Consumer complaint received 2015-09-17
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
State: CT
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Other bank product/service
Issue: Account opening, closing, or management

Complaint:
I went into the Citizens Bank in XXXX. Located at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX to see about banking rates because as you know I have had allot of problems with XXXX. They are right across the street from XXXX. When I walked in a was welcomed by a XXXX XXXX XXXX she is suppose to be a XXXX Banker XXXX ID # XXXX XXXX # ( XXXX ) XXXX Fax # ( XXXX ) - XXXX When I asked about there banking I was not going to take out an account I just wanted to know rates and she said let me check your credit she said you qualify for a credit card with a {$4500.00} dollar limit she said we are running a promotion right now and there is 0 % interest for the first year on what ever you spend although you have to pay this off within a year. She then said do you have any other credit cards that you owe money on. I said yes I do owe a small fee of a few hundred dollars on a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX credit card. 
I asked her again I said are you saying I have to pay no interest on this card with Citizens bank for the first year she said again XXXX I am XXXX telling you the truth this lady XXXX XXXX said no its our promotion and its for the one year no interest at all on the card. Even on purchases she said although there maybe a small fee to transfer the funds over to this account I said ok let me think about this and call my bank so I did and I told my bank XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX at XXXX and explained to them about this offer and to not cause any problems I said Citizens bank is running a promotion for one year on all transactions with 0 % interest and I would like to take this offer. They said watch out there is most likely a fee to transfer the funds over to them. I said they said it would be a small fee. So I called XXXX XXXX XXXX and said I will do it if it is no interest for a year lets go ahead and do this she said there is a fee of {$49.00} dollars to transfer the funds to this account. I said ok are you sure there are no fees for a year she again said yes no fees although again she said get what you have to with our card and make sure you pay it off within a year and then cancel it is exactly what she said. So I transferred the {$450.00} dollars over to there bank and I did some transactions for about a month on some things I needed. I then wanted to see my statement and when I looked at it today I seen a interest charge of almost XXXX dollars already. I was really shocked when I called the bank and asked for a manager and told them what are you doing this is suppose to be interest free for one year. This is what XXXX XXXX said. They said no its a 17 % interest charge on all purchases now I flipped out. I said who would transfer funds pay a fee and transfer from a card that 's at 4.99 % to a card at 17 % right there they gave themselves away I really do not care anymore I have had it with this abuse. This women pulled criminal act upon me and I am not happy at all. I am enclosing a snap shot of my statement and you can see the part were its says interest charges. 

Regards XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation