Consumer complaint received 2022-08-30
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
State: PA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Fees or interest
Sub-issue: Problem with fees

Complaint:
This is a continuation of my dispute with Citizens Bank Credit Card and its use of long pages of legalese rather than ensuring straight forward questions when switching someone to online paperless options. They are deceptive. Citizens is also unfair and abusive when charging outrageous interest rates knowing full well that the unknowing switch caused the payment problems. CITIZENS NEEDS TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE AND STOP BEING DECEITFUL, ABUSIVE AND UNFAIR, AND THE CFPB SHOULD BE PROTECTING CONSUMERS. 

First- the audacity that Citizens Bank would claim to be the judge in this CFPB dispute when you are the defendant. You CAN NOT decide the merit of the dispute that I have brought against you. 


Second - you completely missed the point of my argument.

The CFPB is NOT just a place to list a grievance. They " protect consumers from unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices '' and they " create clear rules of the road for companies, and take action against bad actors in the XXXX. '' That bad actor being Citizens Bank. 



You say I enrolled XX/XX/22. Why do I have an email from you on XX/XX/22 at XXXXXXXX XXXX encouraging me to enroll in " paperless credit card statements '' and how to do so? Clearly I was NOT enrolled. 



Even with the above, had you wanted me to enroll online, the 20+ pages of " discloser '' NEED to have a CLEAR consent. You NEED to have a button saying something along the lines of " Are you sure you consent to eliminating paper statements and receiving only electronic statements? '' A HUGE button. 



Then, instead of sending emails that say " your statement is available '' which I ignored in my busy life because I considered them notifications that my statement was available to see online, what you NEED to say is " your BILL is now online to pay. '' Statement vs. bill, very different. VERY. 



Then, on top of everything else, when you see a stellar customer with an 800+ credit score suddenly not paying after a huge change you made, you NEED to get in touch with that person to see what is happening. 



Finally, reporting me to credit score agencies when ( 1 ) I am disputing with you and ( 2 ) over a measly {$400.00} that tanks my credit is NOT ok. 



I will continue to fight this " unfair '' charge for my sake as well as others that you are hurting in your quest to charge outrageous interest on hard working people. The CFPB is here to protect us against your " deceptive '' practices, so I will keep working with them to make sure you STOP. I paid your outrageous interest because despite my dispute you continue to charge additional interest every month. Again, that is wrong and " abusive '' by CFPB standards. 



This is what I initially wrote, by the way : " I went online to check my Citizens Bank credit card charges. Apparently that triggered the end of paper statements and the beginning of e-statements. Perhaps there was some fine print, but I certainly NEVER saw it or consented to it. I am a very busy person and didn't notice that I hadn't received bills. I have been a long term customer with an excellent payment history and a stellar credit score ( over 800 ). You would think Citizens Bank would notice something was wrong and notify me. But no. Instead, they pile on {$69.00} in late fees and {$410.00} in interest charges. I only find out when my card is declined at a store! And when I ask, they refuse to reverse the interest charges. Switching people over to e-statements without permission or in a sneaky way that the customer can't see must be a HUGE money maker for Citizens. It is wrong and they should be fined and shut down. ''

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation