Consumer complaint received 2025-09-12 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Deposits and withdrawals
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
State: OH

Complaint narrative:
My purse and wallet were stolen on XX/XX/year>. I put a freeze on my debit card immediately and then reported it stolen to Citizens Bank, where our account is located. I filed a police report about the stolen purse and froze all of my personal accounts. I then received a new debit card for the then current bank account and was told that the previous card was cancelled. 

Then, on XX/XX/year> someone took my cancelled debit card and driver 's license to a branch of Citizens Bank in XXXX, Ohio where they tried to deposit fraudulent checks ( one for {$4000.00} and one for {$5000.00} ) into my account and then withdrew {$4000.00} from our account. We discovered the activity that evening and contacted the fraud department at Citizens Bank. We told them that we were not the ones in the bank, we did not deposit those checks, and we did not withdraw {$4000.00}. Citizens said they would investigate the claim and returned our money to us. My husband opened a new account in a branch of Citizens Bank on Saturday, XX/XX/XXXX and was told at that branch that our money ( {$4700.00} ) would be transferred to the new account by XXXX, XXXX XXXX. He was also told that the original acct. would be closed.on the XXXX. I spoke with the bank manager of the XXXX branch that wrongfully gave our money away on Saturday as well, and was told that she was sorry for the theft, that people can easily access someone's bank account with only a name and an address, and that the issue would be investigated by the bank. In the meantime, the fraudulent checks were deposited into our account and then removed. There was never a credit applied to the account for the stolen money - the transfer to our new account was debited from the false funds applied for the checks. When all was removed, there was a large negative balance in the account. Citizens continued to debit items form that account which was supposed to be closed, which increased the deficit, but no one contacted us about it. The XXXX Police department issued a subpoena for the video from the XXXX bank on XX/XX/XXXX. 2025 in an attempt to discover who stole my purse and were told that the bank needed a 30 day extension to provide the video. 

The account was not closed on the XXXX and we discovered this when we realized that the debit card issued for the new account was sent ot an old address where we no longer live. When the branch offered to issue a new one at their location on XXXX XXXX, it was linked to the original account. The next day, my hisband returned to the branch and they fixed the debit card. He asked them again, on XX/XX/year> to close the original account. They did not. 

Then on XX/XX/year> both of our direct deposits from work - our paychecks- were put into the original account - the one that was supposed to be closed and that had the negative balance. Needless to say, our paychecks were swallowed up by the negative balance. We discovered this on XX/XX/year>. My husband returned to a branch and spent XXXX hours with the XXXX trying to discover the problem. It was determined that the problem was that the line item that showed our credited money back to us from the theft was never entered on the account. That branch manager filed a new expedited claim on XXXX XXXX, 2025 and told us that it would take 1-2 business days. When nothing happened after 3 days, we contacted customer service multiple times and were told a variety of different things- the claim was processing, it would take as many as 5 business days, and we needed to wait until after XXXX for the credit to appear in our account. After 7 business days and 2 weeks without access to our money, I called customer service again and was told that the claim had been withdrawn on the same day that it was filed and that there was no information about it that she could see. My husband called as well and was told that a superviser could see that claim and the other claim and that it should have been taken care of already. He said that he would get it fixed in 1-2 business days - that was Tuesday evening, XXXX XXXX. He said that it had been decided that we stole the original money and that was why ther was no credit, but that he would correct that. It has now been more than 2 business days and nothing has been fixed We then received a letter yesterday, XX/XX/year>, in the mail that the original dispute of the stolen {$4000.00} had been reviewed and it was determined that we had stolen the money and that a credit would not be issued. This is why there was not and still is not a line item on our account that credits the money they returned to us. As a result they are refusing to return the money that was deposited into the account between XXXX XXXX even though it was supposed to be closed. This money rightfully belongs to us as it is our paycheck direct deposits, a XXXX transfer that never should have gone in there, and a hold that was returned to us. Those deposits totaled over {$4600.00}. They transferred {$1200.00} of the money that remained after the negative balance was corrected. The letter said that we could call a given number and speak with someone about the info/documents used to determine that the fraud was a false claim, but that number directed me to the same call center and multiple entry level customer service representatives- even when I asked to speak with some one who could help. 

As if all of this were not frustrating enough, every time we are given a number to contact to help us fix this injustice, it is always the same customer call center with people who can not help us, who tell us different things every time, who refuse to transfer us to the people that are making these decisions, who tell us that we can not speak to those people, and who just transfer us to another person at the same call center. We have spent hours on the phone and have gotten basically nowhere. We have visited multiple different branches only to be told that they can not fix the problem or speak on the phone with someone who can. We have been without money for weeks, have a family to feed, bills to pay, late fees accumulating, and no one at Citizen Bank willing to listen, to help, to correct the problem, or let us speak with someone who could. It has been beyond frustrating, maddening, and disheartening to deal with a bank that I have been with for 30+ years and that our children have accounts with, only to be treated so poorly, to be accused of stealing from them, and to be given so little help wth such a serious issue.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief