Consumer complaint received 2017-07-16
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
State: MA
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Private student loan
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Need information about your loan balance or loan terms

Complaint:
In  XX/XX/XXXX , my daughter,   XXXX   XXXX  , applied for and received   XXXX    student loans from Citizens Bank in Rhode Island, having been encouraged to do so by her college,   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX  . I cosigned those loans. Citizens Bank had the loans serviced by  XXXX .   XX/XX/XXXX , C itizens Bank stripped my accounts ( about {$24000.00} ) without contacting me in any way prior to doing so. I believe that this occurred due to an error on the part of the bank, but the bank will not discuss this with me nor send me any statements of the loan accou nt.  XX/XX/XXXX   to   XXXX    XXXX  graduated, but was unable to find work in her field, and although she was working, was not able to meet the demands of her student loans including the loans with Citizens. She had no difficulty working with the other loan originators, only  XXXX  and Citizens.
She communicated with  XXXX  regularly but subsequently we renegotiated the loans with the Access Center at Citizens Bank. That arrangement was $  XXXX /month for each loan totaling {$50.00} monthly without interest. We could not receive written documentation of this.
  XXXX   Citizens refused to send statements or give me access to the account because I was not the primary borrower, but I was assured that Citizens would be servicing the loan going forward. I wrote to the President of Citizens bank informing him that the service   XXXX   provided was less than stellar since I had not received telephone calls that the loan was behind or in default and I would have made payments for my daughter ; and that I was concerned that I would have no access to the account information going forward. I did not receive a reply ; thus, I relied on my daughter to notify me if she was having difficulty, but expected Citizens to notify me of any issues as they had stated during our conversation.
I subsequently learned that  XXXX  also had no access to statements or on-line activity and could only make payments by telephone or check. She chose to make monthly payments initially by check but primarily by telephone, but the process was tedious. It generally took her hour each time to provide all the required information for the loan and make her payment from her   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   account since they did not keep her information from payment to payment.
 XXXX  to  XXXX  She made all her payments in full and in a timely fashion. She did this until they offered her an opportunity for automatic deductions from her account duri ng the Fall   of  XXXX . At that time, she filled in the appropriate paperwork and was happy t o be able to do so. The payments were to begin on  XX/XX/XXXX . At   the end of that month, o n  XX/XX/XXXX  Citizens   called her as they  had not received a payment and told her that sometimes it takes a while to go through. She therefore paid for  XXXX  and  XXXX  as per her usual routine ( she was a month ahead in payments ). At that time her balance on one loan was approximately {$7000.00} and the other was {$9000.00}, at least, per what she was told over the phone from the representative. Remember we had no access to see any accountings or statements. On   XX/XX/XXXX ,   XXXX  deductions were made from her   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   account, each in the amount of   XXXX   to Citizens Bank.   XXXX    noted that the automatic payments were now in effect and was happy.
  XX/XX/XXXX On XX/XX/XXXX , I began my usual routine of paying my bills, when I noticed that my  checking account was short approximately {$3000.00}. I queried Citizens bank and learned that a deduction had been made for {$3000.00} from the bank itself! I couldnt imagine how this could happen and was incensed that the bank would take   XXXX     XXXX   dollars without speaking with me. I was livid and proceeded to the bank to investigate the situation. I learned that not only had they taken   XXXX   XXXX   from my checking account, but ~ {$20000.00} from my savings. They had stripped my accounts to  XXXX ! The   XXXX    and money that I had in checking was from my paycheck deposit the prior day. This means that they took the following : Checking : {$2900.00} Savings : {$20000.00} Subsequently, on the same day, we received certified letters. One letter noted that {$2900.00} had been deducted from my checking accou nt on  XX/XX/XXXX . T he second letter noted that {$10000.00} had been deducted from my savings account on the same day, and the third letter was to my daughter  XXXX , stating that it had set off a loan #  XXXX  which satisfied all or part of the outstanding debt in the amount of {$10000.00}. Since this was Saturday we could not pursue it further. I was unable to pay my bills.   XX/XX/XXXX    XXXX  and I went to the Access Center in  XXXX , RI to discuss this with them. Although we could reach   XXXX   on the telephone who was in the building we were not able to see him in person, nor were we able to see a statement of the account. He directed us to another telephone number. That person directed us to send a letter, but could not tell us where to send it. All telephone numbers given to us ( there were many ) led to no information.
We went to a branch of Citizens and spoke with the Branch Manager,   XXXX   XXXX  .  XXXX  tried to be helpful, but after many telephone calls, and two pages of notes, she was unable to tell us if the loan is now satisfied, nor provide us with a statement of activity on the loans. She opened case #  XXXX , and told us the only thing we could do to see the loan was go to   XXXX   XXXX  . Again, I was enraged to learn that   XXXX    had been servicing this loan for the second time and inappropriately managed the situation. We tried to access the loan at   XXXX   but we were unable to do so, although after arguing with them, several days later we could access through a secured site, but were only able to see the activity between   XXXX   and  XXXX  when the loan was returned to Citizens Access Center. That information, by the way is inaccurate according to our accountings.
 XXXX  also told us that we should send a letter to get a statement, but did not know who to send the letter to.
On the same day, my brother wrote a letter on my behalf to   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX  , CEO of Citizens bank, stating the situation and requesting an explanation of the actions and contact within 48 hours. I received a call from   XXXX   XXXX   from the Office of the  XXXX  stating that this was being investigated. I requested a rendering of the account from  XXXX  to present.
  XX/XX/XXXX I c alled   XXXX   and left a message requesting an updat e.  XX/XX/XXXX  I cal led  XXXX  and left a message requesting an update. Later that afternoon  XXXX  called me and stated that the bank would not return the money. She would not state that they had even explored the problem, but just that the head of the Debit Management Department had said no. I inquired as to what my next step could be with the bank, and she told me to write a letter ; however, she was unwilling to give me the name of the head of the Debit Management Department who had just said no, nor any other head of department. She could not provide a statement of the loan accounts. I have written a letter to Citizens Band, but Im highly doubtful that I will receive a response.
To date I have not received a rendering of the loan, documentation of its discharge, nor any documentation of the remaining {$9900.00} that has been evacuated from my account or the approximately {$3000.00} unexplained disappearance. I also am named on my fathers accounts and fear that they will attach his money. He is  XXXX  years old. Together, we have been customers in very good standing of Citizens Bank since  XXXX .
This whole situation is reprehensible! Also, I am sure I am not the only one that this has happened to if one can infer from the comments that have been made during telephone calls. I wish that this matter be resolved in an efficient and satisfactory manner. I have been a customer of Citizens Bank since  XXXX , having had mortgages, equity loans, car loans and the like and have never been late with any payment. They never contacted me by any means. I truly do not understand this. Please help me to discover specifically what has happened and recover my money.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation