Consumer complaint received 2025-02-03 00:00:00
Product: Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Improper use of your report — Credit inquiries on your report that you don't recognize
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
State: NC

Complaint narrative:
I went to an XXXXXXXX XXXX while visiting XXXX, CO on XX/XX/year> to look into getting a new XXXX. After deciding to move forward, the rep mentioned a promotion where the phone could be obtained at a 0 % financing rate and they would just need a bit of information to move forward. 

This rate and deal was being managed by Citizens Bank. Although the amount of the phone was not that great, I decided to move forward with the offer to break up the expense vs paying all at once since it would not cost any additional money to do so. After Providing all of the necessary information, the apple representative submitted the application and then immediately told me it was denied. I asked for the reason, and they could not give one. They instead gave me a phone number XXXX to contact to confirm what the reasoning for denial was. I called the number as I was concerned about being denied for such a small amount given I have outstanding credit history and plenty of income to support the small monthly payment. Upon contacting the number the individual I spoke to said I was not actually denied the loan, but instead they would need further information to verify me. I told them great, and I could provide what information they needed to move forward. They then told me that they could not do the verification themselves and would need to get a supervisor to contact me. I told them I was in the store and would wait until a supervisor was available in order to complete whatever information was needed. They proceeded to put me on hold for 20 minutes before just ending the call without any sort of verification being done. I called back and spoke to another representative who had the same narrative mentioning a supervisor would need to do the verification. This person told me a different story and said that the supervisor would not be in touch for 3 business days. I told them that this is unacceptable as I had no intention of waiting several business days and that if they could not get someone on the line at that time then they would need to retract the hard credit inquiry they took out against me since it was not a valid denial reason and they just didn't have the resources to complete. The representative told me that would not be a problem and they would submit for it to be removed. They also said that a supervisor representative would follow up within XXXX business days and confirm the removal. Fast forward ahead to XX/XX/year> I contacted the number back after not receiving any sort of response and still saw the credit inquiry on my credit report. During this interaction I was actually transferred to a so called " Supervisor '' upon request. This " Supervisor '' named XXXX assured me that I was in the system to be contacted by a " Supervisor '' on XX/XX/year>. I asked him why he could not handle the correction himself, and he explained it would be completed by another department. I asked for the name of that department and he would not provide me with any details. I did not receive a call from anyone at this institution on XX/XX/year> as promised. On XX/XX/year> I called back and was connected with another " Supervisor '' named XXXX. XXXX told me that the hard removal was in process, but could not give me a timeframe for the removal. It is now XXXX and I have yet to receive the follow up promised and do not believe the company has any intentions of retracting their mistake. This is by far the most shady dealing I've ever experienced working with any bank. It is surprising this institution is actually allowed to operate in the manner at which they do.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation