Consumer complaint received 2019-04-09
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
I am including a letter detailing the problem : XX/XX/2019 Citibank Attn. XXXX XXXX, Branch Manager XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, CA XXXX RE : Account No. XXXX XXXX This is a request for reimbursement of two mortgage payments withdrawn in error by Citibank after already being aware that the mortgage was transferred to XXXX and XXXX has their own system for making payments who were receiving payments already on a different date which required a date early in the month. 
We did a careful review of all the XXXX statements, a history of XXXX account detail showing three payments applied over the three-month period and my Citibank statements showing six mortgage payments made in three months with one XXXX payment refunded. Citibank records show the numerous phone calls I made to resolve the situation and correct the duplicate mortgage payments and be refunded for Citibanks error being duplicated each month. Two payments that still need to be refunded were withdrawn from my account on XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX respectively. I was instructed by XXXX to request refund from Citibank on two occasions as it was explained that my request for resolution of the payment mishap was denied by XXXX and the error was completely with Citibank. I received this information initially from XXXX only several days after my initial request for a resolution when the mix-up first occurred. In XXXX when duplicate mortgage payments were about to happen, I notified XXXX prior to the XXXX payment cleared my account. This payment was refunded to me by XXXX via Citibank customer service assistance. 
This problem began three months ago when XXXX took over the mortgage from Citibank. A mortgage form was required by me to set up payments and the new amount was {$1000.00} set for the XXXX of each month. I noticed the first month of the new mortgage was preceded by a Citibank transfer to XXXX on or about the XXXX of each month in the amount of {$760.00}. When duplicate mortgage payments were made at this time, I immediately notified Citibank by phone and in person and phoned XXXX. XXXX assured me that they were taking care of everything and concluded by reassuring me that the error would never happen again. XXXX explained to me that they required a different payment date near the beginning of the month and set the payments for the XXXX of the month. 
The second month of the new mortgage was identical to the first with duplicate payments again. On the day I was to have the problem solved by Citibank Customer Service I brought the problem to the attention XXXX XXXX at Citibank in XXXX, CA. The problem was understood and verified that the duplication had occurred. On XX/XX/XXXX we had a three-way phone call with XXXX and I asked if my money would be refunded and was assured it would be. I asked for a payoff of the loan. It took three days to get the payoff document from XXXX and on XX/XX/XXXX I sent a wire to XXXX to payoff the loan in full. 
I found that the month of XXXX is requiring yet another payment by Citibank to XXXX on a loan I paid off XX/XX/2019. After phoning Citibank to resolve the problem, finally it was necessary that the checking account was closed on the XXXX  to protect my account from yet another reversal to my request to delete the scheduled payment. I saw no end in sight to stop the nightmare of erroneous extra payments being scheduled and then occurring no matter and now recovery of my finances is still a real struggle as all money has not been recovered. When the initial duplication of mortgage payments occurred, I used the Citibank online system and deleted the withdrawal scheduled for the old mortgage. Two more months of problems I had the assistance of the mortgage teller to delete the scheduled withdrawal with no success and the next time had XXXX XXXX deleted the scheduled withdrawal without any permanent result. 
I am requesting a reimbursement for two additional errors made by Citibank in the amount of {$1500.00} to be paid to me and sent to my address at XXXX. XXXX XXXX, XXXX, CA XXXX. 

Sincerely, XXXX XXXX

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