Citizens Bank Consumer Reviews - Page 6

I have had a horrible few months with this bank. I have been banking with Citizens since 2004 with no major problems. If I did have a problem with my accounts and overdrew it, I would completely take blame for what happened. But lately I am so paranoid about my accounts.

First: When I opened my savings account I was told that it would be used for overdraft protection. If my account was overdrawn then my savings account would automatically cover the overage. My account was overdrawn by 58cents. I had enough in the savings to cover it but still got a $35 fee. I called the phone bank and was told that there was a fee for the service. I told the representative that I was told it was automatic. I was told, "Well that's wrong, you'll have to talk to the person who told you that". They don't own up to anything.

A month or so later, still paranoid, I call home to ask my fiance to look at my online account. There were two identical holds for a purchase I made at work. We transferred almost all of my savings into my checking to cover it. I thought it was covered. Later when I looked at the account online my numbers were not even close to the online numbers. I called the phone bank and was told that I was charged an overdraft fee for a hold.

I informed the representative that it had to have been a double hold because I only made one purchase. She said that sometimes if it's a double hold, the second one goes away and the money is not taken out of the account. BUT I would still have to pay the fee. Sounds like a bank error to me, since we looked everything up in the register log and it was only rung up once.

So after asking if the fee would be reversed if the hold was lifted on the duplicate, I was told that I would have to chase my money down from the company. There was no way they would give me the money back, even though my money wasn't even taken. The company I work for seems to be working on it, but it's been so long. So that was almost a month ago, and here I am about $40 poorer for something that wasn't even my fault.

I have used Mellon then Citizens Bank for the last 25 years. I was in the supermarket Saturday trying to pay for a cart of groceries with my Citizens Bank debit card. It wouldn't take either of my 2 debit cards for 2 different accounts. I walk away in disgrace, knowing that I have $5000 cash in the accounts, and call the 800 number on the back of the card from the parking lot. I was told that due to a keying error on a withdrawal, my accounts were $41,000 in the hole. After 2 levels of management, I was told to wait until Monday to have it rectified.

I go home with no groceries or gas in my car, get on the computer and discover that a withdrawal for $46,761.69 came out of my account 4 days ago, in which I had less than $4000.00 in cash at that time. I sent an email to them.
Monday morning, I called them, got a supervisor on the line who corrected the situation in approx 20 minutes. I asked her "Why should I continue doing business with Citizen's Bank?" and for an official apology on paper. I received a verbal apology from a lower level supervisor for my "inconvenience".

I haven't yet decided how many more hours I will devote to this project, like changing banks, setting up new online banking and auto pay, checking current account daily, and dreading past due bills mail delivery although Citizen's says that they "took care of that", shopping at a different supermarket, because I can't go back there. What I do know is if I went into a bank and tried to withdraw 10 times what I had in the cash balance, I would be escorted by security to a local cop car.

If I keyed in the wrong account number by one digit, and a withdrawal went through, I would be fired, and as a supervisor of the corporation, I would be wondering why the withdrawal went through at all. Where were the bells and whistles... the software security that won't let you remove more than is there plus credit line? I get held economically hostage for 5 days by Citizens Bank, and a verbal "I'm sorry for your inconvenience" is the party line.

I just had an issue that was PARTIALLY my fault and partially not. I had 106 dollars in my account on Friday. On Saturday I made purchases totally 104 dollars. The money was all done as credit, each one I have receipts for the time they were done. These were done March 19. Come Monday morning, I see overdraft fees for ALL of my purchases except 1!!! We had an automatic payment that I forgot about that was debited on March 22. I thought I had changed the credit card that it came off of from this debit to a new account. I can't figure out how I get NSF fees when the money is there.

Well come to find out.. even though the holds were placed on Saturday.. as Of Monday morning, they remove the holds that I had placed on Saturday, ran the debit HOLD from the 22nd FIRST- THEN ran all the debits through. This was explained to us by the manager and he FLAT OUT ADMITTED... it's an attempt to get NSF fees because in August this practice becomes illegal.

So basically I had 106 and there were holds totally $104. Monday they take off ALL THE HOLDS and then they placed a hold for $7 (yes 7) THEN proceeded to run the rest of the transactions through in the following order:

$7 hold placed March 22
$75 March 19
$25 March 19
$3 March 19
$1.20 March 19

So after the 75 came out I was "overdrawn". Here is the kicker - the hold placed the 22 didn't POST to the bank until the following day. In total I SHOULD have been overdrawn on TUES for 46 dollars. I agree. My fault I should have checked the website to see which card I had it set on. But I was actually overdrawn to the tune of $192 because of their changing the order of debits. Yeah, it's tricky math and they KNOW it's dishonest but they want all the fees they can get until the law goes into effect in August.

I have banked with Citizens Bank for over 7 years (before they were big and competing with Bank of America). Recently I have noticed that they have adopted new policies and "rules" and fees that are designed to make them a huge profit. If you bank online with them, you will see that what they see electronically differs from what you see on your computer (and that you can't print out the dates, either). I recently was charged $273 in overdraft fees on 7 items that I paid with my ATM debit card (so they claimed). Originally, those items had been paid.

Then they rearranged the dates paid to pay off a big check that finally posted. They say they do this as a courtesy to ensure your more important bills like your rent, mortgage, etc. are paid. But, in reality, they pay that out anyway before they bounce a check. They rearrange the order of items paid so that they can charge you overdraft fees on as much as they can. I obsess over our accounts because I have to maintain my household and family business on limited funds. I was told that perhaps I can just withdraw a lump sum of cash on days that I am shopping. What the? Another representative told me that I was right in my check register, but that the bank was right too.

I had a customer service supervisor patronizingly give me a quick tutorial in balancing your checkbook. Geez like I don't know how to do that already. Then they don't own up to bank errors. The availability vs the real balances are manipulated and vary daily to trick you into overdrawing your account. They must make millions. The sad part is that it is legal since it's in their policies. Needless to say, my husband is closing his small business accounts and our personal accounts with them this week. They won't make any more money from us. Bloodsucking maggots! How can you rob ordinary working folks to make your millions?

WILLOW GROVE, PENNSYLVANIA -- Back in July 2009, Citizens Bank "un-linked" my auto loan (their error) to my checking account. This caused my balance to drop below the acceptable balance. Of course I was not aware of this internal error. My balance dropped below enough where I was charged a $20.00 maintenance fee. I went to my branch (in Willow Grove, PA) - they advised me to call the 800 #. I called the 800# - they "re-linked" my auto loan to my checking account. I told them I wanted the $20 refunded. After about 45 minutes of telling the story and being passed around, they told me they would credit it as a "one time courtesy" as if they were doing me a favor. I told them to keep their courtesy.

It was their error and they need to reverse the fee. They told me for that I needed to go back to the branch. I have been to the branch (Willow Grove, PA) about this at least 5 times and have names of all of the people there who have not helped me. On my last visit, they could not find my issue in the database and asked me to give all the dates/details again. I sent the representative a 3 page letter detailing everything (all over TWENTY DOLLARS). They have not even had the courtesy to contact me and of course the $20.00 has still not been refunded to my account.

I have now spent the time to lodge a complaint with the PA Banking Commission. I have been trying to get my $20 back since September '09 and it is now February 2010 - I have never encountered such a lack of concern or such poor customer service in my life. There is nobody at that bank that cares about the customer. Once they get your account, you are on your own. I will NEVER do business with them again.

I have wasted so much time trying to get a stinkin $20 given back to me that they took. They will give you $50 to open a new account, yet they don't care ANYTHING about customer retention after that. Citizens Bank is the worst bank I have ever dealt with in my life.

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA -- Citizens Bank denies it, but I have no doubt that they either have a special office or an individual who pulls certain accounts in order to manipulate the results to throw consumers into defaults. To give one scenario, Citizens is constantly involved in holding on to various transactions, for long periods of time, so that they can look them over and then creatively re-arrange transaction dates and times to clear the bank so that the results are in their favor and so they can raid your account of multiple overdraft fees.

They state that it is all done by machine, but I highly doubt that any mechanical feature could be so "humanly corrupt." For example, the bank has what are called ledger balances, hold balances and other balances that may show you that items were sent through earlier, but in all actuality they have not yet cleared the bank. You write a large check, only to find that you may be several dollars over when compared to your bank book and earlier checks that you appears to have cleared, or are way past the time that they should have.

The large check may have gone through with only one overdraft fee for the slight shortfall, but then you find that 5 or six smaller checks or ATM transactions, that the bank has held onto long past the time they should have cleared, suddenly appear after the larger check has gone through and the 5 or six smaller transactions, which may only total an amount of $20.00 or $25.00 collectively, are sent through after the larger check and you are charged a $40.00 fee 5 or six times for those smaller checks.

On top of that they charge you another fee on top of those if the overdraft, that they have most likely caused, is not taken care of within a week. Then they can also send those smaller amounts through a second or a third time, charging additional fees on each occasion. When you inquire, they generally tell you that you should know how to balance your account, which is almost impossible because they have it set up, through their "actual" and "ledger" balances, so that you never actually know what your balance truly is, until it is too late.

This practice is specifically designed for clients who live paycheck to paycheck, only to find that through their "Creative Balance Practices Office," you may not have a payday when they are done "screwing you around!" If you have a direct-deposit, such as I do, you can literally find that there is no money in your account by payday. Someone needs to look into this. It appears to be generally known by clients and Citizens Bank employees alike, that Citizens Bank is known for these types of rip-off practices. I have even had past and present employees of Citizens confide to me that my suspicions are not far off the mark.

MASSACHUSETTS -- I just read the other review of someone who lost $500.00 in fees. In the last 3 months I have given this bank over $1000.00 and never got it back. I was even threatened to be cut off my accounts for fighting back. Well I have a complaint with the comptroller's office. I encourage everyone to make a complaint. I use my Paypal card and never got a fee for that. I was told by a bank manager to go ahead and charge and it takes 2 days to clear. Well that's now changed. The second you swipe your card it's charged a fee through a computer system.

The online banking agreement clearly states that anything on hold is not counted in the balance summary. That's good for the banks view but they clearly charge fees within seconds for an item on hold. Let's see. I had an overdraft fee of a dollar. Within seconds a fee is charged of $39.00. Seconds later a debit of $2.00. From the day before gets charged another $39.00 and a day later a new $25.00 charge appears. A total of over a hundred dollars for a less than $2.00 charge. I should be so lucky that the bank approved this charge.

I fought with customer advocacy. She was a crook. She lied and tried to trick me. I fought back by sending in a consumer complaint. I think a federal judge needs to arrest the CEO. We all need to stand up together and fight back in a legal manner. Citizens is singled out and in comparison to other banks is the worst. That's a fact.

Sure we can choose to leave but what if our accounts are tied into other accounts. I don't put up with this kind of stuff. I think someone should write one of those online petitions and post it here. I'm sure many would sign it and then we could prosecute. A class action lawsuit takes too long.

A government investigation will not. Why did Citizens remove Mastercard for Visa? Maybe too many complaints were made. I will fight. I have saved the threats and will send them along as evidence. They ruined my Christmas and many others. Why should they make hundreds of dollars illegally on interest for dollar items?

Every time I go to the bank they wave a register at me and say that I can't handle my finances. However none of them speak English so they wave this paper like a crazy person. Are they even citizens of the country? Maybe through marriage. Maybe they're married to relatives of terrorists. That's how it's funded. Wake up America. Where do you think this money comes from? We are in deep trouble if this kind of loan shark activity continues.

I have just posted remarks to what happened to me in regards to Citizens Bank in Pittsfield NH, and with how it all started with Bennington VT. I have filed with the BBB and the Office of the Comptroller, this is the reply that was just Posted to the BBB site. I will delete any personal references to my name and other information that is not allowed, but if you want more information you can always email me through this site and I would be more than happy to fill you in with all of the gory details. Here is their response:

"Please note: Hardcopy response mailed to customer on 11/06/09. November 6, 2009 Mr. ** Re: Checking Account number ending in ** Stop Payment/Stale Dated Check/Fee Rebate Request Dear Mr. **: I am writing in response to your letter we received on November 5, 2009 addressed to the Better Business Bureau, regarding the above referenced account and issues. Enclosed is a copy of our response letter we are sending to you as of the date of this letter that was addressed to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency regarding the same issue outlined in this complaint.

Our research has determined there was no fraud or bank error related to the stop payment that had expired or the check that you dated in March 2009 and was cashed by the payee in October 2009. We did honor your request and provided you with a courtesy rebate of $78.00, which posted to your account on October 21, 2009. We appreciate the time you took to express your thoughts and for providing us with the opportunity to respond. If you have any further questions or concerns, please contact me at **. Sincerely, ** Executive Services Senior Advocate Enclosure CC: Better Business Bureau Case # **."

Now bear in mind that that $78 dollars was given to me posted against an overdraft of $190 that they charged me the day before, so it didn't free up any money. Not to mention that they took an additional $681 dollars from me the week before.

AGAIN I CAN NOT STRESS TO EVERYONE ENOUGH NOT TO USE THIS BANK. They will only take your money and they do not practice what their commercials show. Learn from my experience. If you have Citizens Bank, close your account and find a better bank!

Hello. This is not a lie. I now know about Citizens Bank more than many of their workers because of the fees. Here is what happened: On the 6th of August 2009 I made an ATM withdrawal of $100.00 from my account at 4PM ET while a had $189.00 available. (based on the information from one of the representative that the ATM Cut off time is 6PM ET, which means that every ATM withdrawal made after 6PM ET may be considered as made on the next business day. As you can see 4PM ET is before 6PM ET.

When I made another transaction on the 7th which put a hold on my account and by the rules of Citizens Bank, they cannot charge you an overdraft fee for a transaction that has not been posted to your account. In other words, there is no charge on a transaction on hold until it's cleared, which can take a couple of days. So if you have a hold on your account and made a deposit before it clears or clears the same day you make a deposit, YOU WILL NOT GET CHARGED by Citizens Bank.

Back to what the bank did, they posted on the 7th my $100 transaction made on the 6th at 4PM ET before 6PM and charged me because of the holds caused on the 7th, just so they can charge me, even though that transaction was not posted until the 10th. When I called them and spoke to another representative she said that the withdrawal was made on the 7th --a lie, and ask to speak to a supervisor, she said the same thing the 7th--another lie.

When I told them that I never made any ATM withdrawal on the 7th, she said that this particular transaction was an exception that it went through on the next day even though it was before 6PM ET the official cut off time. I said to refund me then, she put me on hold and come back and said that the ATM cut off time is 3PM ET-- the time just changed from 6PM ET to 3PM ET--another lie.

IMAGINE THIS, you withdraw your own money on a day at 4PM, the ATM shows you your new balance automatically after the money you took out and the bank post that same transaction on your account on the next day because by doing so it will cause an overdraft fee and the bank makes money by playing with dates on your account and lie in your face about the dates. DO NOT EVER GET AN ACCOUNT with Citizens Bank. It's based on lies and rip off. I hope this help save you from them. Thanks to everyone.

I recently changed banks from Citizens to Chase, but there was still some money in my Citizens account. I made 3 ATM withdrawals from Citizens after that time, but apparently there was not enough money in the account to cover the transaction. However, the ATM still allowed my to withdrawal funds, and did not inform me that the balance would be less negative as a result of that. Now, I admit that I should have known that there was no money in the account. But I also figured that the ATM would not allow me to withdrawal money that isn't there.

I called Citizens and the story I got was that in the past they had received more complaints that the ATM wouldn't give out money, even if there was no money in the account. So they changed their policy to allow people to withdrawal money, with the understanding that they would be hit with overdraft fees. They would not reverse any charges, as there was no mistake by the bank.

I told them that I did not receive any such notification. The banker actually told me that I should have called them to inform them that I did not receive the paperwork. How am I supposed to know that I didn't receive any paperwork? While this may be legal, it is certainly highly unethical. If there is no money in the account, then the bank should deny funds. I do not have a line of credit with the bank, and this policy basically amounts to a very high interest short term loan.

This makes the Citizens ATM basically a "payday loan shark". People want some cash, and don't have it in the bank. But hey, payday is in two days, so they just withdraw it from the ATM. For withdrawals in the amount of $70, I was hit with fees of $187, over the course of two weeks. If that was a loan, then the interest rate would be (I think) over 6000% a year.