Citizens Bank Reviews

I did send a letter to the bank requesting to close this account and included a check for $74.61. My point here is if they tell the customer it’s a free checking account and they do advertise on their banners it’s free checking, well the reality it’s not, this for me is misleading the consumers. Now, all I am asking is to get my $74.61 back.

When the bank attempted to automatically debit the new account, which was less than $50, there was no enough fund. The bank then began to send me late notices, which I was not aware of. Once they sent me 3 notices, they sent out a note to the credit company. This caused my credit score to go down 200 points. I contacted the customer service rep and she told me to write a note explaining the situation and it should be fixed. I waited 2 months for them to send it to the committee and was denied. I called the consumer service and they told me the committee had decided they would not fix my credit. I asked if I could speak to someone on this secret committee and was told their policy does not allow me to talk to them.

I explained that I checked my online bank account on a weekly basis and there was no note or indication that I owed the bank money. The customer service rep felt bad, but it was out of his control. I went to my branch and was told the rep that originally helped me was no longer there. Another rep told me he would help me out and write a note to customer service telling them that the branch made an error. The customer service still did not fix my credit. I have called the customer service department multiple times, each time speaking with a different rep. Each rep has tried to help me, but they could not seem to convince the secret committee that I am an innocent victim.

Now her tone and body language told me that she wasn't receptive with any problems I might have. She ignored the -$65.03 balance and said, after a series of verbal bank fees and charges that she claimed was being added to my account, totaled -$299.03. I immediately asked, “Can these fees be waived?" and she said for me to contact another office or officers concerning this matter. Then, I said to her, “Your bank has hidden fees and charges that is unfair to me and your customers, and thank you for your time". For nothing! I do have (actual) documentation of these outrageous fees and charges.

I also agree with your other posted complaints about smaller bills being posted late. I called in a complaint to Charter One last week that I was unable to see online banking status of bills submitted as much as three weeks earlier. They were not yet posted to my account but were not listed as pending either. That means I had outstanding more than $400.00 in bills submitted that were not posted from my account. Horribly deceiving. I guess when they are racking up these high fees, there is no motivation to change it.

Sometimes I have waited for days before I notice the transaction. Why did it take so long to post? I feel if they can monitor the ATM machines, then we should be able to use our receipts to verify when transactions are done. Meaning, when the date and time of the computer receipt is printed then that transaction must be posted according to the date and time and must be processed within the 24 hours window. Just a suggestion, we (consumer) need to fight this matter. Where is our overdraft fee being used for and why so much? I was told it was a processing fee. What, to punch a button or watch the computer calculate it for you? One state fought and keep the fees down to $5.00. Someone help us put a stop to this or at least keep the fees down to a minimum like the other states have.

I left work early and went to the local bank branch where I spoke with the bank manager. She confirmed that the funds were available to me on 9/10 but that the bank decided to put the funds on hold to re-verify with the third-party bank. This, I was told, was done to protect me. She also asked why I did not transfer some of the funds from my savings back into my checking account after I received the letter. When I looked perplexed and told her that the bank had put the funds on hold, she explained that the funds I transferred to my savings were not put on hold, just what I had in my checking account at the time.

This baffled me. But when I asked for the fees to be reversed, I was told that it wasn't a bank error that caused the "insufficient funds" fees and that she would not refund my money. I asked to file a customer complaint with the regional manager. The bank manager typed and emailed a customer care complaint to the regional manager (who is on vacation) and told me she would get in touch with me in about a week’s time. This has cost me over $350 (about a week’s salary for me).

Since Citizens Bank said I could pay the amount over the phone and my bank, Boeing Employees Credit Union, said they would not charge me for cancelling the check and since I wanted to get Citizens Bank their money in good standing, I decided it would be most prudent to cancel the transaction and pay over the phone. But when I called Citizens to make the payment over the phone, they informed me that they were going to charge me a $20 service fee, which was 6.67% of the total payment. I was outraged that they would charge me, just so I could make my payment to them on time. I felt gouged. Whatever did I do wrong to deserve such a fee? I told them I would not pay their excessive fee and take my chances with the postal service.

The following day, I went to a branch and wrote a check for September's payment. Then, to my surprise, both payments cleared. I called Charter One to ask if they could back this extra payment off and send it back or apply it to my October payment. After speaking to several reps, I spoke with a supervisor by the name of Pat. He stated he could issue a check or apply it to October. I assumed this was resolved.

Approximately two weeks later, I started getting Credit Counseling letters. I called everyday for a week, would get the same runaround and would assume it was taken care of. Then, I would have another credit letter in the mail. I would call once again. Not only was the undeserved letters humiliating, I also began to get phone calls at work. For one, I was doing my part for something that was not my error and two, then everyone knew my personal business.

Finally, I called the regional manager and listened once again how I can't make early payments. This was finally properly backed off and corrected after three months of battling. My troubles began again on 04/22/09 when I went to my local Charter One to make a payment and was denied. I had no notification that Charter One was changing to Old National nor that I could not make payments there anymore. I immediately called the number on my statement and spoke with Jack. He stated that I could make a payment with him on the phone and pay $12.50 or pay for a stamp and mail it. He did offer automatic deduction but never sent the paperwork. I chose to mail it. For the following payments, I used my own financial institutions - Home Banking.

My June payment was due on 06/23; it was received on 06/22 and the entire payment once again went to principal. On 07/13, I received my statement and noticed this error. I called and spoke with Cindy and she stated this was their error and would be corrected. On 07/14, I received a credit counseling letter. I called once again and spoke with Brittany. She said to give it 3-4 business days.

On 07/15, I received another letter and this time, a phone call expecting payment. I told Frank I had called twice already in two days, which was not showing, and wanted confirmation that my July payment which is due on 07/23 would be sent promptly. I feel that I have been harassed by Charter One several times and I want it to stop. I totally believe that this will continue to happen since I have already had several instances.

I have excellent credit and faithful payment history with all of my creditors, so I do not appreciate this type of harassment! I make my payments on time and over the amount. Somewhere in this situation, fault needs to be found with Charter One's ethic practices. This is causing me undue stress and time that should not be happening. I pay my bills. Thank you for your time and please notify me if my situation has any legal merit.

In my opinion this was a scam on their part to get free money out of their good standing customers. Since banks are not doing well I feel that this was an attempt to get free money. If I knew that I was giving 200.00 of free money to miss one payment I would not have done that. They told me that was the interest that accumulated over the free payment month. So basically it was not a free payment but a way for them to get free money out of their customers. I am not sure how many people did this, but it is probably thousands. But to me that is wrong on their part. I am not sure if this is fraud but it sounds to me like it is. Please let me know if there is anything you can do. But in today’s economy no wonder banks are getting a bad name.

Why no phone call or other communication the elimination of available credit? What if I had a check out and it bounced? Who makes the decision regarding equity in a home? Since banks own politicians, I'm sure what they did was legal? Well, I'm not sure. From what I have read, banks can make geographic decisions they way Charter One did. It looks as though they are comparing my home with homes not in my area, and since the interest rate was at 2.5%, they wanted to dump the loan for something better. Banks have their cake, eat it, and the rest of us too.

We have been customers for 5 years and think that this is just a bad way to treat customers. Also, if the account is in overdraft status why does the bank approve additional purchases on the bank card? I think it is to rack up money from their customers! This should be illegal! Whatever the cause, as a loyal customer for years, I dont believe a $4 overdraft charge should rob us of hundreds of dollars from our checking account! On 5/29 we went to my Charter One branch and applied for credit overdraft protection, they approved us on the spot (so the banker told us).

One month later (6/26) our account went into a negative balance, the overdraft protection did not kick in. As of today I have another $507 of overdraft charges on my account. I called the bank today (6/27),and explained the situation and they stated that they dont do automatic applications; you have to fill out a paper application. The manager stated that there was no overdraft protection on this account! This is not true! Not only did the overdraft protection kick in the bank manager denied that they approved my overdraft protection!

I believe these charges in the month of June should be reversed. We have been charged $741 in overdraft charges in the past 2 months (not to mention thousands of fees in the past 4 years). I am done fighting with this bank and will consider changing banks if the charges on my account are not reversed!

I found my reciepits and called them on 9/24/2007 at 2 pm asked them to mail me a payment history from them to match my records. then the rep told me that I didn't owe them 2154.76 when he looked up my western union payments and admitted they made a mistake . He said someone called about a pay off balance and that it was never recieved so they took the car when I was not far behind in paymentHe followed by telling me that it was too late to do anything about it because the car is in the process of being sold. They stole the car from me left me straided and all they can so is opps we made a mistake .

I have no car and I made payments. Is this the kind of business they do take cars from ppl iilegally when they are close too or paid off the car. According to my records the car was paid off but I still was making payments until it was investigated. Yet they took my car, I have to walk and catch a bus when I worked my assss off to pay for that car. There is something that needs to be done on this injuctice done to me by not only the dealer but the two banks.

Note: Ive discussed all of these peeves NUMEROUS times with Charter Ones customer service personnel. None of my following complaints have been addressed.

1) Paint the parking lot so that customers know where to park. The parking lines have worn away. Everytime I park at the branch nearest to me (South Detroit and Glendale Avenues in Toledo, Ohio) its a guessing game as to where the parking lines are.

2) Reduce the number of transaction (transfer / withdrawal) slips to ONE. Numerous times Ive filled out the wrong

slip, and once a teller made me do it over using the correct slip, which really flamed my butt. Filling out only one slip makes it easier and faster.

3) After I make a transaction, printout my current BALANCE of that account. The current receipt only tells me is the date and amount of my transaction. It should display my current balance. One teller was nice enough to handwrite my new balance on my receipt. I didnt ask her to do that, which makes me believe even Charter One employees would like to have that service. Your system should do that AUTOMATICALLY. This is a no-brainer. All of my previous banks provided this service. Fix this one pronto.

4) Give your customers some privacy when they talk to the financial assistance inside the branch. I dont want my neighbors to hear and know my financial business. Put up some portable partitions. Once I had to whisper so that the next customer wouldnt hear what I told the assistant. Thats rediculous.

5) Combine my checking and money market account monthly statements in ONE mailing. Why use two envelopes and postage when one would do?

6) One my monthly statements, show my transactions from the first of the month to the end of the month. Because I opened my accounts in the middle of a month, my monthly statements show my transactions from the middle of one month to the middle of the next. The system is set up to allow business customer this service but not regular customers. Why the discrimination? None of my previous banks did this nor do I know of ANY other bank that does this. I was told the only way I MIGHT get this changed is to cancel my accounts and open them back up on the first of the month. I have direct deposit. I shouldnt have to cancel my accounts on one day and open new ones on the next. That is REDICULOUS.

Happened, and current:

Misrepresentation of Interest rates on all accounts at their bank. I have been with this bank since it was First Federal in 1990 and never thought that they would misrepresent as they do and have the rate on the internet..

I had siged up for checking in Toledo, and continued to use, upgrade, go to internet usage through the years only to find about a week ago that the rates showing on the internet do not apply to almost any account.

I just converted temporarily to a PRIVILEGE account showing a rate of 2.47% on the internet.. Guess what?

It is good to 1/6/05 only, then converts with the required balance of $ 10,000 to .75%. This is a fraud, misrepresentation, etc. There is no place on the web site to actually get the real rate of return, and they intentionally misrepresent to get customer.

I called on about a 1 year old account (Energized) and found they are paying 1% when the site showed 1.99% and has now changed to .75%.. I asked to have my interest restored at the 1.99% to 2.50% where it was when I opened it.

Obviously they refused.

On the afternoon of Thursday, November 4th, I phoned Citizens Bank to inquire as to why my account was not showing the $600.00 that cleared my spouse's account the previous Monday. I was told that their "funds availability policy" allowed two business for the funds to actually post to my account. I informed the customer service representative that this was still beyond that time period. The representative informed me that he was showing the $600.00 and that it would post to my account that evening. I informed the representative that I was concerned about a specific check (#525) for my mortgage payment. The representative assured me that this check would not be debited to my account until all deposits (specifically the additional $600) were credited.

On Friday, November 5th I phoned my mortgage company and several other creditors to verify that my payments posted. I also verified via my banks online services that all of the transactions in question were showing, which they were.

On Saturday, November 6th I logged on to Citizens' website to input additional online payments. I was shocked to find that my mortgage check ($2793.33) had been returned for insufficient funds, along with two subsequential transactions! I immediately phoned Citizens Bank to speak with a supervisor. I spoke with "Kendra" who told me that although Citizens Bank physically had the "cash" from my spouse's account on Monday that there was nothing she could do and that in the future, I should do a better job of reading the banks funds availability policy.

After waiting 22 minutes, I got a particularly rude and brutish female on the line who proceeded to berate me. According to this cow, it was totally my fault that the branch hung up on me, and my fault that I kept being automatically transferred to the Cleveland Office. She knew, apparently by telepathy, that I was punching the wrong buttons on my phone. Because of this, she refused to give me a manager's name and then proceeded to hang up on me. All this time, my significant other has been listening to this conversation, as I hit my speaker button when he entered the room and let him listen in. His comment when I hung up, and I quote: "That black ***** should be reported. She's an embarrassment to me and my entire race." Yes, FYI, he is black as well. So, at his urging, I call the Cleveland office back again and again request to speak to a manager.

This time they transfer me to "Victoria". I tell her my story. Victoria tells me that since I'm not a customer, she can't do anything to track down the ignoramus who hung up on me. Basically, her attitude was "why should I care about you if you're not going to give us your money?" By now I'm beginning to think this bank must have a corporate culture that encourages people to be a--holes. Maybe they get points for it or something. But no, it gets better. Since I got nowhere with Victoria, the Manager of Cleveland's Crappy Customer Service, and at the urging of my significant other, I once again dial the Hoffman Estates branch and this time get a live human being. After repeating this sad tale yet again, she pretends to be so sorry about my treatment and urges me to come in and open an account. I basically tell her if this is a sample of their service, I'd rather have a root canal, and for the 100th time now, request a manager's name to write a complaint letter to. She gives me the number: 877-321-BANK and says this is the Corporate Office and I should ask for the Operations Manager. My significant other calls the number. He gets a recording with a breathy female voice telling him not to hang up. He hangs up. (BTW, he tried 3 times to be sure he wasn't misdialing. Miss Breathy Voice answered all 3 times.)

I am disappointed that I am banking with them as I was also mislead on another issue. I was told during my initial consultation with a representative in the lockport, Ny branch that the mega rewards debit card would not have a monthly fee. I read in the fine print online at Charterone.com that I am going to owe $25 each year to have a debit card through the bank. I wasn't given another option but to have the megarewards card. I feel disgusted with this bank.

They advertise that they have the best banking yet they have the same options as other banks plus fees that are not offered as information needed to know when opening an account. I have never double paid when using other banks' atms just paid the fee charged that you agree to, and I have Never had to pay to have a debit card. Now I have to wait 120 days before closing the account as listed in the fine print that is online.

I didn't realize anything was wrong until I received an email on April 24 stating that my payments could not be completed and I should check the online payment activity to determine the cause. When I checked my accounts I saw what had happened. The bank had payed five of the seven requested payments out of the smaller account. They appeared to have charged them in no particular order. The first they paid caused an overdraft (but was not the largest of our bills). They paid four more, smaller bills before stopping and charging us a whopping $210 in overdraft fees. I immediately called customer service. The first person I spoke to said they could only take $60 of the charge off. When I argued, they said they would remove $105 (50% of the charge).

I kept climbing the ladder through 3 more people and a different number for the consumer affairs department but to no avail. I was told this was not a bank error, it was my fault and the most they would deduct would be $105. No one could sufficiently answer my questions about why they didn't stop with the first overdraft and why they stopped when they did or in what order the selected bills were paid. I was simply told that "it was up to the computer to decide" and "the charges were listed on page 13 of the rules and regulations book."

I asked several times to have these fees reversed asap and my account closed and the balance sent to me immediately. However, Charter One refused to even close my account and send me the balance, and has ignored all of my emails and letters. They have continued to charge my account with a monthly fee to a point now, where they have taken all the money from my account.

This practice is wrong and unfair. I would appreciate any help you can give me in remedying this.