Consumer complaint received 2017-07-21
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
State: VT
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Advertising and marketing, including promotional offers
Sub-issue: Confusing or misleading advertising about the credit card

Complaint:
This account was opened in XXXX, in a bank branch near XXXX, NY ( XXXX I believe ). The bank 's manager was XXXX ( at the time, perhaps a new manager there now ). We ( my partner and I ) went to open a new account. While we were there, something popped up on her computer screen that said I was eligible for a XXXX $ unsecured credit card. Making that decision on the spot was stressful, in that I prefer not to do such a thing. We were interested in building credit towards a mortgage in the next few years, so the limit and it reporting to both our credit reports was important to us. She electronically signed us up for it, we gave both of our information, and came back to sign paper documents the following day. Three months later is when our first complaint was lodged- this was only reported to my credit reports and the support team was unable to figure out how to get it to report to both. When nobody called back about it, we called to be told the card was not eligible at the time to report to both, my partner was simply and authorized user. Over a period of months we called to check on the eligibility of reporting to his report- to be told, 'no ', 'check again ', ... or that they had no record of him on the account ( even as an authorized user and having his own card ). Then we experienced random fees, which were fixed ... again complaints of status of card benefiting both of us. Then we started to pay down the balance drastically in XXXX ( additional payments on top of regular payments ), as we wanted to bump my credit score as we applied for our Citizens ' Mortgage. The week before XXXX ( mortgage lender from local branch ) pulled our credit, the credit card reduced it 's limit ( without notice ), changing a carrying balance of 30 % to almost 98 % ( with the new reduced limit ). This, again, had no benefit as to our immediate need and assurance when obtaining it ( not only was it not helping both our credit reports, but it was now not benefiting my own ). I called about this and was given some policy about how they can change it when ever they wanted, if they wanted. I filed a complaint and asked for the balance to be restored. I later found out they made a hard inquiry on my account- again, negatively affecting the credit report. I filed a complaint on this. Due to the credit card being unpredictable and not knowing how those policies may transfer to our mortgage, we pulled our application and transferred it to another lender ( who was able to approve and close in 9 days from transfer at a better interest rate! ). We dealt with the move. Around this time, there was a charge for something, not honored by the merchant- which we disputed ( to make a long story short- it took a year to resolve ), which caused the balance to be temporarily credited, letter sent it was a final decision, and then four months after this letter it was erroneously reversed, causing a 400 % overage on the account. I was told by a citizens rep not to pay until it 's resolved and resolute. It was done, payment was made the following day, the lower credit line was again ... lowered ( by like XXXX dollars ). I filed a complaint. I was told to have the credit line restored, I would need to have my credit pulled again. I denied this request, as I do not feel I have to take a credit hit in order to correct a mistake on their part. I was later told by another rep that they automatically reduce the line for late payments and I should have never listened to the previous rep on this matter. I filed another complaint, it was brought to a branch manager ( somewhere unknown to me ) he filed the complaint up to a higher management level. I feel I need to keep the balance on this account higher, just to have a higher limit on my credit accounts and keep my other accounts low- which credits issues with not able to really use revolving credit at all. My credit scores are XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation