A review of the company’s practices by Schneiderman’s office showed that customers were overcharged fees during periods when their accounts were frozen.
Advertisement
Citigroup Inc. will offer additional reimbursements totaling about $4.5 million to some customers who were overcharged fees on their investment accounts, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Wednesday. Sometimes the fees were paid back if customers asked for rebates, but other times they were not, either because customers did not ask or because Citi did not know or how to deal with such rebates, the AG said.
Customers carrying TRAK accounts are entitled to pay a fee for advisory services that ranges between 1% to 1.5%. Including figures announced in October, Global Markets is now reimbursing more than $20 million in overcharged fees plus interest to more than 46,000 customers.
“My office will work with any financial institution that identifies and wants to correct an error that harmed its customers”.
The $4.5 million in refunds will go compensate clients who were charged management fees for periods when their investment accounts were inactive. CGMI and Schneiderman staffers are continuing to scrutinize the Citigroup unit’s records. The investigation, which began in 2012, previously identified 31,000 customers who were eligible to receive a combined $16 million in principal and interest.
“In this case, Citi’s cooperation with our investigation will result in $20.5 million being refunded to tens of thousands of Citi customers in New York and elsewhere”, Schneiderman said.
The investigation into CGMI is being led by Katherine Milgram, Deputy Chief of the Investor Protection Bureau as well as Assistant Attorney General Dhawal Sharma.
Advertisement
Schultz is slated to return to court next month.
