“In recent days, the Comites of Santo Domingo and the Encal-Cisal patronage reported a serious inefficiency: hundreds of Italian pensioners living in the Dominican Republic did not receive, as usual, the crediting of their pensions to their bank accounts. On the contrary, they found themselves with the amount intended for the pension transferred to the Western Union network, where they were forced to withdraw it in person,” said Hon. Christian Di Sanzo, Congressman elected in the North and Central America apportionment.
“Upon receiving the reports, I immediately took action by contacting the INPS Directorate responsible for foreign pensions. The Institute promptly launched an investigation to clarify the situation. The anomaly, which was resolved within 48 hours, was due to a misinterpretation by Citibank–the institution contracted by INPS for international payments–of the new guidelines on Dominican IBANs. Mistakenly believing that credits could no longer be made to local accounts, Citibank diverted payments to the Western Union network,” Di Sanzo explained.
This unexpected change caused considerable inconvenience, especially among pensioners in frail health, who were forced to physically go to the counters to withdraw their pensions. Many, unaware of the change, were left without their usual credit.
“I urged INPS to promptly inform local patronages, which alerted pensioners to the possibility of collecting their July pension at Western Union counters by July 15. After that deadline, the uncollected amount will be merged with the August installment, which will be duly credited to the current accounts,” the Honorable pointed out.
At the moment, there are still several dozen pensioners who have not collected the July monthly payment.
“It is essential to spread the news to avoid further inconvenience. This episode, although quickly resolved, confirms the need to carefully monitor the service. Citibank has already highlighted critical issues in the past, and vigilance is needed to ensure that similar inconveniences are not repeated,” Di Sanzo concluded.
“Retirees can always contact me by email: I guarantee maximum availability and attention to every report.”
