Consumer complaint received 2024-12-24 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Problem accessing account
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
State: MI

Complaint narrative:
I opened a Citizens checking account back in XX/XX/XXXX, only because I just started a new job and my employer wrote my paychecks from a Citizens Bank account. I also bank with XXXX, but there were no branches or ATMs in the vicinity to and from where I work. I wanted make it easy to cash my checks, do deposits etc. From the beginning of opening the account, I have had nothing but issues with them, especially since I found out they put holds on all my checks for at least XXXX hours and I have no access to my funds. Since my wife and I both have bank accounts at XXXX, I normally transfer all the money I deposit to my Citizens account via XXXX XXXX. Since they were putting holds on my check and this was creating a problem for us, I decided to stop using the account and just bank through XXXX alone. Unbeknownst to me, I was using my wife 's email address as the contact for XXXX through Citizens and XXXX, which I had no clue I could not do. On Friday XX/XX/XXXX, I XXXX paid my wife my entire check of {$700.00} and the funds went to Citizens instead of XXXX because the email address contacts were the same. When I tried to access my Citizens account to correct the error, I found out that, for a reason unknown to me, Citizens put a hold on my account for " review. '' The employee at Citizens bank would not tell me why my account was in review and said I would have to wait for a letter. Mind you, this is the Friday before XXXX and {$700.00} was all we had to complete our shopping and errands prior to the XXXX. I called my wife from Citizens and put her on speaker, and the employee rudely told her he could not talk to her as she was not on the account, even though I was standing there and allowing him to talk to her. He said I could call customer service but other than that he could not help me, as he was not " allowed '' to tell me why my account was in review. I called customer service and they told me the same thing, they were not allowed to tell me and I would have to wait for a letter to come in the mail. I am an ordinary middle-class worker who relies on each and every paycheck to make it to the next week, and to put a hold on my funds without telling me why, without speaking to me about it like a human being and basically treating me like some kind of criminal IS criminal. They did not allow me the opportunity to defend myself or even know why I was defending myself. This is NOT customer service ; this is guilty before proven innocent. I still don't know when I will be able to access my funds or when this letter is going to arrive, but not having access to {$700.00} is putting an extreme financial burden on myself and my wife. We live paycheck to paycheck and are law-abiding citizens, and Citizens Bank should have had the decency to treat us as such. I am appalled and disgusted with what they did. I am XXXX XXXX XXXX, and in all my life of banking, I have never come across such a thing as a bank being allowed to hold your money XXXX. Please help my wife and myself have a XXXX XXXX.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation