Consumer complaint received 2016-09-15
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: NY
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
In XXXX XXXX, I discovered a {$750.00} deduction in my Citibank Checking account. When I looked it up online, it was a payment to someone 's Citibank credit card using my checking account number. The person 's name was clearly listed on the transaction. I first spoke to a Citibank rep on the phone who had this fraud issue credited to my account. A much smaller deduction occurred by the same user ( less than {$75.00} ) the next month. I went to a Citibank branch and spoke to a rep. They had me close my account and reopen another account. The rep told me that they could clearly see that someone had accidentally used my acct number to pay their Citibank credit card because their acct number was very close to mine. They credited me the second transaction and everything was fine. A month or two later, Citibank deducted {$750.00} from my acct again with no notification. When I went to the branch to ask what happened, they claimed I did not submit a notarized affadavit that i was no complicit in this fraud. I worked with the Citibank rep in the branch who called their anti fraud unit and said that I needed to mail an affadavit to them. I mailed the affadavit and received an email confirmation online from Citibank that they had received it but i should wait 90 days for an answer. After 90 days, I asked Citibank what had happened with my investigation and they then claimed that they never received it even though i have email confirmation that they did. I went to the Citibank branch again on 2 occasions in XXXX and sat with their reps who called their anti fraud unit again. They said they had closed the old investigation and had to reopen a new one. The Citibank rep kept saying during my 2 visits that they would call me back the next day about how the investigation went but they never called. I sent XXXX emails, one in XXXX XXXX and one in XXXX XXXX, to the XXXX Citibank reps asking for a status of the investigation and they have ignored my email response. It is clear that Citibank either has no intention of refunding me money that was accidentally taken out of my acct simply because someone online had paid their credit card bill with the wrong acct number, which was my number, or they have terrible inefficiencies between their branch units and anti fraud units. This seemed evident as I sat in the Citibank branch on 3 different occasions listening them talk to their fraud unit on the phone and plead my case but they always insisted that I had to send an affadavit form in the mail, even though i was physically in their office with all forms of identification to confirm who I was and that I did not commit any fraud. The branch reps even admit that it should be an easy case to solve as they could clearly see someone entered the wrong acct number. I even spoke to their anti fraud rep on the phone and did a verbal affadavit that was recorded on the phone and that seems to not be enough either. I would appreciate CFPB 's help to stop Citibank from ignoring my issue and credit me the money that they had first refunded me and then took back.

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 non-monetary relief