Consumer complaint received 2021-12-21
Product: Checking or savings account — Savings account
Issue: Problem with a lender or other company charging your account — Transaction was not authorized
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC. (PA)

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I logged into the checking account and saw two small deposits ( {$0.00} and {$0.00} ) from XXXX ( the URL was cut off so I could not see the full site ). This indicated to me that someone was trying to link the checking account with another account. Neither my husband nor I authorized this or recognized the site. I called Citizens, which does not have a phone number for a fraud department, only for customer service. The rep seemed interested only in debiting the {$0.00} cents from my account. My concern was not necessarily the {$0.00}, but the fact that someone was trying to link my account, and therefore it is compromised. The rep said that she would file a claim and could put a stop pay to this company. She said the investigation would take 24 hours, and then I would be mailed the results in 7-10 business days. She said there was no way to receive a phone call or email with the results. Snail mail only. And in the meantime, if it is fraudulent, you have to wait 7-10 days to know what, if any, action to take, which is absolutely ridiculous to me. I did see that the bank debited the account the same day, so I thought the problem was taken care of. 

The very next day, XX/XX/XXXX, there were two small direct deposits ( {$0.00} and {$0.00} ) made - this time to our savings account - from the very same company that had deposited to our checking account. Because the amounts were so small, and I do not reconcile the checking account daily, I did not notice the transactions until XX/XX/XXXX, when XXXX made an ACH withdraw of {$900.00} from the checking account. I called Citizens customer service, and was told that this time, the investigation could take up to 8 business days, and only after that would the {$900.00} get back into the account. I said that I had alerted the bank to this fraudulent activity from this company 4 days earlier and the bank still allowed transactions with this company to clear, so I am not willing to wait on their investigation to get the {$900.00} back. The rep said that they would perform a provisional funds request, which if approved would get the funds into the account within 24 hours. This was on a Friday. 

On Monday XX/XX/XXXX, the provisional funds were not in the account. I called Citizens customer service, and was told the request could take 1-2 business days to process. This is entirely different information than I had gotten from the representative on XX/XX/XXXX. But there is not much you can do when on the phone with customer service and they keep saying the same thing over and over. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, four calendar days/two business days after the provisional funds request, the {$900.00} still has not been credited to the savings account. And now, there is ANOTHER transaction from XXXX, this time debiting back the original {$0.00} and {$0.00} deposits from XX/XX/XXXX. Not only can we not recover our funds, that were taken from a company I had previously alerted Citizens was fraudulent, but the company is STILL able to make ACH withdraws from the savings account. 

Summary of issues : 1. I alerted Citizens of fraudulent activity on the checking account. They handled the small transactions and it appears that there is a stop pay to the company in question. But, Citizens did not apply this to our savings account. 
2. I alerted Citizens of fraudulent activity on the savings account, and was told that they filed a claim and a provisional funds request so that I could recover the {$900.00} that was taken within 24 hours. Four days/two business days later, I do not have the {$900.00}. 
3. One week after the initial call about my checking account, and four days after my call about the savings account, the fraudulent company is still is able to make ACH withdraws from my savings account. In one week, I have called Citizens three times about this company, and submitted two claims against them, and yet there still is not a stop pay in place on the savings account. 
4. I received different information from different reps about how fraudulent claims work. A rep for my first claim told me that a it is processed within 24 hours, and the results mailed ( no email or phone call available ) in 7-10 business days. Another rep for the second claim said that it can take up to 8 business days to process. 
5. A company that had been previously flagged as fraudulent was able to make ACH withdrawals in only 3 days. But it will take 8 days to get the money back. 3 days for anyone who wants to take money out ; 8 days to get money that is yours back.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation