Consumer complaint received 2023-02-23
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
State: NY
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Fee problem

Complaint:
XXXX complaint previously submitted - issues with Citizens bank were not resolved completely, they issued several credits but continue charging customers monthly, didn't fix their programming bugs and preventing a customer from transferring money to another bank. Calling them about their issues wasn't helpful unfortunately, moreover they refused to issue credits for the month of XXXX. 

Here 's some details about what happened : I called Citizens bank about the fees this bank shouldn't be charging several times after they acquired XXXX free checking accounts since XX/XX/XXXX - first they tried charging monthly fees illegally, then came up with a statement delivery fees. It's illegal to charge customers such fees first of all because it's a responsibility of the bank to provide account statements to customers, but moreover because they have bugs in their online app, and they were notified about that over the phone as well. Please take appropriate action. Thanks in advance. A representative credited the fee for the statements retroactively but they continue to charge their fees even though they were notified about their bugs in their online banking, a representative also asked for an email address, insisting on a paperless option, although I've told her that it would be better if they fix their online banking bugs first. Until they will - paper statements delivery is their only option to do things right for their clients. 

XXXX XXXX XXXX have responded to the previous complaint and also credited several fees for statement delivery, but it's not solving the situation going forward as they continue to charge me. I had a completely free account with XXXX so I expected the terms to be at least matched to wht I had, and I emailed XXXX XXXX XXXX about that. He recommended signing up for a paperless option and I responded that technology is good when it works, which is not the case with Citizens bank unfortunately, so since the only option which works at Citizens bank at this point is the old fashioned statement delivery via regular mail and until they fix all the bugs online they may not charge anyone for statement delivery by mail. 

I as well received a flyer advertising their Citizens Quest account and even though I was already ready to transfer all my money to another bank and once that's completed to close the account with Citizens, I've emailed XXXX XXXX about that as well, as I never agreed to pay almost XXXX USD and then additional XXXX USD monthly for something which is actually a responsibility of the bank - they assigned some account terms upon the acquisition of the accounts from other banks, with the terms unacceptable for the customers. XXXX XXXX never responded to the last email though. 

They acquire accounts from other banks like XXXX and Investors bank and then just change the terms without customers approval, like for example start charging you a XXXX USD statement delivery fees monthly, which is actually a banks responsibility to mail statements to their customers. Their online banking isn't working, has lots of bugs, so basically old fashioned statement becomes the only way which works so far at this bank. None of the other banks actually charge you any fee for statement delivery. 

Telling them about the bugs in their app or web is useless as they didn't fix nothing even a year later after you called them multiple times. 

We tried troubleshooting their online banking on the phone with several reps and they only got surprised that it wasn't working. Finally I was able to enroll after finishing a conversation with Citizens myself by choosing a phone call instead of a text message for the code, as text message is still not working for some reason. 
Nevertheless even after enrollment I only discovered more programming bugs- one of their bugs is with the funds transfers ( which is one of the most important ones for me at that point, as I got tired from this kind of service and wanted already to just move my money to another bank ). 

Additional errors- when you click on their links for certain Terms it was showing error message instead of the terms. Some checkboxes were not checkable or even clickable, but I'm assuming they have a long list of errors. It's unbelievable that with all these errors they are even trying to charge people for something. 

If you had a completely free account with your old bank, Citizens bank wouldn't care to even match the terms, not to mention of thinking to offer you some better terms - no wonder nobody wants to open accounts with them and they buy accounts from other banks. So they hit your account with a XXXX USD just because someone at Citizens bank decides so apparently, even if you'd never agree to such terms. If you call them their reps try to make you feel as if they did you a favor if they will be processing a credit for this fee. 

Also they sent a flyer advertising a 25 % interest rate booster for some new type of account Citizens Quest Checking ( where you can avoid a monthly fee if you maintain a balance of XXXX USD ) but if you call the phone number on the flyer they tell you it expired, although there's no expiration date on the flyer listed, so apparently that is false information as well as false advertising practice. 

I already found another bank and decided to transfer my money to the new bank before another monthly charge and statement delivery charge hits the account, but Citizens bank gave several errors preventing the transaction. 

This is completely unacceptable- they hold my money and in the meantime just take it away in the form of various charges which I never agreed to begin with. Please take appropriate action. 

Another awkward thing happened when I called Citizens bank on XX/XX/XXXX and used the automated telephone system to check my account information - the system already subtracted XXXX USD for statement delivery with a future date - XX/XX/XXXX. 

I decided to double check transaction history and used an appropriate prompt with the phone automated system- it literally did list a debit in the amount of XXXX USD with a future date, XX/XX/XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. 

Well, this is unacceptable and wrong- if you're trying to transfer your money to another bank and once the transfer goes through to close the account with Citizens bank prior to XX/XX/XXXX, this could put any customer in a position where the amount is XXXX USD less than the balance that is expected to be on the account on XX/XX/XXXX. 

The last representative I've spoken to, XXXX ( pronounced as XXXX XXXX on the phone on XX/XX/XXXX refused to connect the call to a Supervisor and issue credits and hanged up. Prior representative, XXXX, connected a call to some supervisor by name XXXX but apparently there was some problem with XXXX 's telephone as all she was saying was really mumbled and apparently and also her accent was making it impossible to understand what was she saying. 

Please take appropriate action and have this Citizens bank credit all their customers all the charges they illegally charged as this is almost same as stealing money from customer.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation