Date Received: 2016-09-18
Issue: Advertising and marketing
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: In XXXX, 2016 I received an email from Citizens Bank, XXXX, CT instructing me to activate my credit card. I immediately called the bank and wrote them to complain about the email since I was not a customer of the bank. I spoke with XXXX XXXX XXXX at Citizens Bank, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX. I wrote her on XXXX XXXX asking who my socalled card was mailed to. I got no response to my letter. On XXXX XXXX, 2016 I received another email Instructing me to activate my credit card. I request that your agency investigate this bank to insure that this in not another scam similar to XXXX XXXX and to have this bank remove me from its marketing list. XXXX XXXX XXXX
Company Response:
State: AL
Zip: 36801
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2016-09-18
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: No
Date Received: 2016-09-17
Issue: Getting a loan
Subissue: Can't qualify for a loan
Consumer Complaint: Due to incorrect information provided by XXXX and statements being sent to an incorrect address this account was incorrectly defaulted. I continued to set up a payment arrangement with the citizens bank which is the owner of the loan, XX/XX/XXXX i sent in several payments and they were returned to me in the mail, I pursued to call citizens bank on XX/XX/XXXX to see why the payments were returned and was advised that the loan was with the " bankruptcy department '' i advised that I have never filed bankruptcy and immediately disputed this directly with citizens bank. on XX/XX/XXXX I contacted the credit bureaus and disputed the reporting to which citizens bank and XXXX confirmed that every thing was correct. i called back the company on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke to a representative XXXX, the rep advised that the account is still in bankruptcy. I advised that i need to have my account rectified as i am incurring several negative issues due to this. I asked the rep to have a letter sent to me confirming that the account has been removed. XXXX went on to advise me that she can not do this and all letters of such goes through the legal department and that takes XXXX months to complete. she went on to transfer me to the bankruptcy department that denied providing me any information on my account in regards to when the account was placed in bankruptcy or why it was placed there, although i was fully verified. i was then finally transferred to the legal department to a rep named XXXX. After a detailed explanation XXXX advised me that my account was incorrectly placed in bankruptcy on XX/XX/XXXX. I forwarded a letter on XX/XX/XXXX with tracking number XXXX detaling all my various disputes and inquiries that the company incorrectly provided information to the credit bureaus to and requested that as a result of several violation of the fair credit reporting act, this account be removed from all credit reporting. on XX/XX/XXXX I received a call from XXXX XXXX XXXX who had no information on the account and advised me that the company had never received a letter although the tracking showed it was received and signed for by their agent. she stayed several weeks reviewing this and on XX/XX/XXXX seven months after I initially disputed the incorrect reporting of my account as bankruptcy i was sent a letter stating that the account was placed incorrectly in in bankruptcy on XX/XX/XXXX and removed from bankruptcy on XX/XX/XXXX. during that time I have been denied a mortgage by XXXX XXXX, denied credit cards, and had credit cards approved with very high interest rates. I would like to have this account completely removed from my reporting due to violation of my rights on several accounts.
Company Response:
State: GA
Zip: 30093
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2016-09-17
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: Yes
Date Received: 2016-09-16
Issue: Problems caused by my funds being low
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: On XXXX/XXXX/16 my account with Citizens bank was overdrawn. I made XXXX deposits {$400.00} cash and a check deposit of {$340.00}. The {$400.00} cash was made at the bank 's ATM and was lost and then applied on XX/XX/XXXX with the original deposit date of XX/XX/XXXX. When I called the bank I was told that I had to go back to the bank for them to apply the credit. I then went back to the bank to address this issue. At that point, I requested that once my funds are applied to my account and my balance was XXXX, for them to close my account. To my dismay, this was not done. Today, Friday, XX/XX/XXXX, I reviewed my account and I noticed that I was assessed XXXX fees. XXXX for an overdraft and another XXXX for a sustained fee which I was told today was assessed since my account was overdrawn for more than 7 days. I never received any type of communication from the bank telling me that a fee was assessed. I think it is unfair to be assessed a fee when my account was 1 ) brought current, and 2 ) charged a fee for my account being overdrawn due to a fee that they assessed. Citizens bank is charging me a fee on a fee. This is ridiculous. I feel as though is deceptive to charge me an additional {$30.00} for my account being in the negative and their fee was what put my fee in the negative. I called in to resolve and the customer rep told me that she could only reverse XXXX fee in a 12 month period. This is totally unfair. My customer case number is XXXX. Again, no notification of the fee was received which put me at a disadvantage to address the issue. How can I close my account if they keep charging me fees that I know nothing about. Attached is a screenshot of my account. One last note, when I checked my account on the morning of XX/XX/XXXX was balance was {$0.00}. From the screenshot you can see how my account was at a {$0.00} balance until the fee was assessed. This fee did not show up on my account the morning of XX/XX/XXXX and no one can tell me the time when the fee was assessed. All that I know is that it was not there when I logged on to my account Monday morning ( XX/XX/XXXX ). Please look into this deceptive practice.
Company Response:
State: DE
Zip: 19977
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2016-09-16
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: No
Date Received: 2016-09-14
Issue: Problems caused by my funds being low
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: Excessive overdraft fees. I am only responsible for XXXX {$35.00} fees for purchase {$150.00} XXXX and atm withdrawl for {$43.00}. I was charged fees for XXXX other old purchases from XX/XX/XXXXXX/XX/XXXX The bank charge me overdraft after I overdrew paying XXXX and atm transactions on XX/XX/XXXX. Those XXXX XXXX, XXXX and XXXX were when my account was positive. When contacted I spoke with XXXX reps and a supervisor and none was able to resolve the issue and decided it was fair to charge XXXX for transactions that were not over my balance. XXXX input a {$35.00} rebate as a courtesy and her manager indicated I was responsible for all fees. When transfer to manager the manager disconnected call. When I call back the rep and supervisor could n't help me resolve and state I was ineligible for any rebates because I had one already. which was the XXXX XXXX input 10 minutes prior.
Company Response:
State: OH
Zip: 452XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2016-09-14
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: No
Date Received: 2016-09-14
Issue: Other transaction issues
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: I have XXXX accounts at Citizens Bank NA. I received my social security direct deposit and immediately transferred it into my joint checking account using my Citizens mobile app. After transferring, I returned to my accounts and noticed that nothing had transferred into my joint account. Instead, after some research, I discovered that it had been transferred into the overdraft protection associated with my joint account even though I have a XXXX balance owed. I called the bank and informed them of this irregularity. I called to their attention that on the mobile app I used that that there is no facility for transferring funds into ODP. He informed me that this was a service error and the funds would probably be restored to my joint checking account the following day once the system determined that I had a XXXX ODP balance. He claimed he could not restore the funds himself. My name is XXXX XXXX and I typically keep a total balance across all Citizen accounts of {$100000.00} or more. I assume that Citizens has written an algorithm to unilaterally sweep transfers into its ODP and may or may not inform its customers of that.
Company Response:
State: MA
Zip: 02478
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2016-09-19
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: No
Date Received: 2016-09-14
Issue: Problems caused by my funds being low
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: Citizens Bank charged me an overdraft fee of {$35.00} even though I never overdrew my account. First the supervisor said a cash deposit I made was a check. Then she looked further and realized it was cash. Then she said I would have overdrawn my account if I had not made the deposit and therefore I was charged an over draft fee. I did n't overdraw my account and should not be charged an overdraft fee.
Company Response:
State: RI
Zip: 029XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2016-09-14
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: No
Date Received: 2016-09-13
Issue: Account opening, closing, or management
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: Citizens Bank is overcharging its customer with overdrafts fees. Every time you transfer funds from your overdraft line of credit to your checking account to cover a draft, you must pay {$12.00} per transfer per occurrence, 18 % annual interest rate on outstanding balances and {$30.00} annual fee.
Company Response:
State: MA
Zip: 02136
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2016-09-19
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: No
Date Received: 2016-09-13
Issue: Making/receiving payments, sending money
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: The purpose of this correspondence is to lodge a formal complaint against Citizens Bank, N.A. I believe Citizens is condoning fraud and has refused to assist me in the return of funds deposited into an unknown account resulting from a XXXX XXXX transaction. XXXX is a service provided by Citizens that allows for the transfer of funds from XXXX bank account to another by using an email address, mobile, or bank account number. On XXXX XXXX, I used this service to transfer funds to a friend using her mobile number. Surprisingly, the funds were never deposited into her account. Upon further investigation, we XXXX learned from XXXX XXXX that the funds were deposited into a XXXX XXXX account. I believe the error occurred because, according to XXXX XXXX, phone numbers are verified every two years. My friend has had her current mobile number for 1.5 years. We think the funds may have been deposited into the account of the person who previously had her mobile number which had a routing number associated with XXXX XXXX. Whatever happened, I do n't know but I 'm out {$200.00}. Further, it should not be left up to me alone to figure out. XXXX would think my bank would investigate and assist me in sorting the matter - NOT!! XXXX XXXX suggested that I file a claim with Citizens Bank to have to the money returned to my account. I also spoke with customer service at XXXX XXXX who also suggested the same. Upon contacting Citizens and speaking to numerous customer service representatives via telephone, I was told by Citizens that I had to work directly with XXXX XXXX to resolve this matter and Citizens gave me the XXXX number for customer service. I found this counsel beyond insane as I have no authority to ask XXXX XXXX to do anything on my behalf ( especially since I am not a customer of XXXX XXXX ) nor do I have any understanding of the inner-workings of the banking industry to understand how to resolve this matter. When I contacted XXXX XXXX again, even they though it totally absurd and unprofessional that Citizens would have me call their bank for assistance! My friend also went to a XXXX XXXX branch and spoke to a customer service representative. Again, the advice was to have Citizens Bank file a claim. After speaking to numerous customer services representatives via telephone at Citizens to no avail, I went to my local branch on XXXX XXXX in XXXX seeking resolution. At the branch location, I spoke with XXXX XXXX, Assistant Vice President and Branch Manager. XXXX XXXX told me she would look into the matter and follow-up. About one week later, XXXX XXXX called me and explained that I needed to call XXXX XXXX to resolve the issue. Again, I explained to XXXX XXXX that XXXX XXXX made it very clear that they would not address the matter until XXXX Bank filed a claim. Since that conversation, I 've left several messages for XXXX XXXX as well as followed-up with an email. To date, I 've not been given the courtesy of a return phone call nor any follow-up correspondence. It is apparent that XXXX refuses to assist me in resolving this matter and seems not to have a basic protocol in place to deal with this type of issue. Basically, it 's been swept under a rug! XXXX is condoning fraud, their indifference is offensive, {$200.00} of my money was deposited into an authorized account, and all of this is unacceptable! I am hoping CFPB can assist in resolving this matter before I explore my legal options.
Company Response:
State: RI
Zip: 02906
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2016-09-19
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: No
Date Received: 2016-09-09
Issue: Getting a loan
Subissue: Qualify for a better loan than offered
Consumer Complaint: I was recently contacted by CitizensOne Student Loans, which is a division of Citizens Bank about refinancing my student loans. I was approved for the refinancing but the interest rate that I was given is rather high, and is higher than what I 'm currently paying PLUS my XXXX score is higher. I called to speak with someone so that I could be explained why I was offered such a high rate. The customer service rep could not explain it, said that its just computer generated, and the underwriting team does not talk to customers. I asked if I could be provided an explanation in writing, or even what credit score was used to offer the rate and he would not tell me. This seems quite unfair and now I have a hit on my credit, and I feel as though I have been subject to a bait and switch.
Company Response:
State: GA
Zip: 30345
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2016-09-14
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: No
Date Received: 2016-09-09
Issue: Application, originator, mortgage broker
Subissue:
Consumer Complaint: I submitted a mortgage application to the XXXX XXXX branch of Citizens Bank located in XXXX, NY in XX/XX/XXXX. The mortgage broker for Citizens sent me a closing cost estimate and embedded into the estimate a full point without disclosing to me he was doing that. It was clear he did so in order to lower the rate and become more competitive with other lending institutions I was talking to. It turned out that the cost of the discount point was more that the interest I would have saved if I had taken his rate. When I complained to the branch what he had done the branch negated his action as unimportant.
Company Response:
State: NY
Zip: 14534
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2016-09-09
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: No