Citizens Bank review: overdraft fees 78

I made a payment to time warner cable on the fourth of this month using my debit card, and it was charged to my account. Now the bank has put the exact same amount on hold to pay again on the 8th, this puts my account in over draft, and I will have that fee along with another one for another payment that has not come out yet. I called time warner and they have no record of any payment due or pending. By the time this is all said and done the bank will expect me to pay $74 dollars in overdraft fees, and that is only for 1 week. I am on SSI/SSD and do not have the money for this. I am very upset and wish I could afford a lawyer to go after this bank as this is the fourth time in 3 months they put something on hold and overdraft my account. I thought they could not do this any more, but they say they can and any money I put in they will automatically take out what is owed to them. Any suggestions?

CitizensBank just wacked us for almost $1000.00 ...in over draft fees ! Who is allowing them to carry on like this ..What they are doing is nothing more than criminal theft by deception.. I have sense closed all my accounts with them including my safety deposit box. They cant be trusted..I too would like to get in on a class action law suit..They deserve to be shut down..Looks like a credit union will have to do..To bad, I was a customer for over 10 years Steve from NASHUA, NH

Citizens Bank unfairly seeks out opportunities to create false overdrafts. Several banks, Citizens included, purchased software specifically to sniff out these "situations"; if they move this over a day and post this early/late, all the while, your money is sitting there in the bank, not paid out to anyone but yet the bank starts charging you OD fees which are lowering your balance and now you really are in the hole, but with the bank.
What this bank has done to me and my life is a crime. Stealing is illegal.
This bank needs to be sued by someone for causing their life, their family, their home all to be put at risk, month after month.
My Son couldn't take listening to me cry about being robbed, he couldn't find a job, felt helpless to help me so he did what he could, he moved out to save me money.
I LOST A CHILD DUE TO THIS BANKS [censor]!
I am after a "remedy", legal, emotional, financial, all of it. Nothing can give me back the time lost crying hysterically because I had no food to eat because CITIZENS needed my few bucks. My health has failed drastically and noticeably, I have considered suicide, having been made to feel there was no "way out" of their grubby clench holding me and my money prisoner, taking everything, leaving me not a buck for a donut while starving.
I will never forget, forgive or give up making them pay for what they have done to me and who knows how many more are out there like me. The rich get richer from stealing from the poor. It is time for this bank to be stopped.
C. Conti

I am having the same problems! If there is still a class action suit against Citizens Bank PLEASE contact me at laurose@comcast.net

Thank you!

-Lauren (Derry, NH)

I understand that it is inconvenient to be charged overdraft fees. I have been charged them. I have never gotten one back from Citizens. I have only gotten 3 in my 10 years of using their bank. Unlike most of the complaints on here I take responsibility for my own dumb actions. I also found it helpful one of the times because if they would have bounced my check I would have gotten a 10.00 fee from them, and a 35.00 fee from my doctors office. Citizens charged me 25.00. How do you expect banks to make money and use that money for profit, employees (this creates many jobs! Maybe unemployment man should get off his but and apply!), and unlike most banks Citizens invests a lot of money in their communities! Ask you local branch who is the Champion in action, and how much did they donate to them. I bet you would be very surprised. Yea you may be broke and need your money, but these fees are told to you up-front! If you ask you will be quoted them as well. Bottom line don't spend what you don't have or it will cost you. Think about it it's common sense. All venders charge for returned checks or debit purchases. Either your bank can reject it after you have left with the item when they find out about it (meaning when the retailer you purchased from batches their card machine or deposits your check.) And the police may come looking for you or you may owe fees to the retailer and the bank. Doesn't anyone use a check book ledger? Math is cut and dry. Use one and you should never have a problem! I am happy to be with this bank. They are great in the community and very nice to me when I go in. They do the same thing as any other bank. All banks operate under federal compliance regulations and are checked daily. If it was illegal they would be forced to close, I am sure everyone here has heard of banks this happened to. Good luck with your ledgers! My bank gives me them for free. No other bank does. By the way I am a attorney. When I overdrew I was a student.

I bounced 1 check which should have omly cost me $38.00. Citizens bank said all ny smaller debit puechases would have ro be cleared after the bounced check even though they were made after the chech was presented. I then recieved a $38.00 overdraft fee for all 10 debit purhases costing me almost $400.00 in fees. A sinilar occurence happend a few months late costing me $200.00. All in all Citizens has taken close to a $1000.00 in overdraft fees. They have also cleared payment on debit purchases when ther were no funds available and rhen charged me an overdraft fee the next day. I would like to join the class action suit against them.

I had over drafted my account 0.87 cents and made a transaction to cover it. It was less then a day the money was back in my account. They hit me with an over draft, because I had overdrafted my account was negitive, I had a $1.27 charge on the same day and again was over drafted. I didn't know my account was overdrafted but I knew my balance was low so I didn't use my card all week. When my husband deposited money a week later, I checked my balance on line, we were charged two over draft fees and 6.99 fee a DAY until the deposit. we couldn't get thru to anyone on the phone to help us, and the branch said they don't deal with any "over draft" problems. I opened my account with my very first paycheck with them over 15 years ago. I am fed up with their bull, and pulling my two checking and two savings account with them.

I was charged 259.00 for 7 transaction fees of 37.00 each. I had 561.62 in my checking account and 451.60 in my overdraft account for a total of 1013.22 starting the a.m on 7.16.10. I had a total of 925.53 of debits and checks that were cashed throughout the day. I also went and cashed a check at 4:00 p.m in the amount of 177.43. The teller walks away from the window speaks to someone and then gives me the money. Needless, to say Citizens put a hold on the 177.43 for 1 day therefore overdrawing my account and instead of taking what was in the overdraft account 451.60 they did not take any of the funds and starting with the highest check first charged me the fees. WHY DID THE TELLER CASH THE CHECK AT 4:00PM. You can't tell me that the teller did not see checks and debits throughout the day. If I had 5, 000.00 in my account and wrote a check for the amount to a friend which in turn cashes it are you telling me that I inturn can also cash a check in the same amount for 5, 000.00 later in the day and the teller is unaware that the funds are not in the account. Apparently, the teller has no idea what is in the account because all transactions download over night.

I closed my Citizens business accounts - the assistant bank manager from Hingham MA called me on 7/3 to let me know that the balance was zero and that she was closing the accounts. My merchant account erroneously charged the monthly fee to my old account on 7/6 - which they paid even though there was a zero balance and the account was supposed to be closed. (My merchant account is with RBS, which is owned by the same guys as Citizens - how funny is that?) I was charged the $37 overdraft and am being charged $7 for every day that the account is overdrawn. I just received the overdraft notice by mail on 7/24. The girl at Citizens didn't think it was necessary to update my address since I was closing the account and the notice got bounced around in the mail. So now I owe well over a hundred dollars and they are still racking up the charges. I just got off the phone with the assistant manager and she was VERY rude - I should have known that it takes several days to actually close an account (really?) and it is all my fault and there is no way that they can waive any fees. My sister manages a bank in Ohio and I know for a fact that fees can be waived. What a nightmare.

Maybe so, but Citizen's Bank stacks the deck against people using their so-called banking service. It appears to be designed to generate as many fees as possible: - Fees: 1 Overdraft Day: $22 per item; 2 or more overdraft days: $37 per item. We limit the item fees charged to 7 items per day. A daily sustained overdraft fee of $6.99 will be charged if your account remains overdrawn for 3 through 12 consecutive business days. The sustained overdraft fee will be assessed on the 4th business day and each day thereafter up to and including the 13th business day.
There is a whole lot of other ways that you can get into an overdraft situation. So, a $ 0.10 overdraft can mushroom into $350 - $400 in fees because you are not notified in a timely manner if you are overdrafted & Citizen's Bank does not feel the need to give you a way of correcting the overdraft before it does mushroom.

They do rip you off and manipulate transactions, and I DO have screen shots for anyone interested. specialsunone@yahoo.com. I knew they had done it to me before, and when they did again I was ready. I was stiffed by a contractor, and in a tough spot financially after I just purchased my first house. Citizens, you [censor], I have no idea how you can go to work and feel good about your job. You put larger transactions through so others draw your fees. You do not do that to protect, you do it to reap fees. Transactions should proceed through as they are processed, period. I will file a suit. Also, they increased their fees, with no notice. Not sure if that is legal.

I received my first time homebuyer check and I am OUT of there and filing a suit with my proof in hand. Careful how you treat people who are in a financial crisis, because they will remember how they were treated when they are not. And I remember.

wow i dident know that this has been happening to others as well. over the years, i too have been ripped off by citizens. the most current one is a good one. im on a fixed income from disability, only have one deposit a month. i pay my bills with on line bill pay. this month i only made three payments totaling $52.00 dollars ( $50.00 for credit card, $1.00 for at&t { another company that thinks they are above the law } and $1.00 to t-mobile { to pay down a old bill }) they all where suppose to post @ 12:01 am on the 4th of this month ( which they have done in the past, till they see a opportunity to rip me off ). on the 5th i bought some ink for my printer in the morning. then i noticed that i was .45 cents short around 10:00 am, i went to the bank by noon to deposit $20.00 in quarters. and asked the teller if i got there in time to save the overdraft charge. she said i should be fine. so im watching on line for 2 days the ink was on hold at the top of the statement. then on the 3rd day they hit me. $37.00 4 times, and on top of that they have been charging me $6.99 a day since the 9th. i tried to cancel my account to stop the $6.99 a day fee for being @ a negative balance. they told me they cant cancel it till its @ a 0 balance. looks like they want my check for the month of september. i changed banks and it looks like they wont get my check.

im all for a class action, we may get our fees refunded, and we may even get a check for $10.00 each ( the bottom feeders get all the money ). the problem is that the co's that set up the carnage will still be in power, and plot out another way to rip us all off ( ie "bail out ")

we need to do like our for fathers and campaign against them as well and cost them there victims and get the co's fired. it all comes down to bottom line.

macman2500@yahoo.com

I am a citizens bank circle gold member who always pays his accounts on time. I have a platinum credit card that I always pay on the 6th of the month and unfortunately I was out of state at that time. I made my payment a day late and they charged me $30.00. The women behind the counter actually was the one who informed me and told me they would more then likely wipe it off because of my years as a customer and my track record. I called and I was brushed off and spoken very rudely to and was told "there was nothing i can do for you." I filed a formal complaint with the bank and if they want to lose a customer over a mere thirty dollars then i will gladly become a loyal customer somewhere where I will be appreciated.

Im 21 years old trying to stand on my own, the last thing i thought I would have to look out for was my bank! I owe citizens bank $382 as of today all over six overdrafts under $10. now what am i gonna do, i have nothing. This Bank only cares about one thing and I think we all know what that is.

joshiesgirl143@googlemail.com

Say NO to Citizens Bank!

I am 21 years old just trying to figure out how to survive, the last thing I thought I had to worry about was my bank picking on me. I owe Citizens Bank $380 today because of over drafts under $10 each, explain to me how this is right. I had such high expectations in life but i must say now I am discouraged what am i gonna do, who do i turn to? I thought they were supposed to help me with my finances not tear me apart. Something has to stop.

Say NO to Citizens Bank

Citizens Bank switches your funds around, shows your credits in your account and they tell you you now have available funds so you may make purchases, then at the end of the day while you sleep they rearrange the purchases to before the appear before the credit and charge you overdraft fees based on purchases you made after they told you the credit was in your account. Then Citizens employees tell you the funds were not ever moved and you must be confused. I have screenshots of my account and proof all this happening and now they refuse to let me speak to the customer representatives that know this happened. All calls are recorded and I know the times and names of the employees. One employee tried to get the other to the phone and a manager blocked me from speaking to them. I have a small business and have been cheated out of alot of money by citizens bank because they knew I would overdraw my account often so they would hold outstanding funds for many days and then when I went into overdraft they process all my purchases in one day. Then overdraft fees which then create more overdraft fees when automatic withdrawals for my business come out. I have been charged 4 overdaft fees ($156) for $1 redbox movie $1 redbox movie $2 coffee $6 sandwich. Most importantly they manipulate your bank account and push credits back after they are in your account and overdraft purchases you make when the money really was in your account. They also hide outstanding purchases from you, the bank tellers, and customer service so nooone can see the outstanding purchase then when you have alot of purchases they put the hidden purchase through and give you numerous overdrafts. They are criminals, who literally, cheat people, rob, and steal your money by manipulating your account.
Ed from Vermont
I would love to be part of a class action lawsuit against
Citizens Banka.k.a. "The Peoples' Bank" They are really liars and fraudelent thieves

Citizens is a slimy bank. Here's a simple example to illustrate what they do: You have a "ledger" balance of $100 in your account. You make two debit purchases: 1 for $75, 1 for $30. The fair and ethical thing to do would be to charge one overdraft charge for the $5 overdraft. Here's what they do instead: They put a hold on the amount of both transactions leaving you with an "available" balance of -$5. They then POST a $39 OD fee for having a negative available balance, leaving a ledger balance of $61. They then POST the $75 transaction which leaves a ledger balance of -$14 allowing them to assess another $39, leaving a ledger balance of -$53. They post the $30 transaction and another $39 fee leaving you with -$122. Your $5 overdraft netted them $117 in fees. If you're living the paycheck to paycheck lifestyle and routinely emptying your checking account, the best way to keep them from getting their sleazy mits on your money is to pay for as much as you can in cash. If you're a few days away from payday, have $150 in your account and know that you're likely to overdraw with debit transactions, make an ATM withdrawal for $300 and leave tour card at home. They'll charge you one $39 fee. The $25 tank of gas you purchase with that cash will cost you $25, not $64.

Two problems. 1. I had an unauthorized charge come through on my account for $7.00. I had enough money in my account to cover 2 outstanding electronic charges, but was short for the unauthorized charge. I called the vendor and the unauthorized charges will be reversed, but in the meanwhile, Citzens Bank charged me an overdraft for the 2 items for $70 and $20 that were to be covered.
2. Citizens Bank initiated the overdraft charge FIRST, causing both transactions to be overdrawn. Aren't they suppose to calculate the overdraft after the funds are short? If they had not charged the overdraft first, one of the outstanding items would have cleared, thus reducing the amount of the overdraft. By charging an overdraft fee before the funds were overdrawn, they created an overdraft.

When I opened a Citizens Checking account I also applied for "Traditional" overdraft protection of $1000. I knew that I would be making numerous transactions and that my deposits didn't always clear quickly as I receive checks from out of state. Citizens didn't respond to my application formally as you would expect so I inquired at the Branch where I opened the account and was told it was declined but received no explanation why or documentation for credit denial. In hind site everything is clear - my account incurred numerous overdraft charges and Citizens took several hundred dollars in fees. Things came to a head when I made purchases at the Home Depot using my ATM Card. Even though there were insufficient funds the purchases were allowed and my account became negative. The following day items I had shipped via FedEx posted and because of the way FedEx bills they came individually and not as one Monthly bill. Seven of the debits were under $25 with some for $7 & $8... Overdrafts were compounding pushing my account further negative and the deposits made could not keep pace. Customer Service refused any assistance. Feeling cheated I paid several overdraft fees but refused to deposit an additional $305 in fees that Citizens had assessed. Citizens closed my account and wrote off the "debt" selling it to a collector. My credit was damaged and I cannot open a checking account because of my "Overdrawn Checking" being reported to the Credit Bureaus. I would like to join the Class Action Suite against Citizens and their illegal overdraft practices.

So to anything who is interested, I have created a twitter account called CitizensRobbdme for anyone who has been wronged by this company and want to let the world (of twitter) twitter know about it. If if ever got really huge, and had millions of stories about how this company is completely unethical, we can actually change something other than minimizing our net worths!

It's ridiculous. I went over my available balance by $5.47 (three small items) and the overdraft fee was $111.00. The worse part is I transferred the funds even before I saw the over draft fee. I called the bank, they didn't seem to care if I took my business else where. The manager reversed $37.00 - one time courtsey fee. It's been nice doing business with you.

I check my bank account regularly before making any purchases. With citizens bank I make sure to check my online account as if I were checking my email, so you can imagine how frequent that is. Citiznes will say that your account is positive when it is indeed negative, so when you spend money you thought you had in your account, they can tell you that their online system doesnt update according to your transactions and you have to write all your transactions down. They charged me 3 over draft fees within the same month, all which were injust. I dont play when it comes to money though, so I ended up getting all the fees tooken off and a full refund. If you have a lot of time on your hands, you just have to keep calling in. Call back to back and ask to speak with the manager everytime you call. If they tell you that they will have a manager call you back (which the managers wont), tell them NO, you spoke to one directly on your last call, and would like to speak with one again. It's a horrible bank, I am closing my account an going to a credit union.

There is so much money in overdraft charges for the vank. Keep calling customer service until you get a nice person. Cry a little and be very sweet, Talk to a supervisor if you must. Pray first. You will prevail because you are right.

Do not give up until they help you. The bank manager has the power to stop or reverse ANY charges. Be sweet, sincere, desperate, and non-hostile.

Call attorney general, they will help you to solve your problem

In response to "Ron Paul, " actually in most cases, it is our money, and they do not hand out a disclosure form. Citizens has on two separate events charged me a fee by mistake, which requires several visits and phone calls to reverse, so not only did they steal my money, they stole my time. The regulation of the industry is pathetic, and Citizens and other banks use this to take advantage of those with little means and even less time.

I have had Citizens Bank for a few years now. I have the same issue with them. You have an option to opt out on debit charges being honored if you do not have sufficient funds. My new obstacle with Citizens currently is that they do not honor their own contract with their customers. I made the mistake of allowing ABC Finanical take debit payments out of my account. The minute I want to de-authorize the authorization? Citizens sided with ABC Financial. Citizens told me they cannot break a contract with them. Go figure! These two banks in the past three months have stolen over $800 from me and my family. I have a contract with Citizens as a customer, which is in violation, the contract now comes null and void. I'm so glad to hear the class action suit was won for millions against Citizens, it will not stop until they are bankrupt. Hears to putting them out of business!

I want IN on the next Class Action Suit PLEASE!

masslawya4@hotmail.com

ABC Financial isn't collecting a debt. I was receiving services from a company affiliated with them. The services rendered, ended four months ago. ABC Financial did not end the bank withdrawals from my account (they had an excuse similar to Citizens). Two months later they are still taking money (increased amts) from my checking. When I spoke with investigations dept of Citizens, they said they couldn't help me. I explained that I did everything my contract with ABC Financial asks me to do and can prove it on paper and yet they are still illegally withdrawing money. Citizens rep still responded with, "we cannot break a contract with another bank" Mind you, now. ABC Financial does NOT have a contract with RBS Citizens. They DO however have a contract with its customers, which if you read the current lawsuit settlement, (PR Newswire) they are violating federal and state laws and it's contract with customers. They lost millions. You want to run and change banks thats on you. Those of us that can't stand these people taking advantage of others, will fight the fight for you. Thank you for your opinion!

I looking at my account on 12/20/2011 and everything that was pending was already cleared. I looked at my account online on 12/21/2011 and still all that was pending was cleared. then on 12/22/2011 5 transactions that were bought on 12/17/2011 showed that they cleared on 12/21/2011 causing me 5 over draft fees. These were not posted at all on the 12/21/2011 and I could have sworn I say them in depending status on 12/18/2011..still on 12/19/2011. and on 12/20/2011 through 12/21/2011 all had gone through. boom 12/22/2011 at 8 am I check my account 5 over drafts for things i bought almost a whole week ago. last time this happened it was an item i had bought 45days prior. They told me it was how the store processed the charge... but items I had charged days after the one that caused an over draft were cleared and they were from the same store. I believe that these charges occur when they know they will collect in fees. If not, their online banking is very unreliable and cannot be trusted to be accurate! If there is a case I would like to be apart of it, I do not trust this bank anymore and have closed my account and gone with another bank. We have used this other bank for years and never have an issue with over draft. Never! Their online is wonderful and always accurate to the minute.

I too got hit with citizens bank bait and switch so called system over drafted fees every year at least 3 to 4 times, it seems that citizens bank have a quotetor to meet by charging people overdraft fees. I noticed this evening when they were called BOSTON FIVE, this lawsuite should also go back that far. It should be a pentality for the bank to perpost date a customers account showing their balance for two days and changing it the third day because the customer charged purchases to their account. On Monday 6/11 my account showed all my bills posted balance in the plus 9 per posted for 6/12/2012 but showing paid out of my account online banking. Went shopping using my debit & credit purchases just five 103., 156., 20., 3.50, and $60.00. Check my account the afternoon of the 6/12 balance showed $2.50 balance the only purchase not showing was the $20.01 gas credit purchase (24 to 36 hours transaction purchase claimed by the banks yeah right). No the hit me with $37.00 4x for bills showing per posted on 6/11 dated for 6/12 it would have been 9 but the law stop at 4
someone please contact me @ tayrickia@yahoo.com to tell me how can get in on suite thanks.
&

my complaint is this. citizen's bank charged me an enormous amount of overdraft fees recently. the fees alone are worth complaining about, however, my complaint is in their math. my problem is this. if you have payments pending, citizens will always retro-act them, subtracting them at the original date. if, however, you make a deposit, citizens will hold that money and though in the official statement it will show they posted it on the date you deposited. the truth is they don't add it to your balance untill the hold date. this is sketchy math and citizens uses it to extort "fees" from it's customers.

GREAT NEWS EVERYONE CITIZENS BANK IS BEING SUED FOR 137.5 MILLION DOLLARS FOR PUTTING DEBITS HIGHEST AMOUNT TO THE LOWEST AND NOT IN THE CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER THEY'RE SUPPOSE TO BE IN. Thank you lawyers and whoever took the initiative to step up and punch these ### where it hurts congratulations to all the people who will get justice

I have a mortgage with Citizens Bank.
When I first got the mortgage I was required to maintain flood insurance on the amount of the loan.

Shortly after the big floods in 2010 I was contacted by Citizens and told that now I had to maintain flood insurance for the 'replacement cost of my home' which is much higher then what I owe them on the mortgage amount.

The increase in Flood insurance premiums is now costing me over $1000 dollar more per year and rising.

I don't think it's right for Citizens to change their mortgage contract policies mid stream.

In 2010 my house got flooded real bad. I got over 9.5 ft of water damage meaning I had to completely re do my entire house.
Everything had to be ripped out from the foundation up. Everything except for the bare walls and roof. All outside siding had to be removed, all electrical, heating, a/c, furnace, domestic hot water system, all hard wood oak floors ripped up and replaced.. everything in the entire house.

At that time I had a $150, 000 dollar policy for flood damage and EVERYTHING in the entire house was replaced without a problem for just $133, 000 so I do not understand why Citizens changed their policy on flood coverage requiring me to maintain a new policy for $250, 000 dollar coverage.

No One from Citizens bank underwriter department will talk to me in person about this situation. It just seems that they do not care what my concerns are and only their own.

Patrick Bonanno
Warwick, RI

This is terrible and their check cashing policy is terrible as well.

If any legal action is taken please contact me at - thechildlikeempress@yahoo.com. They have done very shady and illegal business practices and charged multiple fees for their initial fee - I did not overdraft this is them taking fees for their own fee...I have never dealt with such a horrible business in my life.