Consumer complaint received 2020-09-29
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: International money transfer
Issue: Unexpected or other fees

Complaint:
Dear Sirs, I am in dispute with Citibank of New York regarding repeated excess correspondent bank charges on XXXX transfers between XXXX XXXX  XXXX of XXXX ( XXXX  ), and XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX  ). Both XXXX  and XXXX  have been cooperative, but the path to resolution has been halted by Citibank which now refuses to respond. 

In summary : a ) Citibank applies an extra charge of USDXXXX  ( on top of its usual USDXXXX corresponding bank charge ) which it claims is a handling fee on behalf of XXXX. 
b ) XXXX  denies that it receives reimbursement of any such fee from Citibank, and it charges me a further XXXX ( approx USDXXXX XXXX handling fee. 
c ) The overall charge is therefore ( approx ) USDXXXX. 
d ) Since Citibank deducts the USDXXXX, it could readily confirm the identity of the beneficiary to progress the matter. It adamantly refuses to do so, despite repeated requests. 
e ) Citibank 's unsigned letter of XXXX XX/XX/XXXX ( again refusing to identify the beneficiary ) concluded with the statement : " Please be advised that we consider this matter closed and that this will be our final response. '' f ) My subsequent email dated XXXX XX/XX/XXXX was ignored. 

The affected transfers were made on XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX and XXXX XX/XX/XXXX. 

On XXXX XX/XX/XXXX I received confirmation from XXXX  that it does NOT receive any share of the USDXXXX charged on its behalf by Citibank. 

On XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, I received confirmation from XXXX  that its corresponding bank fee agreed with Citibank was only USDXXXX, not USDXXXX 

On XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, I sent a detailed letter to Citibank to which was attached a SWIFT XXXX illustrating the charges on the latest transfer and copies of the above correspondence. I informed them that I believed the USD15 charges were erroneous. 

In its reply dated XXXX XX/XX/XXXX ( Ref : XXXX ), Citibank averred that its total charge of USDXXXX was valid, as follows : - " A {$16.00} fee was charged based on special instructions set up by the debit party, XXXX XXXX  XXXX of XXXX '' [ confirmed by XXXX  ] - " A {$15.00} fee was charged based on special instructions set up by the credit party, XXXX  XXXX XXXX '' [ receipt of which is denied by XXXX  ] To clarify the ambiguity in the above, I requested Citibank to answer this simple question : " Which bank is the beneficiary of the excess USD15 which I am repeatedly charged? Is it Citibank, XXXX  XXXX XXXX, or a third party? '' This question was repeated in my emails of XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX and XXXX XX/XX/XXXX. 

Citibank 's reply dated XXXX XX/XX/XXXX ( Ref  : XXXX ), ignored the question completely. On XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, Citibank terminated our correspondence. 

From my transfer experiences over almost a decade, I suspect that many customers have been overcharged in this way. I suspect that Citibank is pocketing the excess charge, particularly since it refuses to respond to my simple question. Please investigate.

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