Consumer complaint received 2021-07-16
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NY
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Banking errors

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2021, I received two {$520.00} payments in my checking account from a person using XXXX. The person called me that she had sent me the payment two times. She was notified by the system that the " payment failed '' after her first attempt, so she send me the same amount again and noticed two payments have been deducted from her bank account. After I checked my checking account at Citibank confirming that I indeed received two payments of {$520.00} from her, I sent her back {$520.00} via XXXX in order to return her duplicated payment. 10 days later, on XX/XX/2021, a debit of {$520.00} showed on my Citibank checking account statement with a description of " XXXX Debit Adjustment ''. I called the bank on XX/XX/2021 questioning this transaction and was told that I received two payments of {$520.00} on XX/XX/2021, so they are taking it back. I explained that I have already paid back the fund to the sender on XX/XX/2021 as they can see the debit of {$520.00} on that day. Citibank customer service told me that I should reach out to the sender asking her to return my {$520.00} payment. I did ask the sender if she received a credit adjustment in her bank account before I called and the answer was " no ''. Citibank customer service opened a case for me for further investigation. I called the customer service again on XX/XX/2021 to follow up on this matter as I need the money to pay bills at month end. Response from Citibank was disappointing as it will take them at least 10 business days to respond. I ended up borrowing money from my relative to cover my bills that month. 
On XX/XX/2021, I received a letter from Citibank dated XX/XX/2021. The letter indicated that they denied my dispute of the {$520.00} XXXX adjustment happened on XX/XX/2021 due to the following reason : " On XX/XX/2021, you authorized a person to person funds transfer in the amount of {$520.00}. After further review, we have found there was a technical issue in sending the funds and the funds have now been resent to the recipient 's financial institution. '' The above assessment was wrong. The XXXX payment I initiated was already deducted from my checking account on XX/XX/2021. It should be noted that on XX/XX/2021, I reached out to the sender asking her again if she has received a credit of {$520.00} in her account. The answer was still " No ''. 

I called Citibank on XX/XX/2021 to appeal their decision, but it will take them another 10 days to respond. I am deeply concerned if Citibank has the competency to solve this matter and give my money back. People like me who live paycheck to paycheck really depend on these couple XXXX dollars. And why do I have to take on the cost of this mega bank 's system problem? This is a major system issue, I wouldn't be surprised if there are other banks customers got affected by this.

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