Consumer complaint received 2021-03-25
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
State: NY
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
Issue: Problems at the end of the loan or lease
Sub-issue: Problem with paying off the loan

Complaint:
Citizens Bank is making it very hard to close out and accept my last payment on an auto loan and charging me interest while they delay things. The amount of payoff keeps changing and interest keeps being applied. All I am trying to do is pay off the loan in full and not get bad credit report. But they are making that very difficult.

Details below for issues regarding Citizens Bank Account number ending in # XXXX XX/XX/XXXX : I secured loan from Citizens Bank for {$44000.00}.

For next 3 years ( XXXX XXXX ), I have paid off monthly installments thru auto-pay in amounts of {$710.00}. 

XX/XX/XXXX : Last time Citizens accepted the {$710.00} auto pay. My last payment should be in XX/XX/XXXX. 

XX/XX/XXXX : A payment of {$500.00} is made to Citizens automatically from my account. Im not sure why that amount but maybe it was amount left, not sure where that amount came from and then it was rec-credited back to me. 

XX/XX/XXXX : I get a letter from Citizens that says account overdue. That seemed odd as we were supposed to be on auto-pay and be finished in XXXX. So I call. I call and speak to customer service who only does collections and after speaking to his manager cant explain why that happend. So he transfers me to a different customer service department and I get disconnected. 

XX/XX/XXXX ( later that same day ), I go onlilne and try to pay it off - in full - via direct payment from my bank to Citizens thru their web payment process. And I get email on that same day XX/XX/XXXX confirming my scheduled payment, which I copy and paste below : -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- The following payment has been scheduled on your Citizens One loan account ending in XXXX. 

Payment Account : XXXX Date Scheduled : XX/XX/XXXX Amount : {$710.00} Reference # : XXXX -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- XX/XX/XXXX : My bank shows that Citizens accepted my payment of {$710.00}. See below : -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - ACH Electronic Debit - CITIZENS LN PYMT REG PAYMT - {$710.00} On the LAST payment scheduled for XX/XX/XXXX, Citizens discontinues auto-pay and sends me late notice payment with interest for additional {$5.00}. I get confused by this and investigate and the web site shows auto-pay is OFF ( not initiated by me ) and there are some charges in different amounts made and then re-charged ( pushed back ). 

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - XX/XX/XXXX : Citizens sends me an alert thru the website that payment was NOT accepted that says the payment was not accepted and my late interest fees are going up daily. The new total is now {$710.00}. See that message below : -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - Dear XXXX, Thank you for your email regarding your account. 

Upon reviewing your account our records indicate the payoff amount has not been received and auto pay has been cancelled. 

The provisional payoff as of XX/XX/XXXX is {$710.00}, with a daily interest of {$0.00} each day after that date. 

You can mail your payoff payment to the following address which is valid for regular or overnight mail or pay by phone : Citizens Bank Citizens One Auto Finance XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX, RI XXXX Please be sure you include the following : Your signed payoff check Your account number Your name Your address including the city, state, zip code Once your auto loan has been paid off and the loan is moved to a closed status, a paid in full letter will be mailed to you after one business day of the loan being paid in full. 


If you have any further questions or concerns, please call our Consumer Finance Department at XXXX and a representative will be happy to assist you Monday Friday XXXX XXXX and Saturday Sunday XXXX XXXX. 


We value you as a customer and appreciate your business. Thank you for choosing Citizens Bank. 


Sincerely, XXXX XXXX. 
Email Team Advocate -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- XX/XX/XXXX : I made more efforts to contact Citizens Bank. My phone call was on hold and then disconnected. My web portal messages returned an error message and my account statements are no longer on the Citizens Bank web site. So I submit this complaint to you in hopes you can help.

In conclusion, I dont understand how they can make paying off a loan so difficult and in process charge me interest and hurt my credit score ... .please help! 

Thank you, XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation