Consumer complaint received 2024-03-02 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Problem caused by your funds being low — Overdrafts and overdraft fees
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
State: PA

Complaint narrative:
THEY ARE CHARGING OVERDRAFT FEES TO CUSTOMERS DUE TO THEIR PEACE OF MIND REBATES!!!! I submitted a complaint on XX/XX/2024 ( COMPLAINT ID XXXX, that THE XXXX submitted to Citizen 's Bank in which they responded it was a duplicate. It IS NOT A DUPLICATE. IT MAY HAVE APPEARED TO THYEM TO BE A DUPLICATE BECAUSE THEY REFUSE TO CORRECT AN EGREGOUS ERROR IN THEIR ACCOUNTING IN WHICH THEIR SUPPOSED PEACE OF MIND REBATES ARE NOT CREDITED BACK TO THEIR CUSTOMERS ON THE SAME DAY THAT THE CUSTOMER 'S RECTIFIES HIS OR HER BALANCE. 

IT HAS HAPPENED XXXX IN THE MONTH OF XXXX TO ME. ONE COMPLAINT HAS BEEN ADDRESSED BY THEM EARLIER IN THE MONTH, BUT THIS MOST RECENT COMPLAINT IS NOT A DUPLICATE! 

HERE ARE THE DETAILS AGAIN : Your " Peace of Mind '' rebates are false and deceptive. If Citizen 's bank was truly interested in extending help to its customers who overdraft their account, it would not have allowed its " overdraft charges '' to overdraw an account that had a deposit made by XXXX XXXX  that rectified the overage amount. I had hoped that by bringing this matter to your attention in my last complaint, that Citizen 's Bank if it is truly interested in learning about its products from its customers would have corrected their accounting practices. If I make a deposit by XXXXXXXX XXXX that covers the amount that may account is overdrawn by then why would THE OVERDRAFT FEES STILL be charged to my account? I realize the need by Citizens Bank to have accounting for your " Peace of Mind " rebates, but why is the crediting of the " Peace of Mind '' rebates not done on the same day as the " peace of Mind '' fees are assessed if the overage amount has been rectified? They need to be if you're offering to your customers of " Peace of Mind '' rebates are genuine. Even if an account overage is rectified, your system STILL charges overdraft fees that day to only then credit those overdraft fees back to the customer the following morning. Why? If I make a deposit by XXXX XXXX that brings my checking account current, why is my account not debited AND credited the same day of the overdraft charges. As it stands now, your system proceeds to debit the account of the overdraft fees when debited from the account leave the account with a negative balance. So those " Peace of Mind '' rebates that still get debited leave the rectified balance in an account in the red. Your accounting takes them out which first which then causes any other debits that come through that day to overdraw the account again because your fees swallowed up the money that was in the account for them to be paid. Oh, but then the next morning your overdraft fees are credited back to the account, so the account starts the day in the positive. So those overdraft fees are credited back the next morning, but they have done damage by overdrawing my account again. So, then the debits that also went through that same day that my account gets charged for the overdraft fees ( that should not have been assessed because I made a deposit rectifying the overage from the previous day ) OVERDRAWS MY ACCOUNT AGAIN! IF your accounting of your PEACE OF MIND FEES was done properly both the debiting and crediting of the fees should be done on the same day that the deposit was made that rectified the previous day 's overage. This way your overage fees overdraw the account so in the end, you still ensure by your erroneous accounting that your overdraft fees that overdraw the account one day to only be credited the next GENERATE MORE OVERDRAFT FEES. This can be seen quite readily in the screenshot that I have included for your review. On XX/XX/2024, I made a deposit that covered my overage amount from the previous day plus the amount for the debits that came through that day. I deposited {$220.00} and my overage plus debit charges from that day total {$210.00} so I should have had a {$3.00} balance at the day 's end. That way not the case because your {$170.00} overdrafts fees swallowed my balance up which the XXXX debits then proceeded to overdraw it. The next morning, I am credited with the {$170.00} but then the XXXX debits that your overdraft fees ) made those debits overdraw my account causing me to STILL PAY {$100.00} overdraft fees. So please explain how your erroneous accounting practices of your " Peace of Mind '' rebates does not undermine the whole idea of why they were supposedly put into effect ... to show Citizen 's bank understanding of the ha5rdships of people and families who are struggling to pay their bills.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief