Consumer complaint received 2017-06-27
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
State: MD
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Private student loan
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Received bad information about your loan

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX, I contacted XXXX XXXX by phone at XXXX because of undue hardship. I asked the representative what I could do to lower my payments because of unforeseen hardship and issues that arose in my life. Note : I never inquired about a forbearance. I specifically asked about lowering my payments. After being put on hold for a brief moment, the female representative returned and said " I have good news, you 're approved for a two month forbearance '' to which I replied that 's great. She explained to me that I was approved for a two month forbearance. She followed that by removing me off of auto-pay without my consent. I asked her when my next payment will be and she said XX/XX/XXXX. Before I got off the phone I confirmed the information again. I have a two month forbearance and my next payment will be on XX/XX/XXXX. In order to get back on auto-pay I would have to call a few weeks before the XX/XX/XXXX to give my auto-pay enough time to process. <P/>I signed up for auto-pay from day 1 of my loan. In doing so, my interest rate dropped 0.25 %. Doing this saved me money each month as well as guaranteed that I would never be late for a payment. Before XX/XX/XXXX, I  never miss a payment nor have I ever made a late payment. In fact I 've always payed anywhere between {$60.00} - {$100.00} over the minimum payment. <P/>I tried to resolve the problem with XXXX XXXX by calling them on multiple occasions. Below is a list of dates when I called :XX/XX/XXXX - Inquired about payment options. Again, I 'd like to emphasize that I never asked for a forbearance. The representative I spoke to brought it to my attention and said I was approved. I was told XX/XX/XXXX was my next payment. <P/>XX/XX/XXXX - Received a voice message that was hard to understand who and what the message was about. <P/>XX/XX/XXXX - Received another voice message that said my forbearance was denied. I did n't think much of it because I was specifically told by a real live confirmed XXXX XXXX representative that I was approved so I thought the phone call was a scam. Not only was I approved the rep went further and removed me from auto-pay because I was approved so I had no reason to believe or no way to confirm that this voice message was actually from XXXX XXXX. <P/>XX/XX/XXXX - I called Citizens Bank the lender of my loan at XXXX. I explained how I was approved for a two month forbearance, but I received a voice message saying that I was denied so, I was confused and not sure if the voice message was a scam, a real call or a robocall. The Citizens Bank representative agreed with me that my situation was odd and transferred me to XXXX XXXX representative while she remained on the line. The XXXX rep explained to me that the forbearance was denied even though I was told that it was previously approved. I was so confused. I explained to her that I did not have two months worth of payments that they were asking for. I set my budget according to what I was told. I also explained that I should not be held responsible for their mistake. If anything they should honor what they told me or try to work with me in getting the account back to good standing. I also argued that they called me after the XXXX. ( my due date each month ). In calling me after my due date my payment was going to be late regardless. The rep was not helpful. In fact she was rude and kept telling me they tried to call me. Just because they tried to call me does n't remove the fact that I was told that I was approved for a two month forbearance. I asked to speak to a supervisor who I believe was not a supervisor the female rep just transferred me to another representative who told me that the rep I spoke to in XXXX made a mistake in telling me I was approved. He then told me how I should try and call the Citizens Bank since they were in charge of the loan or try to refinance. He said they were n't able to do anything since they just serviced the loan. The call ended after about 1 hour with no resolution. I followed that phone call by calling Citizens Bank again in trying to see what could be done. The representative I spoke to said " they should n't be doing that. Call back and ask to speak to a supervisor. They 're trying to get you to refinance '' She said they were simply the originator of the loan, but XXXX XXXX should be able to help since they 're in charge of the loan. She told me that they should be able to help me. I called XXXX back at XXXX and asked to speak to a supervisor who again told me that they apologize but the rep I spoke to on XXXX XXXX made a mistake. I asked what could be done and was told that I had to pay or the calls and the reporting to the credit agencies would continue. I asked that the derogatory remarks be removed, but was told that they would n't remove any remarks. Again, nothing was resolved after hours on the phone and multiple calls to XXXX and Citizens Bank in one day. <P/>XX/XX/XXXX - I called XXXX XXXX at XXXX and had the call escalated to a supervisor after I could n't get anywhere with the rep. Again, I explained that I could n't make two months worth of payments and asked what could be done because I wanted to pay and understand that I have an obligation. By no means was I trying to not pay I just needed them to work with me especially since the mistake was on their part. And when they finally tried to reach me it was after my due date. The also said they sent a letter but I never received a letter. I also explained to them that even though I received a call from them it was incumbent upon me to verify who was calling me and to make sure it was n't a scam. I explained how I was receiving calls from other fraudulent student loan companies that I reported to the Federal Trade Commission so, just because they said they called I had to verify that it was real. Also, I had reason to believe it was a scam because I was told I was approved onXX/XX/XXXX. <P/>XX/XX/XXXX - I called XXXX XXXX and had the call escalated to a supervisor after not getting any help from the representative. Nothing was resolved. They were unwilling to work with me even though I was willing to work with them. I did n't make a mistake nor have I ever made a late payment in 5 years yet they refused to lend any help or try to work with me. It should be noted that they did not call me in a timely manner. I received a voice message 3 weeks after I was approved for a two month forbearance. In calling me 3 weeks after I was approved and after my due date they put me in a position to fail. <P/>XX/XX/XXXX - I called XXXX XXXX and spoke to another supervisor again. I asked that my auto-pay be put back on so I can receive my 0.25 % reduction since I never asked for it to be removed. I explained how it 's unlawful to do something on my account without my account. I was told that they could n't put me back on auto-pay until the account was current. Currently my payments to XXXX is {$740.00}. Before I was removed from auto-pay my payments were {$680.00} a month. So now because of their mistake I have to pay an extra over {$55.00} a month and late fees every month. I told them that I was confused how I was being penalized and asked to pay more money for a mistake that they made. Noting was resolved. I also asked for a full investigation be done on my account. <P/>XX/XX/XXXX - I called XXXX XXXX. Explained the situation again. Nothing was resolved.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation