Date Received: 2018-04-18
Issue: Fraud or scam
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: Citizensbank has charged me {$490.00} in overdraft fees, by minipulating my account, double charges, and holding checks and deposites. I have opted out of " overdraft protection '', and take frequent screen shots of my account to document their illegal practices./
Company Response:
State: NY
Zip: 145XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2018-04-20
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2018-04-14
Issue: Opening an account
Subissue: Didn't receive terms that were advertised
Consumer Complaint: Opened account with Citizens Bank on XX/XX/2017. The offer I responded to stated that if I had a direct deposit of {$500.00} to the account within 60 days Id receive a {$200.00} bonus. I have contacted the bank and have not received this bonus yet.
Company Response:
State: CT
Zip: 064XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2018-04-14
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2018-04-12
Issue: Managing an account
Subissue: Funds not handled or disbursed as instructed
Consumer Complaint: On XX/XX/XXXX Citizens Bank credited {$1500.00} to my checking account from my XXXX XXXX credit account. I did not authorize this credit and had not filed a complaint with Citizens Bank which would have triggered this type of transaction. I called XXXX XXXX to see why this had happened, they told me that the transaction was initiated by Citizens Banks, so I called Citizens Bank where I was told that I had initiated the complaint which triggered the credit at a local branch in XXXX, VT. I went to the local branch the next Monday to confirm that the complaint had been made from them, since I did not remember making this complaint. The bank tellers at this location let me know that they did not file a complaint on behalf of my account and they could not have done so with out my permission. I called Citizens Bank customer service again where I complained about a transaction being made to my account without my authorizations. I received a call from someone named XXXX from the the office of the chairman, XXXX, he told me that he would look into this, but told me that the complaint that I had submitted was actually done by telephone and not through the branch. I asked him to locate the call and to see if I had in fact made a complaint. XXXX told me he would get back to me by XX/XX/XXXX. XX/XX/XXXX I emailed him to ask why he hadn't followed up. He still did not call me back. On XX/XX/XXXX I received a document from Citizens Bank in the mail with the title " Written Authorization of Unauthorized Debit. '' The intent of the letter which, I have attached, was actually to get me to sign a document saying that I had filed a complaint which triggered Citizens Bank to credit my account {$1500.00} on XX/XX/XXXX. I emailed XXXX immediately to ask what this was about. XXXX called me back to let me know that the case had been closed and that it was determined I had filed a complaint. I asked if he found the phone conversation where I did make the complaint. He informed me that he didn't and that there was no record of my call. I asked him to go and find the call and find evidence that I had in fact made a complaint. He told me he would get back to me on Friday XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX still has yet to get back to me despite multiple efforts on my part to get in touch with him I am complaining because Citizens Bank filed a complaint on my behalf, authorized the credit of {$1500.00} into my account which caused late fee and interest fees from XXXX XXXX, all of this without my permission. They later tried to get me to retroactively sign a complaint form to cover for their own mistake, and now are not communicating with me at all to fix the issue.
Company Response:
State: VT
Zip: XXXXX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2018-04-12
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2018-04-12
Issue: Managing an account
Subissue: Deposits and withdrawals
Consumer Complaint: OnXX/XX/XXXX, I opened a Money Market Checking Account with Citizens Bank ( Citizens Bank is a brand name of XXXX XXXX XXXX ( NMLS ID # XXXX ) and XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( NMLS ID # XXXX ). Citizens Bank corporate headquarters : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX RI XXXX ) The account was opened over the phone by a rep who sold me the account while assisting me with online access to another regular checking account. I gave my routing number and account number for a savings account with XXXX XXXX to transfer {$25000.00} to this new money market account. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received a letter from Citizens saying that they had placed a hold on the funds for 90 business days because of some information on the check not matching. I never wrote a check! The check was generated by Citizens system and the money was withdrawn from my XXXX XXXX account. I have attached a copy of the check that was posted to my XXXX XXXX account. This is as good as robbery because they won't let me close the account or release the funds for 90 days! And the money has already been released from my XXXX XXXX account. I have called, visited their branch and have received no information on why the hold was placed and what can be done to remove it. They asked me to give the information for someone from XXXX and I gave that to them, but still no response. This is a bank that can not seem manage a simple electronic transfer in this day and age and on top of that has terrible customer service experience in not being able to share any details on why a hold has been placed on funds ; not to mention the legality of placing a hold on the funds for 90 days!!
Company Response:
State: MA
Zip: 02184
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2018-04-12
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2018-04-11
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: To whom it may concern, I would like to report a concerning event involving XXXX XXXX at Citizens Bank. I am a XXXX finishing XXXX this year and we inquired about a physicians loan. We were given a pre-approval letter for that loan, and with that information made an offer on a home after an extensive home search. I even called XXXX XXXX the day before to confirm the loan details. After making the offer and putting down {$10000.00} in earnest money, we were informed by XXXX XXXX that I was not eligible for a physicians loan because I did not have 3 lines of credit, only one which we should have known upfront. We were then told we could still get a loan but with PMI for the amount of the house with a 4.5 % interest rate and 5 % down-payment. I even spoke with him personally again as did my father who is an attorney and does home contracts. Once he actually applied for the loan we were told we could only have a loan for XXXX. What followed was a dispute where the realtors offered us several horrible loan options and now we are getting our earnest money back. I would not like my name to be included if he finds out a complaint was made. We wasted countless hours searching for a home, damaged our credit score which was really challenging for me while working in the hospital caring for patients which resulted in serious damages to our time and well being. I have documentation of the emails and pre approval letters.I can forward the original emails if needed. Evidence is below : 1. Original physicians loan : " Here is your pre approval letter attached. Credit score is great!! The rate as of today is 4.375 % on a 30 yr fixed. This rate could go up or down until it is locked. We do have any option to lock in the rate without a property. Once you start actively looking we can go over this or whenever you have time. I'm here with questions or concerns. Have a great weekend!! XXXX XXXX '' 2. Not eligible for physicians loan after offer, but gives other options " 30 yr fixed Fannie Mae Jumbo NO MI Rate 5.25 % Loan amount XXXX Principal and interest payment {$3400.00} 30 yr fixed XXXX XXXX Jumbo** 4.625 % ( .125 ) {$780.00} towards your cost Loan amount {$630000.00} XXXX principal and interest payment with MI {$190.00} will fall off the payment once you get to under 80 % LTV **XXXX loan will not be allowed because XXXX does not have enough active tradelines. He has 3 but only one is active. Please give me a call when you can. '' XXXX XXXX 3. Promises 4.5 % lock rate " Sure, you can lock it ... I can't reach XXXX ... I will discuss it once he gets home this evening ... So which one are we locking for 4.5 %? 30 yr fixed Fannie Mae Jumbo NO MI Or 30 yr fixed Fannie Mae Jumbo* XXXX XXXX 4. Not eligible for anything close to what was offered. " Good morning, We are having issues with the loan, tradelines, gift, reserves and loan amount. At his time with those issues we will not allow the 5 %, 10 % or even 20 % down. Our only option is a loan amount of {$450000.00}. Once we get to that loan amount we overcome the tradelines, liquid reserve issue and loan amount. If somehow we can get to that loan amount I can switch the program to a straight conventional loan amount. Im sorry for the bad news. Please give me a call with questions, XXXX XXXX
Company Response:
State: NH
Zip: 037XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2018-04-11
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2018-04-11
Issue: Managing an account
Subissue: Deposits and withdrawals
Consumer Complaint: New complaint same issue. 2nd time Citizen 's bank did this to us! Ridiculous. XX/XX/18 I noticed my Mom 's acct was left with XXXX dollar after having XXXX dollars in it from her combined pension and social security. My mom is totally XXXX and I am her guardian to which I provided paperwork on file when we opened our bank accts. for me being her joint owner to this acct. When opening my friend 's acct XXXX XXXX the bank associated assigned our joint acct to my mom 's acct. I did not correct it when I had found out, but XXXX 's direct deposit was set up going into moms ' acct. While moms Pension that say ANNUITANT COMM OF PA and I do not think the bank explored this that this is showing her pension being deposited since opening the acct. Well, as fate would have it without warning, the bank takes my MOM 's money leaving her with XXXX dollar in the acct. She only gets her pension and social security once a month to spread across medical bills, mortgage, bills, food, utilities, life insurance, and living expenses with dad. What I do not understand is, if they saw that XXXX and My mom only have 1 acct. this joint acct. and XXXX has his sole acct. how do you wipe out an acct between two accts that shows he only has {$490.00} ( out of {$500.00} in Mom 's acct ) left in the bank in total? NO consideration to their living expenses or bills or anything! That in an of itself is incomprehensible. And for this bank to boast and pride itself on being friendly and family oriented is a straight flat out lie. So to this end, they took my moms ' money by which the response to my complaint may be ( like my other compliant ) that XXXX and Me are the ones considered as sole owners to this acct with no trace of my mom being on the acct. And that they still have the right to take money no matter whose it is. And it will be so convenient that they will not have any paperwork that applies to me being moms XXXX and me opening up her acct. and us being joint on it like they just said in my last compliant when taking the XXXX 's entire paycheck out to cover my negative balances. There are no breaks for hard times for the customers who may be struggling, by a bank who is by no means hurting or struggling. There are reasons people are not covering their negative balances as quick as the bank would like, and to not explore those reasons or to see how to assist whether offering resources or options, is crazy. Our loyalty to this bank means nothing. And I am floored that they have taken a XXXX woman 's last {$490.00} dollars leaving her with XXXX dollar bill and not practicing or maybe not subscribing to the Lending Code. Totally unfair.
Company Response:
State: PA
Zip: XXXXX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2018-04-11
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2018-04-10
Issue: Problem caused by your funds being low
Subissue: Non-sufficient funds and associated fees
Consumer Complaint: I opened an account with Ctiizens Bank with a promotion that promised to post a {$200.00} bonus credit to account within 90 days of an eligible direct deposit that posts to the account. Such an eligible transaction occurred on XX/XX/XXXX. However, the promotional bonus was not posted within 90 days, and instead was posted on XX/XX/XXXX. I was charged " overdraft '' fees three separate times on XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX. I never signed up for overdraft protection with this bank, and my account balance would not have gone below {$0.00} had the bank posted the promotional bonus as per the terms of the promotion.
Company Response:
State: NV
Zip: XXXXX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2018-04-10
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2018-04-09
Issue: Trouble during payment process
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: On XX/XX/XXXX I filed for removal of my PMI because I have met all terms required ( no missed payments, reached 80 % of my LTV, value of house did not decrease ). I was turned down because they said the value of the house decreased according to the AVM. However, it did not decrease : - Sale Value : $ XXXX - Original Appraisal at time of Sale : $ XXXX - Current Appraisal Value : $ XXXX They stated that the value decreased from the original value because the appraisal value went from $ XXXX to $ XXXX. However, the original value is defined as 'the lesser of the sales price of the secured property, as reflected in the purchase contract, or the appraised value at the time of loan consummation '. So the value actually increased from $ XXXX to $ XXXX. This definition is very clearly defined in the Homeowner 's Protection Act and by Citizens Bank. I sent 2 letters and called numerous times with no response to my messages. I finally got through to a manager who said they would look into it but that 'their investors define the original value differently '.
Company Response:
State: PA
Zip: 19154
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2018-04-09
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2018-04-06
Issue: Trouble during payment process
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: I was working with a loan officer starting around the summer of XXXX. My earliest emails I still have a record of are from XX/XX/XXXX. Throughout the process of securing the loan with that loan officer, I was promised many things that turned out not to be true or that were not honored by Citizens Bank, aka CitizensOne.Among these are : 1. Additional funds required to close for owner purchased items - at the last minute, I was forced to add extra money to an escrow account to pay for things that I was going to have to purchase as part of my home remodel. This extra burden mean that I had to supply funds to the bank that were going to come out of my pocket, anyway. I was told that I would be immediately reimbursed for those items once I purchased them. However, once we executed the loan, and I purchased the items, I was not provided those funds back. I was then told that they had to be completely installed and inspected before I received my funds back. This policy, not communicated from the outset, cost me over ten thousand dollars in additional debt until those items were completed. As it turns out, the bank then used those funds to pay the contractor for other work, and I never saw those dollars returned to me at all. 2. There were issues throughout the construction process with the bank not releasing funds to our contractor as originally promised. The incremental burdens of proof of work and timeliness of releasing deposits for materials purchased which were bank policies unique to CitizensOne were extraordinary and unlike anything our contractor in business in our area for decades had ever seen. These issues forced me to talk on additional debt to pay some of these deposits so materials could be ordered. 3. The biggest issue is the agreement I had with my mortgage broker that I would not be forced to escrow for taxes and insurance. The additional burden is significant in that the timing of payments of my taxes, in particular, enable me to use my work bonus checks to cover them. We can not afford to pay throughout the year via additional monthly payments. This requirement was a show stopper, and I would not have continued with the loan had I not been told I would get the escrow waiver. During the closing process, my mortgage broker was either fired or quit. He claims that he could not live anymore with the decisions that the bank was making, and he moved on to other opportunities. In addition, his processor was fired within a few months because of the problems she was causing. I had numerous errors in documents. I had to resubmit the same documents multiple times, and there was horrible communication about what was needed and when it was needed by. At some point, the manager of my previously fired mortgage broker tried to step in but constantly claims he's doing me a favor and isn't responsible for anything my previous broker ( XXXX XXXX ) had communicated to me. In addition, I was told that I had to sign all of these truckloads of documents in order to move the loan forward which was already 6 months behind in closing versus what was originally committed. Throughout the construction phase, I inquired about getting the escrow requirement waived. I was told that it could only be done when the construction loan converted to the 30 year fixed. I was told I could write a letter and request that waiver at that time, but that they would start the process even before that. I am now being told that if I don't have written proof from the broker that quit that I was told I could waive the escrow that they can only do say if I pay them an exorbitant fee of thousands of dollars. Clearly, they have the ability to waive the escrow requirement but would rather extract more money from me in order to do so. This type of behavior is predatory and is more about extracting additional fees than it is about making it easier for me to service my debt and keep my head above water. The original loan closed on XX/XX/XXXX. It converted over on XX/XX/XXXX. I have numerous communications between individuals with the bank passing the buck or saying " no '', but very little that protects me as a consumer. I appreciate any help CFPB can provide that helps keep large banks from taking advantage of average consumers like myself with large, legal documents that require lawyer to interpret. Thank you.
Company Response:
State: IL
Zip: 60035
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2018-04-06
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2018-04-05
Issue: Problem caused by your funds being low
Subissue: Overdrafts and overdraft fees
Consumer Complaint: I am XXXX and I didnt have a negative on my account yesterday? I deposited my sons social security check last night and wake up today to 2 over draft fees? I called the bank and they said they couldnt reverse them and once my check cleared it would bring it to a positive, so basically theyre taking the check and I stay broke?! Its not like this happens on a weekly basis and the online app reflects otherwise, my account was ok yesterday and today is not?
Company Response:
State: RI
Zip: 02895
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2018-04-05
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A