Consumer complaint received 2016-07-07
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
State: NH
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
On XXXX XXXX, I was alerted to an ACH being drafted for {$400.00} and immediately contacted both the company who processed the unauthorized transaction, and my bank. The senior banker in the branch advised me that it had not yet " hard posted '' so at this time, there was nothing she could do to stop it. I explained to her, in detail, that I have XXXX accounts : XXXX " catch '' account that all incoming money is transferred into, XXXX " bill pay '' account that all debits come out of and XXXX " holding '' account for the rest. I advised her, in no uncertain terms, that this unauthorized transaction would kick off a domino effect of madness across my other accounts because of transactions that I did authorized and could not stop from now coming through. I advised her that I could n't transfer funds into the bank via ACH until this was resolved because it would require an additional {$400.00} to bring that " catch '' account back from negative, on top of anything needed to cover my other transactions. 

She advised me to wait until the unauthorized transaction " hard posted '' and that she could then issue a credit memo immediately to stop the bleed. The following day, when the transaction did hard post, she then informed me that a credit memo would need to wait until Monday - XXXX XXXX. The credit memo was never issued so on Wednesday, XXXX XXXX, I transferred just enough to bring the account back to XXXX and stick a bandaid on the bullet hole. Meanwhile, my accounts had been charged XXXX overdraft fees at {$35.00} each ( {$240.00} ) between the catch account ( where the unauthorized transaction came through and the only one I can electronically transfer funds into ) and the bill pay account ( where all debits are typically made ). On XXXX XXXX, XXXX of those fees were credited back and I was additionally charged a {$30.00} sustained overdraft fee. 

I waited an additional week with no form of follow up from the bank for the unauthorized ACH to be reversed. When I followed up with the senior banker on XXXX XXXX, she said she was under the impression that it was resolved because she saw the deposit that I had made on XXXX XXXX. When I informed her that she was wrong, I was not credited and I had personally made another deposit, she called the ACH department to check the status of the claim. She then informs me that they closed the case without a credit after seeing my deposit assuming that it was taken care of. That assumption and lack of communication was an egregious bank error. 

I was finally credited for the transaction on XXXX XXXX and XXXX of the additional overdraft fees, as well as the sustained overdraft fee ( {$100.00} ), were credited. This leaves a remaining amount of {$470.00} total additional fees across my accounts that remain uncredited. The fees were only incurred due to an unauthorized transaction, failure to act as promised by the senior banker, lack of communication by the ACH department and failure to properly advise me to even have a chance to stop the spiraling of these accounts.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation