Consumer complaint received 2019-01-15
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
State: PA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Funds not handled or disbursed as instructed

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, {$2100.00} was withdrawn from my Citizen 's Bank account by someone else. I am a former refugee from that does not speak fluent English, so I got help from a service coordinator at a refugee services organization to deal with this issue. My service coordinator helped me call my bank, the FBI, and the Federal Trade Commission on XX/XX/XXXX. We filed an official FTC report on XX/XX/XXXX. We also contacted one of the credit bureaus, at the advice of the FBI and FTC, and set up a fraud alert through XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, we went to the local police station to file a report, but they would not take my statement, saying they didn't have enough people that day to do it. On XX/XX/XXXX, I opened a new bank account with Citizen 's so that I could have my direct deposit transferred and access my money ; all of my direct deposit money in my old account had been withdrawn. 

As of XX/XX/XXXX, Citizen 's had refunded several purchases and overdraft fees that were caused by the other person accessing my bank account, but they still had not refunded the {$2100.00} that had been withdrawn. I received my new debit card on XX/XX/XXXX, but I never received a new PIN. By XX/XX/XXXX, I still had not received a new PIN, so my service coordinator helped me call Citizen 's to ask about the claim for the {$2100.00} and the PIN number. Over the phone, they told us there was no claim for my account and that we needed to go to a branch office to sort out this issue. I did receive my new PIN and was able to set up my direct deposit in my new account. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, my service coordinator and I went to the local Citizen 's bank branch to find out about the claim issue. We discovered that someone else with my same name and almost same birthdate ( common in my community ) had requested an address change for his account, but they linked it to mine. That is why I had not received the PIN number. He is also the one that accessed my account. When I insisted to the bank staff that I had not changed my address and have lived in the same apartment since I came to the country, they at first denied that that was true. My service coordinator, who had picked me up at the airport upon my arrival to the US,  confirmed that it was true. He also explained that several people in my community have the same name and similar birthdates, estimating at least 4 or 5. She found 16 other accounts with my same name. 

Finally one of the staff helped to sign an affidavit stating that I did not change my address and that this withdrawal was the bank 's fault for not checking the identity properly, and she reopened the claim. When she printed the form out, it still had the other person 's address on it, so we corrected that as well. 

I received a form to sign on XX/XX/XXXX to say that my statement about what happened is true. I signed it, copied it, and gave it back to the bank. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I received my refund for the {$2100.00}, but then two days later, they took the money back out of my account and claimed that they used video footage to determine it was me that withdrew the money. On XX/XX/XXXX, I requested to see this video footage. They said it would take a few weeks to obtain and they would get back to me when they had it. 

I never heard from them, and in XX/XX/XXXX, I went back to a refugee services organization to get help again. I brought all my letters and bank statements, showing that I had not received anything notifying me of the video footage. On XX/XX/XXXX, we went to Citizen 's Bank, where one of the bankers helped me file a dispute for the decision they made. He talked with the fraud department and pointed out evidence from my account that two different people with two different SSNs and Tax IDs had accessed my account. He also sent the fraud department proof that the other person had deposited two large sums of money the day after the money was withdrawn from my own account. I signed the paper, and he submitted it to the claims department. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, they sent me a letter denying my second request, stating that they had evidence that I was the one who accessed the account to withdraw the money. On XX/XX/XXXX, my service coordinator went back with me to Citizen 's Bank so we could request the video footage again. The woman we spoke to, who had worked with me on this issue before, said she was aware of the case and that because it had been so long, I would have to bring the police report I filed ( which I was not able to file, see above ) and a subpoena in order to see the evidence they used. She claimed they had tried to contact me about the video footage several times this summer but I never responded ; however, I had no letters from them, and without fluent English, I would not have been able to understand a voicemail to call back. 

Now I am looking at getting a lawyer to help because I don't want this problem to continue to happen in my community. This bank needs to take responsibility for not properly checking the ID of the person who accessed my account, and I want them to return the money that was taken.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief