Consumer complaint received 2018-08-07
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NJ
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement

Complaint:
When I received my Citibank Credit Card Statement of XX/XX/2018, I noticed that on XX/XX/2018, I was doubly charged for {$630.00} for my Auto Insurance Policy. I initiated a dispute with the Citibank which got resolved and they returned one of the charges of {$630.00}. So I thought everything was ok, until I received any invoice from my Auto Insurance company saying I owed them {$630.00}. Of course, I call them to find out what's going on and I find out the following ( after many calls to both the insurance company and Citibank ) : XX/XX/18 the auto insurance company did charge me twice, but when they realized their error, they refunded Citibank back {$630.00}. When I started the dispute on XX/XX/18, that caused a charge back and Citibank went and took another {$630.00} from my auto insurance policy, now making it look like I owe my auto insurance company, when in fact, I paid them back in XX/XX/XXXX using my Citibank. After numerous telephone conversations with my auto insurance company and Citibank, on XX/XX/2018 Citibank acknowledges that it did have the money that was refunded by my auto insurance company and that it's going to send it back to my auto insurance company and that I would get an email within 3-5 days confirming that this is being done. I explained to Citibank 's Dispute Dep Representative that I need this email to forward to my auto insurance policy, so that they don't cancel my auto insurance policy. She assured me that I would receive that email between 3-5 business days, which meant I could forward that email to my auto insurance company and not have my insurance cancelled. After 5 days, I didn't get an email, so first, I called my auto insurance company and they had not received any money from Citibank as of yet. So then, I called Citibank 's Dispute Dept and now they said, I would get that email in the next 24 hours and that email would have the instructions on how my insurance company can get the money from their merchant bank, since the money gets sent to the insurance company 's merchant bank. So I waited another 24 hours and I still didn't get the email that I was promised. So, today, XX/XX/2018, after 7 business days of the initial request, and still no email, I called Citibank Dispute 's Dept and ask to speak to a supervisor and I am told that it will take another 7 business days to get that email! Are you kidding me??? It will now take 14 business days for Citibank to email me a letter stating that they are sending the money back to my auto insurance company. The money was due on XX/XX/2018 to my insurance company, but if they have this email stating what's going on, they won't cancel my insurance policy. After explaining this to the various representatives and supervisor of Citibank 's Dispute Department, their position is that there is nothing they can do! HOW IS THIS ACCEPTABLE? HOW IS THIS FAIR? AND HOW IS THIS ETHICAL? I stand to lose my insurance policy, when I paid it on time back in XX/XX/2018. How is this ok for a company like Citibank not tell me that they got a refund in the first place? Because had I known that, I would have not started a dispute that caused the charge back. Why does Citibank, who has had the refund since XX/XX/2018, not inform me of this refund and try to figure out where this money belongs? And now that I ask for a simple email to confirm that they are sending it back to my auto insurance company, I have to wait 14 days to get it, and there's still no guarantee that I will get it in 14 days! According to the supervisor of Citibank 's Dispute Dept, the investigator drafts up the email and the legal department has to approve the email?? And this takes 14 days?? And what's there to investigate? The money was refunded to Citibank, Citibank was holding on to it for almost 60 days without notifying me and now it's going back to the my insurance company, but only because of the dispute I started. The legal department has to approve an email regarding {$630.00} of money that never belonged to Citibank in the first place? CITIBANK IS RIDICULOUS, UNFAIR AND UNETHICAL. SHAME OF CITIBANK FOR NOT DOING RIGHT BY THEIR CUSTOMERS!

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