
You're probably in a situation where your older accounts are in System A, and the newer ones are in recently acquired System B.
You should be able to avoid this problem by opening new accounts at Citibank, or just getting another bank. If you have a good rapport with a branch manager, explain the situation and see if they can do anything. FWIW, Unless you're spending alot of time in Manhattan or travel overseas often, there aren't many advantages to having a Citibank account these days.
