Consumer complaint received 2023-04-26
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
State: WA
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Personal line of credit
Issue: Problem with the payoff process at the end of the loan

Complaint:
In XXXX XXXX, I enrolled through XXXX in the newly launched " XXXX XXXX XXXX '' program. With this program, you would make monthly payments of roughly {$35.00} per month for 24 months, be sent an XXXX XXXX immediately, and after 12 months of payments, be allowed to upgrade to the new XXXX XXXX XXXX by trading in the first XXXX. This program was financed through Citizens Bank ( CB ).

Once eligible and after 12 payments, I pursued upgrading in XX/XX/XXXX. At this point, I learned that the program had been discontinued with XXXX and was spun off to XXXX. Unsure what this even meant and out of options, I followed the upgrade process through XXXX, not XXXX, and requested the " trade-in kit '' to send back the old XXXX. After a 3-4 months delay due to supply chain logistic " issues '', the trade-in kit finally arrived and I was able to trade it in. After ~16 payments and once the original XXXX finally made it back to XXXX XXXX my Citizens Bank balance account was zeroed out ( though, this was a clunky process too, which monthly statements can confirm ). See attached. 

Months later, I started receiving collections notices for $ XXXX dollars. Confused, I called XXXX and discussed over the phone the balance, telling them I have a balance of XXXX dollars and that they are mistaken. They told me that the upgrade process had spun off another line of credit for 24 MORE MONTHS (!!! ), some of which was overlapping with the 3-4 month period in which I couldn't send back the old XXXX ( their fault, mind you ). It seemed completely ridiculous. 24 more? Did the first 12 I had paid just .... not count? What is the point of the trade-in then? How could I have paid 16 months of payments ( {$560.00} ), and then be required to pay them another {$900.00}? How much do they think an XXXX costs?? I promise you it's not {$1500.00}. 

I never had visibility into this second line of credit. It was never in my Citizens Bank portal because it hadnt been activated and attached for me to see ( it is now, once I did all the work to figure out what was going on ). I only found out about any of this once I had people hounding me down for money that I still don't think I owe. This whole program is a ridiculous racket. The original program was absolutely not a 36 month XXXX deal, and we can't even corroborate that because the program was sold off by XXXX and doesn't exist in that instantiation any longer. 

I have never in my life had credit issues. But I also won't bend the knee to shady junk banks like these guys. It's unreasonable. I've similarly told collectors as well, as Citizens Bank charged the account off and sold the debt around. 

Then, my credit got smoked. I need help. My credit score got crushed, down ( XXXX points from to XXXX ) and I am furious. I'm being held hostage by these slimeballs and I feel abused by poor business practices and policy. 

I want them to make it right. I'm hoping you can help!

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation