Consumer complaint received 2025-04-28 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Savings account
Issue: Managing an account — Deposits and withdrawals
Company: FIRST CITIZENS BANCSHARES, INC.

Complaint narrative:
My XXXX  and I are XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. For the past XXXX  years we have been holding a joint XXXX XXXX XXXX account at what was then XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, XXXX  XXXX. 

Unfortunately, in XXXX, this institution was acquired by First Citizens Bank, and since then, we have experienced persistent and unacceptable service issues. This is now our XXXX  complaint to the CFPB regarding this matter. 

First Citizens Bank is unable to provide checkbooks for its XXXX  clients, due to limitations with its vendor, XXXX XXXX, which only ships to domestic U.S. addresses. Calling the banks customer service turned out, as always, to be useless, because their representatives had no idea how to solve the problem. After giving me the run around for more than an XXXX  on an expensive XXXX  call ( which I recorded ), they promised to solve the problem, but obviously did not. 

Nevertheless, and despite my informing him of this fact, my branch manager, XXXX XXXX XXXX, refused my request to order the checks to his branch and then send them to my XXXX  XXXX  via XXXX. Instead, ignoring the vendors inability to do so, he placed a check order on my behalf, expecting the vendor to send the checks XXXX. 

The checks, of course, never arrived. The vendor can not even provide proof that the checks were ever printed or sent. 

The bank responded to the complaint I filed with the CFPB ( complaint # XXXX ) with a series of lies ( which I can easily disprove by the documentation and recording I have ), such as that it was I who cancelled my checks order Worse than that they have decided that the checks mentioned above are now " lost '' and put a hold on my account. 

This was the last straw we have realized that this bank is rotten to the core and have decided to take our money and move it to a dependable, responsible, and decent bank. 

However, in order to lift the hold on our account, the bank now requires us to submit a 'Stop Payment ' request and sign an Indemnity and Hold Harmless Agreement, SPECIFYING THE SERIAL NUMBERS AND AMOUNTS OF EACH " LOST '' CHECK. 

BUT HOW EXACTLY CAN WE POSSIBLY COMPLETE THOSE DOCUMENTS? Besides the small matter that no checks were truly lost, ( and also nor issued or sent ), WE HAVE NEITHER CHECK SERIAL NUMBERS NOR AMOUNTS ON CHECKS, because WE DID NOT RECEIVE ANY CHECKS FROM FIRST CITIZENS! The bank 's requirement is unreasonable and illustrates a fundamental lack of understanding and professionalism. 

Since we have no checks, we found another way to move our money from this bank. We were happy to read the following declaration in the bank 's response : " The Bank has not disabled the ability to transfer funds to an account you own held at another financial institution ''. 

Relying on that statement, on XX/XX/XXXX we initiated a request through First Citizens ' website to link our account to an account we have at XXXX XXXX XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX First Citizens approved our request. Now our account at XXXX is an external account to our account in First Citizens. I have attached the authorization screenshot that notifies us that our external account " has been successfully verified and can now be used to transfer funds ''. 
( An " external account '' is defined by First Citizens as " an account you have at another financial institution '' that is " linked for electronic transfers '' ). 

On XX/XX/XXXX I made a test transfer of {$100.00} from First Citizens to XXXX. The transfer was authorized by First Citizens, as can be seen in the attached authorization document from the bank. However, a day later, the transfer appeared as " Denied '', as can be seen in the attached screenshot. 

Now if " The Bank has not disabled the ability to transfer funds to an account you own held at another financial institution '' and if it initially authorized the electronic transfer WHY WAS THIS TRANSFER DENIED??? 

THIS IS NOT A CHECK ISSUE! this is a blocked ELECTRONIC TRANSFER between XXXX verified XXXX accounts. The bank 's contradictory actions are obstructing our access to our legally held funds.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation