I started an account with Citizens Bank in Linglestown, PA. At that time, I was asked if I would like to start a savings account with them as overdraft protection to the checking account. I agreed, it wouldn't hurt. Recently, I transferred money into my savings account from an external bank to cover an automatic withdrawal on my checking account. I had not been to their website to physically transfer the money from savings to checking. The auto withdraw went through and I was charged a $37 fee even though the money in savings would have easily covered the charge. Citizens claimed that I did not have my savings account linked to my checking account! This was the very reason I gave the banker in Linglestown the authority to open a savings account! When I pressed them for a refund, they refused, stated that their fine print rules were not followed by me, and ended with a "We value your business and you as a customer" garbage. This bank, like many others, slams the middle and low income folks.
Consumer Complaints & Reviews
We have several business accounts and they charge just to count your money. We put our deposit in the night deposit before they even open up the bank and just because they are to lazy to count the money (which is cash) first thing in the morning, they charge us $39.99 because of late fee. They should have counted the money first thing in the morning then over that they charge me a monthly fee because we put cash in. Their customer service is lousy and the management in the West Grove, PA doesn't even try to help with situations.
I called the customer service and was explaining the issues and the lady was very nasty. She did not care to hear what I had to say and I told her that if she keeps the attitude, people are going to leave and she said that she did not care. I asked for supervisor and they never even came to the phone. This is the worst bank I have ever doubt with. The night deposit box is hidden in the back of the building with no lighting. When it snows, the steps are slippery. They never salted it. I had to call and complain about that and finally someone came out and fixed the lighting. It was pitch dark out there.
Now you know it is common sense that if you are depositing in the night that you are putting money in the box, you should feel safe and not afraid because of no lighting. I had to use my car head lights to light up where I was even going. Lousy service. I am going to take my business elsewhere and I will make sure I tell all of my friends. It's fine to charge a fee but come on, over $40 up to $80 month. Be careful. They want your business then once you're there, they treat you as if you were not around. They act like they don't know who you are!
Due to unexpected circumstances, my checking account became overdrawn by $3.23. Citizens Bank placed penalties on me which added up to $73. The overdraft was only $3.23. The overdraft was not not even my fault. I checked my account balance twice on an ATM machine. I didn't know there was a $3 charge each time. This $6 is what made my account overdrawn. Still, penalizing me $73 for a $3 overdraft is blantantly excessive. It is 2400% penalty.
At the end of December, my checking account was getting low. I was keeping a close watch on it. There was only withdrawal due. It was $56 for DirecTV. I had enough money in my account to cover this, but I was charged two $3 fees for checking how much was in my account. This $6 was what made my account overdrawn, and the overdrawn amount was only $3.23. Now, they are penalizing me with heavy NSF fees and other penalties.
Recently I filed a complaint with you concerning Citizens Bank and the excessive, repetitive overdraft fees they penalized me with. After you became involved, they refunded a partial of the total amount of fees they added to my account. I was satisfied with this outcome and thought the matter was over. But now they are doing it all over again. They added another $37.00 insufficient fee charge and three more $6.99 daily service charges. So, the amount I owe has gone way back up again. The total amount since all of this has started has now climbed to over $150. I will have money available to put into this account very soon, within a few days, but they just keep piling on the penalties.
I had opened a checking account with Citizens Bank a couple years ago in order to cash checks issued by them from the company I worked for. I ended up opening that particular account because they had a special college savings account deal. When I opened the checking account, there were no fees tied to the account for anything whatsoever.
About a year later, something happened where my family incurred a hardship. This required me to relocate, stop school, take a demotion and pay cut, and have to commute extra miles to work, among other things. I had been receiving my mail in monthly increments because I was out of town. I looked at one of my statements and saw I was charged service fees for the paper statement and for just having the account.
I called, frustrated, and they "took care of it". They explained that they had to start doing this for everyone and that I needed to have X amount in my account or make Y number of transactions per month. A few months ago, I lost count of the transactions or they moved the "deadline date" because of a holiday, which I didn't realize made any difference.
I incurred at least $30 of service fees on this account, which is not even my primary bank. I have no record (to my knowledge) in my original 'contract' for opening the account that says they can change this at any time.
I called on 9/15 to tell them to put a stop on this month's automatic transfer to the savings account because my funds would be insufficient. Plus, I plan on closing my accounts due to me being unhappy with the charges incurred. They told me that I should have called sooner because it takes 3 days to do a stop payment, at which time the transfer would still take place. Thus putting my account into overdraft and still charging me an overdraft fee, even though I was opted out of fees.
On top of this, both accounts were inter-institution. So why would they charge me an overdraft fee? I had to wake up at this time of the night to realize I needed to make this transfer after a long day of classes and driving, with a lot to do the next day.
I opened a money market account for 12k over a year ago and agreed to the banker's suggestion to open a linked checking account as well.
December of 2010, I withdrew the funds from the money market to deposit elsewhere, leaving around 100 dollars in the checking account. I was unaware that my checking/money market accounts had to stay above 10k or a monthly penalty would be assessed.
However, this fee is not my complaint. Once discovering that 15 dollars were being taken from my checking account monthly, I called to close my accounts. In May of 2011, I spoke to a customer service representative who made me aware of a small balance (after months of fees) that was left. I told the bank I was not concerned about the very small balance, send me a check or don't, the accounts needed to be closed. The representative told me this was done.
August 2011, I received a letter stating that I owed Citizens Bank 87 dollars. Upon reading the letter, it showed that my accounts were not closed, the monthly fees continued to come out and come June, the fee sent my account in the negative, also occurring overdraft fees and daily overdraft fees.
I called customer service and explained the situation. The original customer service representative was helpful and told me the fees would most likely be waived and I would be receiving a call back. The so-called "specialist" that called me was rude and accepted no responsibility for the fact that the fees were assessed at the fault of the company, not me.
Throughout the entire conversation, the representative was difficult and condescending and this unfortunately ended in a yelling match. The bank refused to waive the fees, saying they would waive 30 "as a courtesy". Unfortunately, I was unable to get this resolved and paid the fees. It was a 57-dollar lesson that I will never bank with Citizens again.
On October 25, a check that was over 90 days was presented for payment and was paid. Because of this, my account was put into a negative balance. After requesting a courtesy reversal for a death in the family, I was told he could handle my request then he would work on it and contact me in 2 days time. It's been over 2 weeks and no contact. This has cost me over $175. Somehow this happened again for the second month in a row. I contacted customer service and had spoken with a relationship servicing man who was so rude and obnoxious.
When explaining my situation, he spoke simultaneously which leads me to think he cannot possibly hear me (and I'm the customer). I'm then told that in order to speak with his supervisor, I'd have to wait 15-30 minutes. He then tells me that the rule is the 10-min disconnect, which is to disconnect the customer in 10 minutes time. What kind of customer service is that? I also signed up for citizens alert.
This is to prevent another overdraft charge. Unfortunately there was no alert before these charges were put through. When trying to have my concerns addressed, Michael ** said that they cannot honor their policy because an overdraft fee would not be assessed. I am most disappointed! This has been my bank for over 10 years. I am very very dissatisfied and I want my money returned to me.
Citizens Bank closed my account and reported me to ChexSystems without contacting me. I did not use the card much because I switched my direct deposit to a new bank and did not know I had an outstanding debt. Suddenly, all my banks closed my accounts on the same day and I have literally been without money for the past week and will continue until I get paid again. I spoke with someone from the accounts department named Jose and he was the worst supervisor I've ever had contact with. His staff has better communication skills then he does. Banks should be forced to notify someone of an account closure and have proof that the person received the information. For example, a phone call or certified letter.
I have overdraft protection which I pay $5 a month for. This protection allows me to go $30 over my account balance with no fees. I went over my account balance by $35 and somehow wound up paying over $200 in fees! I do not understand how this happens and the bank just confuses me. I am guessing that they deducted the debits in such a way that they were charging me fees when I still had a positive balance. In October of 2009, I went over by a couple dollars and wound up paying over $500!
The bank was of no help to me, as they told me it was not a bank error. I wrote a letter but expect no results. I will provide my bank statement if necessary. Also, now the online banking is not working so I cannot see what is in my account! I am a college student and work part time so losing $200 in economically devastating to me.
These are the events that transpired after my purse was stolen:
I contacted Citizens Bank via phone to tell them what happened. I had both my debit card and my account numbers in my purse when they were stolen. I wanted to cancel EVERYTHING and open a new acct. The only thing they could do for me over the phone was to cancel my card ONLY, so I did that.
I went into the bank and told them what happened and wanted to open up a different acct. The acct that I had originally, I needed to keep b/c I had pending checks that still needed to be cashed. So the teller opened a new account for me and transferred the WRONG amt of funds to it (not what I asked but was ok with it considering she left enough in my acct for the check to cash) I was told by the teller that she could not reverse the transaction. As she was preparing the paperwork, I read the pamphlet and saw that I was going to be charged a monthly fee for my new checking acct.
This was new to me considering I had no fees on my previous acct. I confronted the teller who then made phone calls and then notified me that once I cancel my old acct then she would apply the 'no fee' to my new acct. (Now mind you I was not told this). Side Note: As we were wrapping things up both the teller and the manager tried to solicit me to contact my HR department at my place of employment to try to get an ATM placed there....after everything, very UNPROFESSIONAL!!!
A few days later, I checked my acct to see if the check had cashed, it did. BUT I was also negative in my acct because there were two pending charges that went through on my acct (one for approx $1.97 and one for approx $2.50) BOTH of which I was charged $39.00 overdraft fees for.
I WAS NOT NOTIFIED OF THESE PENDING TRANSACTIONS WHEN I WENT TO THE TELLER TO OPEN A NEW ACCT (MIND YOU MY PURSE WAS STOLEN). I called customer service 3 times and was only able to get one fee refunded to my acct. So now I am waiting for my acct to be positive again (with a deposit)
I get paid, pay my bills etc...Was unable to make it to the bank that day to close the acct so I waited. The next day I checked my acct and I was negative again. This time b/c my Car Payment was made to both my new acct and my old acct making my old acct negative AGAIN!!! I was also charged an overdraft fee for this. I called my bank and notified them of the situation in which they told me I needed to consult with the car company.
I then called Volkswagon and they told me I needed to obtain a "notice that they will not report a regulation e-claim" from my bank. I went to the bank to obtain this and they told me that they could not do that. I let VW know and they said that they could still refund me the money but it would take up to 20 days. So I agreed. I then proceeded to call Citizens to let them know that this would be happneing and not to charge me anymore fees to the negative acct. When I did this, they put me on the phone with a man who did not listen to a word I said...LITERALLY. He rushed me off the phone and before I could verify what had been put on hold, he hung up on me. I assure you that this is the honest to goodness truth. I was VERY VERY upset to the point of tears.
A week or so later, the money was placed back into my acct. I had filed a dispute with Citizens for the overdraft fee that I incurred from VW pulling the money from my acct. I sent that in and was able to get my overdraft fee put back in my acct.
A week or so later, I checked my account and had a "service charge" of 25.00 made to my acct. I called the bank and was told that was an annual fee (which I was unaware of) for my overdraft line of credit. I cancelled the line of credit and asked for overdraft protection. The CSR put everything into place for me and at the end of the phonecall I said, " there will be no more hidden fees placed on my acct right?"
Then she proceeded to tell me that if I did in fact overdraft, that I would be charged $15.00. I AM SO ANGRY AT THIS POINT. I don't understand the point of overdraft protection if you are still going to get charged!!!!! Again, I was not told this. I discovered this through asking questions.
Fast forward a few weeks later. My car sustained damage that needed $3,000 in work. I contacted my insurance agency who sent me two checks to cover the damage. I cashed them both at the same time. Mis-communication caused my mechanic to call the insurance company and he told them to cancel one check (which he thought he lost but didn't) and so State Farm cancelled that check. Meanwhile, I had already cashed it into my acct. My mechanic called me and told me what happend, and I told him that I had just cashed the checks and they went through. So I proceeded to call my bank and let them know the situation. I said "So the check for $940 is in my account correct?" He said "yes" I said "So the check for $1940 is in my account correct?" He said "Yes". So the money was in my account and showed up in my funds. I was satisfied and proceeded to write the check out to my mechanic.
After writing the check, I contacted my insurance agent just to be sure. She contacted the claims department and told me that they did in fact cancel the check. I was baffled because the money was in my account. Just to be safe, I told my mechanic not to cash the check until I recieved the new check that they were sending me in the mail. Sure enough, two days later, the money from the cancelled check was TAKEN out of my account WITHOUT NOTICE!!! No one from my bank told me that there was still a possibility that the money would be taken from my account, no one called me to let me know that the check that I had deposited was no good. I could have been faced with an enormous issue if I had let my mechanic cash that check. Now I am waiting for the new check to get here so that I can allow him to have his money!
I am so unhappy with this bank and as soon as I am able I am pulling my funds from it. I am frustrated that they are able to get away with all this. They do not properly inform their customers and have caused numerous headaches for me and i'm sure many other people as well.
First The teller in May had altered my deposit slip when I asked to take out remainder of my 2.45 from my checking acct and he didnt give me a withdrawal slip for that process.when he handed me a receipt I thought he had wrote it out and trusted his judgement as a supervisor I thik he is. So from that is when it began problems with my account. I never got my bank statements in the mail or nor did I receive them when I called and made a complaint it was like they didnt want me to see their mistakes.
I had called again to change my address and she did that over the phone and I tried to tell her about the mistakes and she wasnt getting it so I asked to speak to a manager and he literally could not explain what happen that if i deposited 100 check why it said something different when i finally got my first statement.From there I questioned than and they just ignored my concern that some one has access to my account because charges have popped up on my account. There re fees and charge on my account now the rewards program i signed up and there was no fee and than i go into to bank on 6-28-2008 and he says of yes we started charging customers and I never got that warning in the mail nor was I prompted if I want to keep such a service,This charge was on 6/09/2008 than on 6/11/2008 says overdraft fee when i had the money in my account because they took that charge off my account the bank did so that put me 26.00 down and so when they added the overdraft fee of 25.00 that should of left me with 46-in my account and so when i used my card it had money in their but not enough it said so it charged me another overdraft fee this time it is 37.00 and so from than on it started charging me fees from when i signed up for a no fee acct with the free rewards program.
I never got any info that they changed my account over and when I canceled the rewards program no one said i will start being charged and I got nothing from the bank.so from that they been charging my acct although I called the beginning of june for them to correct the error they have not and MR jeffrey Sokolowski was suppose to handle this issue and he never deemed it important or necessary while he knew if there was an error the bank would make money off the person by making them wait as long as possible to address the issue instead of right away and from,that i cant fix this account myself and I feel as though the staff members are not doing their part to insure that the issues get dealt with.
The other odd incident was I am looking for work and around the time of end of june when teller altered my receipt and i asked him that isnt going to close my acct is it? he said no meanwhile he didnt let the out of state check clear and the check has to be put in as 100not 97.45 so what does that mean the other person will have a problem with their account as well?
I had bought a certified check for the settlement of my house in June of 2005 from Citizens Bank. They issued the check. 6 months later, they called me about $3000 that my account was short in regards of that transaction. I presented documents that I still kept from that day and proved them that I had the money and they issued the check. However, they debited my account with $3000 causing it to go negative and submitted my account to collection. I tried to explain it to the collection agency - to no avail.
I went to a laywer, but the two lawyers I went to said it is going to cost me more than $3000 to take Citizens to court and it is not worth it. I let it go, my credit was damaged. I have worked hard to repair it. A year and a half later, I was denied credit for my newly opened business. I checked my report and found out that another collection agency had reported me and damaged my credit again all in regards to the same Citizens Bank issue. I called the Collection agency and asked why this was done without my knowledge, and was told that a letter was sent. I have not received any letters, my credit is damaged again. I have proof that this is Citizens Bank fault. Another lawyer asked for $5000 to help me fight this unfair practice and go after Citizens. What should I do?
on 5/1 my husbands pensions was direct deposited..we made2 atm withdrawls adn 2 small debit purchases..bal after final atm withdraw was.89..this was done 1st thing in the morning..a check for 85.00 cam in that day adn instead of posting check in teh order it came in they posted highest amt to lowest..so i ended up w/4 nsf fees(152.00)since we are on a fixed income and both our check are direct deposited we have no extra funds avail..thid thing snowballed because even though we have enough direct deposit to cover our bills the nsf fees snowballed into over 570 for this month so far..i have sennt them proof and they refuse to credit me back my money..
i have made numerous phone calls and sent 2 letters one to complaint dept in rhode island the other to a larry fish in pitts who is supposed to be hi on the food chain..mo one evr responded..til yesterday when a very rude female named linda finally took my call( was the 3rd call to 888 999 6908 i had made yesterday)she chastised me for not keeping better track of my money and for goinmg by what thier atm recpts say..then said i was out the money and any other fees that occur from this..i have no way of recouping this money.i advised her i was going to close my account she said that was fine..i also advised her i would report them to the govt agency that oversees them she replied go for it..thier customer service is very poor..
i was alsoinformed that they can deduct checks and debits in any order they wish..of course doing highest to lowest can always result in more fees collected by them..i was informed by michelle in thier collection dept that it is a bank error but she could not help me and neither could her manager.
