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Citigroup refunds for account sweeping
Citigroup sign
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Stacey Vanek-Smith: The FDIC isn't the only financial institution in a borrowing mindset. Citigroup is forking over nearly $18 million in refunds and fines for taking money from customers accounts. Marketplace's Renita Jablonski has more.
Renita Jablonski: Say you overpaid on your Citigroup bill or got a refund for something you bought with your Citigroup card. In some cases, the company would take that positive balance without any notification.
California's Attorney General investigated the so-called "account sweeping program" for three years. AG Edmund Brown says the company stole from mostly poor people and the recently deceased.
Citigroup is now making refunds to 53,000 customers across the country. The company will also pay $3.5 million in damages and civil penalties to the state of California. Citigroup said in a statement it voluntarily stopped the computerized sweeping practice five years ago.
In Los Angeles, I'm Renita Jablonski for Marketplace.
Sweeping may be an industry practice. We unintentionally paid $4193 owed to Costco Amex, to Bank of America Amex. The Bank of America Amex account had been previously closed. Bank of America moved the money from closed account to closed account then removed the credit from their mailed postings to us. It took 4 months to get the money returned. All the while they claimed checks were "in the mail" none of which we received. Finally, only by intervention by a BoA supervisor was our money returned and then by wire. Our thoughts about Bank of America are anything but warm.
