Consumer complaint received 2023-05-04
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NC
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem when making payments
Sub-issue: Problem during payment process

Complaint:
The credit card company, Citi Costco, deducted payment for my XXXX bill twice from my account. 


The cause of this double deduction is unclear, but I think what happened ( based on my browser history ) is that I set up a payment on XX/XX/XXXX, to be deducted XX/XX/XXXX. 
I rechecked the payment status page on XX/XX/XXXX and didn't see a pending payment, so set up the payment again. ( At that point, I thought I must have just forgotten to set it up. ) On XX/XX/XXXX, I realized that Citi Costco had attempted to deduct payment twice. The first attempt, on XX/XX/2023 for {$3200.00}, was successful. The second attempt, also XX/XX/2023 but for {$3300.00}, was unsuccessful because I did not have enough in my account to cover an additional {$3300.00}. As a result, Citi charged me a {$30.00} return check fee and my bank charged me a {$35.00} insufficient funds fee. My bank account should a negative balance of about {$3000.00}. 


XX/XX/2023, Call 1, XXXX : I immediately called Citi to alert them of the error and ask them to retract or cancel the charge. Based on my conversation with the supervisor I spoke to, I had the impression that speaking to my bank would allow them to cancel the second deduction. 

XX/XX/2023, Call 2, XXXX : I called Citi , and with a supervisor we called my bank XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ). As it emerged over the conversation, Citi wanted XXXX XXXX XXXX to confirm that the 2nd deduction had cleared -- although I told them in the initial call that it would NOT clear because I didn't expect to have a second {$3300.00} charge that month. The Citi representative told me that there was nothing they could do to reverse or cancel the charge because it's an automated process and I would have to wait until XX/XX/XXXX for the third failed attempt to withdraw the payment. ( In the meantime, my balance would remain negative and my bank would charge me an insufficient funds charge for each attempt [ {$100.00} ] ). 

I was frustrated with this failure of solution. I eventually spoke to a second level supervisor who told me that though he couldn't do anything to address the central problem he would ensure that I was credited the {$30.00} return check fee, which would appear on my XXXX statement. 


In an effort to resolve the situation more quickly, I managed to transfer cash to cover the charge from my business account ( basically using my business 's tax reserve ). 


XX/XX/2023 : Citi made a 2nd attempt to withdraw the funds and was successful. 


XX/XX/2023, Call 3, XXXX : I called Citi to confirm that they had received payment and would be able to begin the process of reversing the charge. I was told they weren't able to confirm that they received payment because my bank isn't open on the weekend. 


XX/XX/2023 : Call 4, XXXX : I called Citi and we conferenced in my bank, which confirmed that the second payment had cleared. When I asked the Citi representative when I could expect the refund to my account, they told me that it should appear in the next day or so. 


XX/XX/2023, Call 5, XXXX : I called Citi to follow up about refund since it had not yet arrived in my account. I was told that I would be receiving the refund for at least another few business days because the transaction had to be reviewed. The person I spoke to also told me that the person I talked to on XX/XX/2023 should have explained the process and timeline ( review, no return for 5-10 business days ) and the fact that they had not made this information available was a failure of required disclosure. 


Because I thought I would have my refund in hand by ( at latest ) XX/XX/2023, I did not plan to have sufficient funds in my account for my mortgage and car payment to clear on Monday, XX/XX/XXXX. I had to pay for an expedited transfer ( which may or may not have arrived on time ). 


While the individuals with whom I have spoken at Citi have been polite and are in no way responsible for the company policies, the entire process had been extremely frustrating and caused significant financial difficulty : I have accrued {$100.00} in fees for non-payment ( bank and credit card ), have had to move funds between my business and personal accounts in ways that are NOT good accounting practice, scrambled to find funds to pay my mortgage because I was waiting for a refund of more than {$3000.00}, and ( potentially ) negatively impacted my credit score. They have insisted that they are unable to do anything to rectify their mistake because its part of an automated system, which seems ( if true ) an incredibly bad design flaw. 


As of today ( XX/XX/2023 ), my credit card account still reflects the two payments, and I have not been refunded the cash I paid in an attempt to resolve this situation sooner.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation