Consumer complaint received 2022-10-08
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
State: CT
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Other transaction problem

Complaint:
It has been more than 15 days, since I initiated online transfer of {$15000.00} and {$5000.00} from my Citizens bank account to fund my newly opened XXXX XXXX and Checking accounts, respectively. The amount was debited next day from XXXX bank account ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ), but it never got deposited to Citizens bank accounts nor it was returned back to XXXX XXXX. No one is able to provide me next steps to be taken to get the money in either Citizens or XXXX account as both banks ' representatives are pointing fingers to other bank. 

Following is the detail action taken by me that initiated the issue and also attempts to resolve the issue - 1 ) On XX/XX/XXXX - Opened Citizens XXXX Checking Account and XXXX Account online based off a promotion mail I received Checking Account # - XXXX Saving Account # - XXXX - Received email confirmation of the account opening with instructions to deposit funds needed for both accounts 2 ) On same day XX/XX/XXXX - Added " Other Bank Account '' ( XXXX XXXX  account ) in Citizens account for transferring money online to fund my Citizens bank account - XXXX XXXX Checking Account # XXXX XXXX ) On same day XX/XX/XXXX - To fund My Citizens Accounts, money was transferred from XXXX XXXX  XXXX account mentioned above - {$15000.00} to Citizens XXXX XXXX Account {$5000.00} to Citizens XXXX XXXX Account - Received XXXX email confirmations from Citizens bank regarding Opening deposit transfer requests with following transaction numbers - - For {$15000.00} - Transaction # XXXX - For {$5000.00} - Transaction # XXXX - It also mentioned the amount will be deposited within XXXX business days 4 ) On XX/XX/XXXX - The amounts were debited from XXXX Checking account XXXX ) On XX/XX/XXXX - Received a call from Citizens XXXX department - Talked to XXXX - asked me to provide One time password for verifying the account and to confirm the fund transfer It was hard to believe that fraud department can call and send me XXXX for confirmation of fund transfer - there are so many scams those take place with such type of calls. I refused to provide the OTP- I was asked to go to the nearest branch to verify my information. 
6 ) Later in the day, I got suspicious and therefore logged in online account, but my online account was locked. I decided to go to nearest branch next day. 
7 ) On XX/XX/XXXX - Went to Citizens Bank, XXXX XXXX branch - banking rep mentioned there were no issues with my both accounts, there were no flags and there was nothing to verify. They were able to see my account with XXXX balance. Bank rep mentioned that they will confirm on Monday, why the online transfer was not completed in the account 8 ) After coming home on XX/XX/XXXX, called Citizens online banking support again as my online access to the account was still locked. - talked to XXXX- he verified all my information, sent XXXX and after verification unlocked my account. He also provided temp passwords to log back into the account. Helped me to change my password. He did confirm that he could see XXXX transfers from external bank and mentioned the amounts will be deposited by Tuesday in the account. 
- I was able to log back into the online bank account XXXX ) On XX/XX/XXXX - Received call from Citizens XXXX XXXX branch that there were no issues with the account and transfer should be available within XXXX or XXXX business days. 
XXXX ) Waited till Friday XX/XX/XXXX hoping the funds will be deposited on any day. 
XXXX ) On XX/XX/XXXX - Called Citizens bank XXXX support - Talked to XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX got the information that I needed to verify my email address and Mobile number registered with the account- I went on line and verified the information. I was asked to wait till Friday ( XXXX ) for transfer of fund to complete. 
a ) If validation of information was needed, then why was I allowed to transfer the money before validation? 
b ) On XX/XX/XXXX, I did verify my contact information by providing XXXX information to the representative and my online account was unfrozen. What was that verification? 
c ) Why no other online service rep asked me to verify this information by signing into my account earlier than this? 
d ) Why I was not notified by the bank that amount transfer was pending due to non- verification of contact information? 
XXXX ) On XX/XX/XXXX - Called Citizens bank online support again - Talked to XXXX - After research he told me that online transfer couldn't be completed and I should ask my originator bank ( XXXX Bank ) to file Debit Return - claim XXXX ) On same day XX/XX/XXXX - Called XXXX bank XXXX XXXX representative. They told me that nothing could be done from their end, once the funds were transferred via XXXX to Citizens bank. They provided me the trace numbers for my XXXX transfers for further research with Citizens bank. 
- XXXX Bank XXXX numbers- For {$15000.00} - Trace # XXXX For {$5000.00} - Trace # XXXX XXXX ) In a hope that money XXXX get transferred as mentioned by XXXX on XXXX, waited till Friday XX/XX/XXXX and found the account was still not credited with the amount - called Citizens online support once again - talked to XXXX - after a long research she told me that she will need to check with XXXX department why the amount was not returned back to my origination account in XXXX bank. She promised to return the call later in the day - but no response till evening XXXX ) On the same evening XX/XX/XXXX, I called once again the same fraud detection number - talked to same Tahit, ( whom I spoke XXXX weeks back and to whom I refused to provide the OTP number ). He researched and told me that the money has not been accepted by Citizens bank as my account information was not verified for more than 10 days. The money has been sent to XXXX and I should ask XXXX bank to file a Debit Return - claim - Once again same questions, if my account information was not verified by the bank then why I was allowed to carryout online transfer and also was asked to fund my account using online transfer as an option? 
XXXX ) Called XXXX bank XXXX XXXX representative - Talked to XXXX and he mentioned no action can be taken from XXXX bank. He provided number mentioning it was Bank XXXX XXXX, but when called it went to XXXX XXXX service who was not at all helpful.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation