(Update on 11/28/17) When I first wrote this, I failed to mention that the Citizens Bank that absolutely FAILED in every regard, is in Franklin, MA and NOT the one in the Stop and Shop Market, also in Franklin. Regardless...my comments apply to the bank in general and not MY specific branch (or ex-branch!!!!).
This goes back a few years when my wife and I took out a Home Equity Line of Credit to help my son buy a home. It went well...for the first month...and then I realized I was overcharged for a small fee which took months to get returned. THEY then lost the second monthly payment (I sent it by mail to the address they gave me at my branch of the bank.) (I ALWAYS greatly overpaid my monthly payment because we hate debt and wanted to get through this one quickly.) They simply lost it and told me I never made it...though I could confirm in THEIR OWN PAPERWORK that it was received. This also took MANY months and hours upon hours upon HOURS sitting in bank branches and on the phone.
There was a $50 annual fee of which I was unaware (it may have been in the contract but I was not advised) and they would not take it out of the large overpayments that I made each month. They started charging late fees for the $50 fee...I was just out of surgery (had to have my native kidneys removed 2 years after a transplant) and when I finally was told about the $50 fee...I was advised that it could NOT BE PAID from a transfer from my Citizen's checking account. Since they lost my mailed payment (which in fact they DID receive) I didn't want to mail another payment to the bank. I was told I had to bring the $50 in IN PERSON to pay the annual fee. As stated above...I was in recovery...and NOWHERE in my contract did it say that the $50 fee had to be paid in person and NOT by transfer from my Citizen's checking account! Forget bank by mail!!!!!! This bank is UNREAL!!
Believe me, I wrote letters to everyone, the CEO of Citizens Bank (no replies), Federal and state agencies (in RI where the bank is based) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. I was pretty darned motivated!
I worked with nice people at Citizens but got less than NOWHERE until my letter writing started. I must have hit the right agency as then I got results. I call this my 8-month + - nightmare and I finally transferred the HELOC to another bank and paid Citizens off. If you deal with Citizens...keep immaculate records of EVERYTHING. I don't know if it was incompetence on the bank's part, simple error, the bank is too big and they can't keep accurate records ... or perhaps there was "another reason"...why they put me through this but be assured, I will NEVER consider this bank for ANY transaction my wife and I may have in the future. I MUCH prefer smaller, local banks or Credit Unions from now on.
THIS experience was very unpleasant and I'm not totally convinced that I was fully reimbursed for their errors (approximately $700 if I remember correctly; not to mention a great number of hours of work trying to shake a head or 2 loose at corporate (to no avail). Finally, there was just too much paperwork for me to get myself to go over all the math and the "facts" again. I was burned out...but as they say...with a class action suit now filed against Citizens Bank regarding annual fees on HELOC loans ..."victory is sweet". Horray for the CFPB...even if they DO have 2 bosses at the moment!!! In my humble opinion...there is plenty of work to do investigating Citizens Bank, even for 10 bosses!!! Get a shovel, boys...(and girls). read more