Consumer complaint received 2021-01-29
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC. (DE)

Timeline of Events : Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX Account Opened & Funded ( see documents ) Wednesday, XX/XX/XXXX XXXX confirmed with me I had opened the accounts and sent and cleared the funds ; logged into Citizens Bank Online Platform with no issues. Balance showed {$0.00} with nothing pending. 

Thursday, XX/XX/XXXX Date accounts closed by Fraud Operations per letter received on XX/XX/XXXX. No phone number given for Fraud Operations. No reason given for closure. Not one person called or emailed to ask me for any additional information about why I opened the accounts or to confirm they were legitimate. 

Friday, XX/XX/XXXX Online Platform access denied. Worked with XXXX XXXX at XXXX XXXX Branch ; she said there was no info of why it closed. She also allegedly emailed back office to ask that they do not close it and just unfreeze the account so the money could be received. She also said if they didnt do that, that the money would be sent back and she logged a complaint and said someone would get back to me in 24-72 hours with what Citizens was doing to rectify this I asked specifically for the incentive money to be paid because of this egregious error in closing brand new accounts. As of XX/XX/XXXX, not one person from Citizens has called me. Additionally, XXXX did not answer my email asking for an in person meeting. Essentially washed her hands of helping me. 

Monday. XX/XX/XXXX XXXX Day not a business day Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX money still not received by my sending bank. Called again. Spoke to XXXX. XXXX said the money was sent back electronically and would be in my sending bank no later than 3 days, by Thursday XX/XX/XXXX Thursday, XX/XX/XXXX money not received back. Six full business days since opening. 

Friday, XX/XX/XXXX money still not returned. Called again, XXXX. Customer Service logged a complaint XXXX and said someone would reach out to me in 24 hours. Again, not one person has reached out to me. Customer Service also told me there was nothing they could do and to call account fulfillment which did not open until XXXX. This was incorrect. Fulfillment first does not open until XXXX. Additionally, I called fulfillment and they could only see that the account was applied for and opened. Directed me back to customer service. 

Spoke to XXXX he transferred me to XXXX, a specialist, at XXXX. XXXX found that the funds were not sent back until the XXXX so the funds should be back on Monday, XX/XX/XXXX at the latest. Said that I need to involve my sending back to file a complaint with the intermediary XXXX who handled the transaction. A week plus after opening, not one person could tell me why this had occurred or definitively where my money was. I reached out immediately to my advisors at XXXX who contacted the XXXX XXXX Home Office. They saw no incoming transfers whatsoever. 

Monday, XX/XX/XXXX Money still not received. Called Citizens again with my financial advisor, XXXX XXXX. Spoke to XXXX. XXXX again confirmed the funds were sent back on the XXXX and provided tracing numbers ( below ). Also said it could take up to 5 business days with XX/XX/XXXX being the first day. So, Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX would be 5 business days. 

TRACE NUMBER : XXXX - {$17000.00}. XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX  ACH PAYMENT ( Savings Account Deposit ) account frozen / ret per XXXX Company ID XXXX TRACE NUMBER : XXXX - {$500.00}. XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX ACH PAYMENT ( Checking Account Deposit ) account frozen / ret per XXXX  Company ID XXXX Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX Money still not received. Called again. This time spoke to XXXX. XXXX again confirmed XX/XX/XXXX as the date the money was sent back. He reconfirmed the trace number and sent an email to back office. He stated they would reach out to me no later than Thursday. Still no one has reached out to me. 

Getting nowhere with Citizens, I called XXXX, the intermediary XXXX said was handling the electronic transfers. They said they do not handle these issues and sent me back to Citizens. 

XXXX Called again as my sending bank was still not seeing any transfers incoming. Spoke to XXXX XXXX, supervisor. XXXX saw something entirely different than XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX. XXXX confirmed the trace numbers and was able to provide the company ID the transfer was sent to but only saw the {$500.00} as sent back ( company ID : XXXX ). As of XX/XX/XXXX, the {$500.00} is still not back in my bank. 
This is 6 business days since it was allegedly sent back. 

XXXX also found that the bulk of the money, {$17000.00}, was NEVER sent back by Citizens to my sending bank even though multiple previous reps claimed it was. She saw that the account is still under review, even though I received a letter it was closed. I still have yet to have a single person reach out to me about why it was closed or ask for more information. She then escalated my issue to the Office of the Chairman, who has no direct phone number to speak to. The Case Number is XXXX. I specifically instructed that if I do not hear from someone by XX/XX/XXXX at noon, I would be informing the media about this and the fraud that is being perpetuated at Citizens as well as having my lawyer sue. As of this writing, no one has called. It is XXXX on Wednesday, XX/XX/XXXX. I have already reached out to me in the media and my lawyer has been briefed on the situation. If this is not resolved and my money returned back to me by end of day on XX/XX/XXXX, I will also be submitting a complaint to the XXXX XXXX. 

Wednesday, XX/XX/XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX still hearing nothing from Citizens, I scheduled a meeting with XXXX at the XXXX XXXX Branch for Thursday, XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX. This was the branch I was told to go to in the letter from Fraud Operations dated XX/XX/XXXX. 

Thursday, XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX  met with XXXX XXXX ( NMLS ID # XXXX ) at XXXX XXXX Branch in XXXX, DE. XXXX said there was nothing she could do or see. We involved her manager, XXXX XXXX ( NMLS ID # XXXX ), who called the back office. They claimed the money was never received and sent back on XX/XX/XXXX as XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX had claimed previously. At this point, I again involved my financial advisor, XXXX XXXX, as well as XXXX XXXX, both with XXXX, and we all spoke to XXXX. 

XXXX reached out to XXXX XXXX in the Office of the Chairman who was allegedly assigned to my case. She reached out via email as Ms. XXXX did not return her call. Fraud Operations who originally sent the letter stating the account was closed also did not return the call in the time I was there. 

At approximately XXXX, I left Citizens Bank with the knowledge that my XXXX team would take the tracing numbers to their back office to find where this money was stuck and be getting back to me between XXXX and XXXX. XXXX XXXX said this was all she would be doing if she called XXXX and they had done all they could. She also advised me to feel free to take any actions I felt I should essentially saying to sue and see how well that worked out for me. Citizens repeatedly has tried to wash their hands of the entire situation and pass the buck even though they ran the promo, initiated the withdrawal from XXXX, took my money, and then prematurely shut down the accounts. 

XXXX XXXX : finally received an email from XXXX XXXX from the Office of the Chairman at Citizens Bank. Her email stated essentially nothing beyond that she was looking into it and would get back to me in 24-48 hours. At this point, the situation had been escalating for 11 days. The Case number she provided was # XXXX a completely different number than I was given on XX/XX/XXXX by XXXX XXXX. I replied to XXXX I needed an answer today as I was just told XXXX XXXX was assigned to this case and it was a different case number. 

XXXXXXXX XXXX : Ms. XXXX called me to inform me she had researched and escalated my case to XXXX XXXX. I inquired what her research found. She gave me no explanation beyond that she had escalated it she passed the buck as Citizens has been doing since day one. Next she referenced that the case she was assigned to was put in on XX/XX/XXXX ; SEVEN FULL BUSINESS DAYS PRIOR. When I spoke to XXXX on that date, he said he was submitting a complaint but I was not given a case number. At the time he said someone would be getting back to me in 24-48 hours but he was certain the money would be back in my sending account by then. To date, it is still not in my account. FOR AN ENTIRE WEEK, Citizens Office of the Chairman did absolutely nothing. It took a second case being opened and several more calls and emails from me to even get a call from them. 

Friday, XX/XX/XXXX XXXX : received email from XXXX that nothing had been returned yet. They were working through additional research. 

Approximately XXXX XXXX : Called citizens again after receiving information from XXXX that they still saw nothing. Spoke to XXXX XXXX ; she saw a note on the account staying MIL. Did not know what that was. Connected me to her supervisor, XXXX XXXX. XXXX saw a note on the account stating account froze / ret per XXXX. She did not know what this meant ; upon personal investigation, I found XXXX  is XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX control. This was a domestic transfer. I also XXXX that the return code would be ACH Return Code R16. She confirmed the trace number again for me and the company ID for both transactions. I also asked XXXX to reach out to XXXX XXXX, who I had also emailed, and had still not heard from. 

XXXX XXXX : XXXX XXXX from XXXX called me back informing me that XXXX had concluded their research and discovered that the routing number Citizens bank returned the funds to is associated with XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX ; a bank where I do not have a checking or savings account. We established at this time that the error and responsibility is on Citizens Bank. Still did not hear from XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX : speaking to a XXXX with Citizens customer service to relay this new information. XXXX was extremely difficult and would not provide her last name or NMLS number. XXXX XXXX from the Office of the Chairman has still not called me after multiple email attempts to her and repeated requests to hear back. XXXX put me on with her supervisor, XXXX. I provided XXXX with the information that XXXX found and said that Citizens needs to find my money and give me a date when it will be returned as well as how by XXXX. XXXX emailed XXXX XXXX and this time finally heard back that Ms. XXXX was researching the case and would call me by XXXX Friday, XX/XX/XXXX. I informed XXXX that I could not be available from XXXX XXXX but otherwise would be directly by my phone waiting to hear from her with a resolution and the information about when my funds would be returned.