Consumer complaint received 2023-01-03
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
State: MD
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Opening an account
Sub-issue: Didn't receive terms that were advertised

Complaint:
I opened a new account with Citizens Bank in XX/XX/XXXX to take advantage of a " new account bonus '' being offered. The terms of the promotion only required that I make at least XXXX direct deposit within 60 days of {$500.00} or more ( this was done on XX/XX/XXXX ) and keep my account in good standing at time of payout. The bonus was to be paid out by XX/XX/XXXX. 

Anticipating the bonus, I logged into my account on XX/XX/XXXX to find that an automatic transaction on XX/XX/XXXX had brought my account negative - {$4.00}. Usually, I receive an email alert if my account is overdrawn, allowing me to take advantage of their " peace of mind '' feature to avoid overdraft fees ( I've attached a sample of one such email to this message ). In this case, I did not receive any notices and had no way of knowing my account was negative until I logged into my account on XX/XX/XXXX. 

Naturally, this was on a Saturday and on a holiday weekend, and on top of that there are no Citizens Bank branches in my state. My ONLY recourse to bring my account to a positive balance, was to utilize XXXX XXXX to make an instant deposit to my debit card. I transferred {$6.00} which brought my account up to {$2.00}. I verified that my account balance was positive, and even purchased a small snack for {$1.00} since I had the funds available. 

When no bonuses were applied to my account, I contact Citizens bank when they reopened on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke with a " XXXX '' in the department that handles promotions. He told me that the INSTANT deposit I made on XX/XX/XXXX was showing a date of XX/XX/XXXX, and therefore my account was ineligible for the promotion. This is absolutely false, as I used EVERY reasonable tool at my disposal, after hours on a holiday weekend, to make this deposit. As it was tied to my debit card, I know for a fact they can view the actual transaction date and time in real-time. But because their system is designed to ( apparently ) only post debit card credits on business days, they are telling me I did not make the deposit in time. When was I supposed to make it?? WHERE was I supposed to make it??? 

This is beyond reasonable and I believe Citizens Bank should be held responsible for their faulty system. An instant deposit is just that - INSTANT. It makes absolutely no sense for my deposit of {$6.00} to take three full days to " post '' to my account. In fact, I've used this very method multiple times to make deposits in time to avoid overdraft fees as part of their " peace of mind '' feature. 

Citizens Bank is defrauding its customers by luring them into opening accounts as part of a promotion, only to use absolutely ridiculous reasoning for denying the promotional payout. Citizens Bank should have been able to see that I did EVERYTHING in my power to bring my account to a positive balance, when all of their offices were closed for the holiday weekend. To still assert that my account was in a " bad '' standing is simply false.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation