Consumer complaint received 2022-06-10
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
State: CT
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
Context : I opened a checking and savings account with Citizens Bank on XX/XX/XXXX to get a lower interest rate on the student loans I had just refinanced with them. Part of the requirement was to deposit money into the accounts, so I put an initial {$100.00} into both. As this is not my primary bank, my goal was to just deposit money into the savings account each week and use the automatic withdrawal to pay my loans each month. 

Initial issue : While I regularly logged into the app to check my savings account, unfortunately, I was not paying attention to my checking since I was not using it. On XX/XX/XXXX, it caught my attention as the {$100.00} I had initially deposited had turned into a - {$9.00} balance. To my surprise, I had been getting charged a {$9.00} " Service Charge '' each month. I quickly contacted customer service and was informed that Citizens Bank charges this fee when there is no activity in the account. The only requirement to avoid this fee is to deposit a minimum of {$0.00} each month. During this 12-month span of being charged this fee, I was not contacted by Citizens, nor made aware this inactivity was causing my investment to deplete. I opted out of paper statements, however, there is nothing evident in the app, such as a notification, that would have made me aware of the situation, nor did I receive any emails, which they have on file. The digital statements are not easily accessible on the app, and I would have no reason to check them anyway since I was not using the account. Clearly, I would have deposited a mere one cent had I known this was going on. Especially since {$260.00} of my paycheck is being deposited into my savings each week, I would have happily put some of that toward my checking to avoid this erroneous fee. Luckily, the customer service agent was able to reimburse 3 of those fees, however, it still put me at a {$79.00} loss at the time. 

Why I'm filing a complaint : After speaking with customer service, I went to the account to set up automatic transfers. It was then that I noticed my account had been " inactivated, '' so I was unable to make any deposits or transfers out of the account. Due to this, I assumed the account was essentially closed and would not incur any new fees. How could I if I was unable to perform the action that allowed me to avoid the fee? Well, on XX/XX/XXXX I logged on and sure enough, I was charged the fee. This time, I called customer service to explain the situation and request the fee be reimbursed and after a long conversation with the rep and supervisor, I was informed that they could not reimburse the fee. The reason being they had already given me 3 courtesy reimbursements and the system would not allow them to do a XXXX. I explained this was not a courtesy, it was an error on their end for their system not allowing me to make a deposit, yet still penalizing me for not doing so. I also argued that the customer service rep I spoke with on XX/XX/XXXX should've informed me my account was inactive and I would not be able to make any deposits if that was the case, to which the new agent agreed.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation