Consumer complaint received 2015-05-08
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: TX
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional fixed mortgage
Issue: Loan servicing, payments, escrow account

Complaint:
Citi Financial Mortgage - Illegal withdraw of money and failure to return money in a timely mannerI refinanced my loan with Citi Mortgage. I had my previous loan with Citi as well. The refinance closed XXXX following a 4 month process that required me to involve various managers regarding a failure of mortgage service to process my loan. My problems are listed below:1. Single Point of Contact - this was not followed. I was given the numbers of XXXX mortgage agents that I dealt with. Neither returned my call in a timely manner. 

2. Fraudulent Withdraw of Funds - Following the close of my refinance 7 days later, Citi withdrew the previous mortgage amount of {$2000.00}. Upon calling Citi about this erroneous withdraw, I was given the runaround. See below as to what follows:XXXX - I was told they could not refund my money for 21 days. I told them they withdrew money for a paid off loan. Citi said they would look into refunding my money faster and to call back Monday. 
XXXX - I called back and Citi went through the same process. I spoke with a manager who would not give me a direct number to contact them. They said they would look into it and get my money back ASAP. They were to return call me back that afternoon with details. 
XXXX - After not receiving a call, I called again to check and received the same story : they would look into my problem. I said this was unacceptable and stated repeatedly that they had taken my money for a loan that was paid off. After finally ( 45 minutes ) making it to a manager, she looked into my loan and said they applied the money they withdrew to my new loan. I told them this was unacceptable as the money was mine and my new payment did not start until XXXX. They then told me they would redress the situation and overnight my check back to me. 
XXXX - I called to check on the status of the supposed overnight check and was told that they were cut and mailed XXXX - After not receiving my repayment, I called again to request a tracking number. I was then told that the check was not sent overnight. Rather, it was mailed and that I could expect it within 10 days. 

This is the problem : They withdrew money from my back account and have refused to refund it in a timely manner. I have received several 'answers ' and 'solutions ' to my problem but have not received a resolution. I have spent literally hours of my valuable time on the phone in order to redress this error on their part. They have committed a crime and they have not worked in an efficient manner to redress the issue. {$2000.00} of my money that was taken is now tied up in a bureaucracy that refuses to address the problem in a timely manner. 

From the failure at the SPOC to the illegal withdraw of money to my account, to the almost comical way they have attempted to return my money, Citi has taken advantage of me. Their fraudulent action must be addressed on an individual and institutional level or this will continue happen to many others.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief