Consumer complaint received 2018-08-28
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Trouble using your card
Sub-issue: Can't use card to make purchases

Complaint:
Citibank failed to post a check that they admitted arrived at their bank on Thursday XXXX until the time and date of XXXX XXXX XXXX. Since the check had not shown in the system, I called in on the XXXX and asked if they had any record of my mailed payment. I was told no and so I was forced to make an additional payment via ACH so as not in incur any finance charges or late fees. 

When the payment and the check both posted on the night of XX/XX/XXXX, my account was left with a negative balance of {$8300.00} ( negative as in they owe me {$8300.00} due to a double payment ) I called in to the bank on XX/XX/XXXX and requested the ACH payment be reversed back to the originating bank. The customer service representative confirmed that it was being processed and it would be handled within 24-48 hours. 

Tuesday the XXXX, nothing had happened. The account was still showing a negative balance and no reversal had been promised. I started a chat and the chat operator was unable to understand why the payment hadn't been reversed as promised within the time frame so I asked for a supervisor. I was told they don't have the ability to transfer in chat I called in on the phone again. This time I was promised it would be reversed within a new time frame of 3-5 business days. 

I then pointed out that it was going back to the same place it originated from there should be no delay in reversing a payment. The operator said she would send a request to expedite the payment reversal. Apparently this was never done or they don't understand what " expedite '' means. 

On Friday the XXXX I again called in after no progress had been made and nothing had been done. 

I spoke with a lady named XXXX in South Dakota. She promised she would personally contact the department that handles payment reversals and get this pushed through. She would then follow up with me on Saturday regardless of the outcome to apprise me of the status of the reversal. she also claimed she would do a second follow up call with me to give me the update regardless of what she learned. Of course I received no call. 

I called in and asked to speak with her. She had mentioned that I can ask for her to be transferred. However when I called in to ask to speak with her I was told that they can't transfer to specific people. So either she lied about me being able to be transferred to her or the other operator lied about no being able to. 

I asked for an update on the status of the reversal and was now told it will be 2 weeks. At this point I'm asking the CFPB to intervene as the bank is obviously either incompetent or outright just retaining funds they have no right to hold onto ( without interest of course ). Their stories keep changing and they are no one seems to understand their own policies. 

I've never dealt with a bank that refused to 1 ) reverse an overpayment ( or at least mail out a refund check for a credit balance ) 2 ) continually lie about and change the timeframe as to which they would do so, 3 ) refuse to provide a reason as to why the funds are being held. Again all I am asking is that the funds be returned to the originating bank, nothing strange or unusual. 

Further I asked the operator to show me in the legal terms and conditions for the account where they have the right to hold onto an overpayment and not return to the originating bank and they were unable to do so.

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