Consumer complaint received 2018-07-12
Company: CIT BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: NV
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: CD (Certificate of Deposit)
Issue: Closing an account
Sub-issue: Fees charged for closing account

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I was checking my emails. There were some from CIT Bank, notifying me that my monthly statements were available. I realized that I had not received any notifications about 2 CDs that were to mature in XX/XX/XXXX which I did not want to rollover. I had not received any notifications about them. 

I phoned CIT Bank ( XXXX ) on XXXX, and spoke with XXXX. He advised that Maturity Notices and Renewal Notices for each CD had been MAILED to me. I had not received any of the 4 notices. He informed me that to close the accounts, I would have to send a Secure Message through the website, and that I would be charged penalties. He told me the verbiage to use. 

In checking the FAQ page on CIT Bank 's website, www.bankoncit.com, I found a question about maturing CDs, and it states that the customer will RECEIVE notification. ( Please see screenprint for this. ) To this day, I have not RECEIVED any notifications about the maturing or renewal of my CDs. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I phoned CIT Bank again, because I felt it unfair to charge me penalties when I had received no notification of the maturity or renewal. Initially, I spoke to XXXX, who ignored my desire to close the accounts, and offered to switch the CDs to the current, higher rate. I refused, and asked to speak to a supervisor. I was transferred to XXXX, who confirmed that she was a supervisor. XXXX told me that the penalties would not be waived. She informed me that I am signed up to receive electronic notifications. I understand electronic notification to mean email notification ; every month, the bank sends me emails notifying me that my statements are available. I also get other emails, most recently about a contest, so there is reason to believe that all notifications would be sent via email. But, XXXX advised, if I want email notification of the maturity and renewals, I had to set this up online, which I have since done. Please see screenprints for notifications, and please note that the Renewal Notices were dated after the grace period ended, not when the CDs matured. 

XXXX informed me that the notices for maturity and renewal were placed on their website, and had not been mailed to me, as XXXX advised. She also stated that is my responsibility to know that I have to check their website to look for these notices. I finally found the notices, that were supposedly sent to me after searching through different pages of the website. If their own employee XXXX did not know that I was supposed to know to check the website for notifications, and that they had not been mailed, how is a customer supposed to know? Please see screen prints. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I initiated the closing of my 2 CD accounts. Several days after they were closed, the money was transferred to an external account. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, wanting to know the exact amount of the penalties charged, I phoned CIT Bank, and spoke with XXXX. I asked if I would get some kind of notification of the amount of the penalties. After placing me on hold to confer with her supervisor, she informed me that due to an oversight, I had not actually been charged a penalty. With that news, I decided to not file a complaint with CFPB. However, after locatng the closing statements on their website, I discovered that, contrary to what XXXX told me, they had indeed charged a penalty for 1 of the CDs. 

I believe that CIT Bank 's practice of notification of maturity and renewal via their website, with no email notification to check the website, as they do every month for statements is dishonest, deceitful, immoral, and unethical. It is designed to keep customers from knowing when CDs are to renew, so the bank gets to either keep the funds for another term, or collect penalties for early withdrawal. 

Please see all 12 screen prints in support of my complaint.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation