I rate them as 0 -

Worst bank ever since they were purchased by the RBS.

The worst bank I've ever dealt with. The customer service will tell you whatever you want to hear to get you off the phone. The fees are aweful and the web-site is out dated. Do youe self a favor and open an account with Cit Bank

If I could give zero stars I would. Wendy the branch manager in the Pittsfield NH office is the worst customer service manager I have ever met. I work in a service industry and we are taught that all complaints are a gift and a chance improve our service. Not only did she not help with my problem
but was very rude. I do not know if she is burnt out, or just having a bad week. She got very angry
when I went above her head and for what ever reason felt the need to call me just to yell at me. What is wrong with this women? If this is Citizens idea of a good manager, no wonder no one likes banks. I think Ill keep my money under the mattress from now on, it will be safer that way

I have also had problems with Citizens Bank. On October 2, 2009 I received my Social Security Direct Deposit. Also on that date there was a check from 7 months ago that was cashed by the bank. This check was to an old landlord that I used to have, and way back he told me that he never received this check, so I stopped payment on the check and got a bank check for the money and sent that on to him. Now after 7 months he managed to cash the check. The bank never called me to tell me that a “stale Check” was being cashed, and I didn’t know that “stop payments” were only good for 6 months, so the bank paid out this “old check”. Now because this happened and I didn’t know about it, it overdrew my account and I bounced a bunch of other checks. It was only after calling customer service that I found out that “stop payments” were only good for six months and that the bank shouldn’t have cashed this “stale check”, but I was told that it was up to the bans descretion.
Now the fees that came in due to this amounted to more than $900. I was frantic. I got hit with fees on top of fees. My wife’s direct deposit ended up going into our account before we could stop it, and it paid all of their fees off and left us very little money for food to feed our family of 5.
Also during this time I was running out of Insulin (I am a type 1 diabetic) and I also have Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis. Well I needed Insulin for my pump and the bank refused to free up any of the charges that they had on our account. I ended up have an MS flair twice and ended up in the ER. I also received 2 perscriptions that needed to be filled in order to get over this flair.
I called the bank and a very nice customer service representative named Madona helped me out and freed up $78. so that I could get the prescriptions filled, and then when I went to the bank I was told that I could not take the money out because citizens had put a hold on my account and the one person who could take the hold off was not in that day. I was then escourted out of the bank and was told that Corporate Security was going to be I would not get back any of the fees that I have paid if she had anything to do with it.
I then contacted customer service and lodged a complaint with them. Nest thing I know the claims department is sending me another affidavit in the mail, and this time they want me to try to locate my old landlord so that he can sign it saying that he did infact take money from our account. Can you believe that? I’m sure he’ll sign that?? right?
I was told by Citizens Bank that I can not close my account at this point because it is now back to being negative again, and when I tried to open another account with a different bank I was notified that because of citizens bank I would have to wait for that account to be settled before I can open another account anywhere else. So now my wife is stopping her direct deposit and I have to call Social Security in order for them to stop their direct deposit.
I’m thinking about not having a bank account at all, I’m thinking about getting a safe, and then just getting money orders for all of my bills.

Thank you CITIZEN’S BANK for encourgaing me to not trust banks!

For that agent who said there is something called block, I say block my ass. Citizensbank online banking is 100% misleading so you will fall into overdraft. 60 billion UD dollars were made last year from overdraft fees, thats how banks make money.
I was once charged with an overdraft fee because of an overdraft fee that was caused by a bank fee that I was not aware of.
To citizens I might be one person but I am trying as hard as I can to ask everyone I know to switch to any other bank.

Long story short. Citizens bank claims that money is made available to purchases. If you make purchases that make the available balance go below 0, they charge you biggest item down to the smallest for it pending. They let that overdraft your account, then charge when the items that they claimed the money was made available for goes through and overdrafts, again biggest to smallest. So in short, if you overdraft your account with 1 item, they switch items around to charge you for EVERY item, first half of items when they are pending, and then the second half when the first half overdrafts the account. If they charged me overdraft fees for making money available to a bill then they should not charge me again for it when their overdraft fees no longer make that money available. Because if they had made that money available in the beginning as they state, it would not have overdrafted. They charge you for items pending, even if the money is not paid or has cleared their "2 day hold period" then charge you for the items that caused the items pending to overdraft when they too overdraft.

Of all the banks I have ever dealt with, citizens bank is by far the most inefficient. The lack of cutomer service is disgraceful, their online banking system is slow and outdated and I have yet to have a smooth transaction in the two years I have been dealing with their bank. I am in the market for a new and better bank and even with all the buyouts and bailouts to find one better than citizens will not be difficult. My unfortunate experiences have seen a system quick to debit funds and financially rape me with ridiculously high fees, however credits to my account are mysteriously added last (if at all) during the business day. The term false advertising comes to mind every time one of their many commercials pops up on TV. Maybe they should spend less on advertising and more on IT and customer service, just a thought. Maybe if any of the customer service reps I have spoken to in the past would have been remotely helpful instead of just frustrating I'd have a different opininion. In the tough economy and with all the talk of change I hope someone at the top of Citizens bank gets the message and makes some serious changes.

I despise citizens bank. I have been a customer with them since I was 16 years old. They rip you off with overdraft fee's as much as they possibly can. I am a fairly responsible person and check my bank account online every single day. The first time I over drew they only charged me 25$ per overdraft. It was my fault so I paid the fee's. The next time it became 39$ per overdraft which totaled out to about 300$. Despite the fact that after the first time of overdrawing I didnt do it again until about 2 years later they refused to refund me any money. So I applied for overdraft protection. I told the teller that my credit was not great and she said that It didn't matter. About a week later I received a denial saying that I would not be granted 1,500$ worth of overdraft protection. WHY WOULD THEY APPLY ME FOR 1,500$ knowing my credit wasn't good enough to get it?!?! Her answer was that they do it for everyone. Pretty much a scheme to keep you from getting over draft protection.
About a year later I HAVE HAD ENOUGH. Last week I needed to buy a book for school online. I needed this book ASAP but did not have enough funds for it until my check was directly deposited. So a day before the check was deposited I purchased the book knowing that when the money was taken out the next day or later I would have the funds. Something that I have done many times before. Come to find out they charged me 117$ in over draft fee's becaue of this purchase. This 117$ was for 3 purchases made the day before that were already taken out of my account and left me with a small balance that was NOT NEGATIVE. Despite the fact that the money didnt come out till the next day for the book and my account was not negative whatsoever between this 2 day span they are refusing to give me back any money. Basically they charged me over draft fee's on three purchases I already paid for that didnt leave me with a negative balance, and the whole reason they charged me these fee's was for a PENDING purchase that wasn't even taken out until the next day when I had plenty of money to cover it! If thats not a rip off I dont know what is. Now they are just looking for excuses to steal you hard earned cash. I am closing my account today.

"Not your average bank" True statement because they are even worse!!!!!
DONT BANK WITH CITIZENS!!!!!!!!

Like most of you I have had the same rotten experiences with Citizens Bank. Finally, today I have had enough, I filed my complaint with the Comptroller of Currency (the Governing Body for this bank) http://www.occ.treas.gov/customer.htm
I was told by a lovely teller at the Citizens Branch in my neighborhood that I should call customer service and request to OPT-OUT of Overdraft Protection. That way my card would be declined if I tried to purchase something and there weren't enough funds to cover it. I signed up for this. And I just checked my balance and I have $234 in overdraft fees...HMMMMM. So I called and the lovely rep explained in her own words "It doesn't work 100%" Are you freaking kidding me! Needless to say, I was put on hold for 10 minutes for a manager who said the usual, I can't do anything, its not a bank error. Well if that's not a bank error I just do n't know what is! So my complaint was lodged and here I am..hoping for a positive outcome. I can't wait to leave this bank.

Even managers are hanging up at Citizens’ customer service! Well, I understand they need their bonus so more fees on customers.

Yea you're saying it now, wait until you get an OD fee even though it's not your fault. You will see how happy you are with Citizens Bank.

I had my account for over 5 years. And apparently that doesn't matter. My student loan debited the money in error and they charged me a $39 OD fee (which I did not complain, since it was my loan company's error). I told them to close my account and I deposited money into the account. A few days later they charged another $35 for "service charge". I told them what was that and they said because your account was OD for longer than 3 business day. I said that's a bunch of BS and closed the account completely. Now I just have to go back to my loan company again and get reimburse.

FOR THOSE PEOPLE THAT SAID JUST DON'T OD YOUR ACCOUNT IS A BUNCH OF BS. Even the government is cracking down on them. WHY???? Because the transaction shouldn't go throught at all if your account does not have sufficient fund.

They don't value relationships, it doesn't matter how long you have been with the bank. If you ask them to reimburse a fee. Their quote is "WE CAN ONLY REIMBURSE IF IT'S A BANK ERROR OR UNAUTHORIZED TRANSACTION". Well guess what? there's something called relationship which you will never understand. They used to reimburse me say "as a COURTESY" we will reimburse you. They no longer do that anymore after they were taking over by another bank. Safe to say I'm no longer a customer of them and will never be. I will also tell all my friends and family to close the account immediately and don't do business with them.

In conclusion, go with Bank of America, they value your relationship. I've OD my account accidentailly and they didn't even ask me one thing and reimbursed my account. They also charge less fees compare to Citizens. That's why my mortgages are now with BOA.

I just opened up a student account. i get free checking and savings with no limits or fees.
AND FOR THE MORONS COMPLAINING ABOUT OVERDRAFT FEES
THEY HAVE A THING CALLED A BLOCK thats FREE and it wont allow you take money out of your account if the balance is at 0.00
i put it on my account and it works amazing

I swear to god the customer service guy told me " we have the right to charge you any fees and there is nothing you can do about it".
Do not open an account with them, and if you did close it as soon as possible they will rip you off big time!

I have banked with Citizens Bank for a few years and I am very disappointed in how they treat their customers. I sent an inquiry online, a question that did not have the answer on their website. And what do they do? They send me an automated e-mail to visit their website. Why did I even wasted my time trying to submit an inquiry. And, yes their overdraft fees are ridiculous but even more ridiculous is if you have overdraft protection you still pay a fee.

I didn't have a problem with Citizens Bank until today. Yesterday I made a purchase at the Apple Store, and it put my account in the hole. I added money today to avoid overdraft fees, and was surprised when 2 hours later my account was showing $ -147. After going to the bank to find out why, a helpful customer service agent made some calls to figure out what happened. Apparently it didn't matter that any purchases I made before the Apple store had the money to clear. The Apple Store purchase, which was the last one I made, "cleared" even though it shows as a hold on my account, and Citizens found it nice to charge me for the 4 previous purchases instead of the 1 that actually overdrafted. Needless to say, 4 x 39 = 156 = not a happy customer. It's not exactly a good business practice to screw your customers over like that, and I'm glad to say that I'm finding a new bank or moving to a credit union. If you face absolutely no chance of overdrafting then by all means, use Citizens. The tellers have always been friendly and the customer service reps were very helpful.

I have never knowingly overdrafted my account. It is always a surprise at Citizens as their online banking actually misleads you about when things are clear. Sometimes, checks become UNCLEAR after already clearing and many small transactions amount to hundreds of dollars in fees. Incredible- like dealing with a tempermental bookie who forgets when you win. Where can I turn for help? They did it again and the juice is climbing fast...Any State phone numbers I can call?

Absolutely terrible business. Your money is safer under your mattress than it is at this bank.

Citizens Bank is the WORST bank I have ever encountered! I thought TDBank was bad, so I got lured into citizens - what a mistake. I cannot even state the number of times this bank has charged me service fees. I make a deposit and I always ask when the funds are available. 3 times now I have had them overdraw my account (for something as small as a $2.00 cup of coffee at DD) because they place these so called "extended holds" on deposits. DO NOT USE THIS BANK. They should be shut down by the Better Business bureau. It makes me sick that these banks get away with what they do. I check my account online every single day and they still find ways to take my money. My account is being closed after 6 months of fighting with them. STAY AWAY!!!

The absolute most horrible bank I have ever dealt with. Made a small error on my register and overdrew by two dollars, Immediately went to the bank to deposit money and was told everything was alright. Logged on the next day and they charged me over 100 dollars in overdrafts fees, and then more on top of that since the fees again overdrafted my account. Went in to explain my situation and that it had been the first time I had ever had any such incident and about how I was previously told that it was taken care of. They then proceeded to show me where and when I overdrafted which I already knew, and simply charged me all they could, I payed it, closed the account and now happily bank elsewhere. P.S. every one of the branches I have ever been at had terrible service, I think in their application's they require you to be a complete dick.

The worst bank I have encountered ever!!!
I traveled to DC area for a week and my account was over-drafted. They do not have any branch in DC, so I have to wait to come back to deposit my pay check. They charged me OD fee three times during the week! I called and was put on hold for 15 mins, and then was told that there was no way to get the fee back once it was charged. I said I wanted to talk to their manager. Then they put me on hold for another 20 mins. I was so tired to talk to them. I am going to close all my account there. This is the second unpleasant experience I had with them.

This is one lousy bank!!!!!!!!!! I asked for a simple automated set up to transfer money from my checking account to my savings account on a monthly basis. they couldn't even do that!!After almost 3 months and endless phone calls to the bank all they could say is that they didn't know why the money wasn't transfering. Then, to make matters worse, they tell me to call them back to find out the results of their investigations but they give me a long distance phone number that I have to pay for!! NO WAY!! You would have thought that the least they could do would be to provide me with a toll free number!! After 3 months of waiting for my FIRST automated transfer that NEVER happened they said that they would be gld to put in another request for the money to be transfered!! FORGET IT!! This is not rocket science!! Obviously, it's too much to ask them to do something so simple. I am taking my money out first chance. Don't waste your time with the imcompetence of Citizens Bank!!!!!!!!!!!!

Like all of you(most likely the reviews that were positive were employees ) I have been royally screwed by citizens bank, on 7/30 i only had about $5 in my account, But i needed gas, this whole month (7/27-8/21) i have to travel an hour each way for work(company training) I was about halfway home and knew it couldn't make it home, this was about 9pm, i stopped and filled my tank, at 12am my paycheck was deposited via direct deposit, i kept checking my online account to see if a fee was charged and as us sunday it wasn't, and the gas payment had also not been charged, but my paycheck was indeed in there and available. I didn't think anything else of it, towards the end of the week i knew i was running low on funds again so instead of going out to lunch i went to the dollar store(about 7 times) and bought a soda or some snacks, I'm working right next door so pretty much time there is down time i would go over there and buy a little something. Well last Friday i checked my account online and my check had been deposited(i was curious how much it was, that's actually the only reason i checked) so even AFTER my check was put in i was NEGATIVE 128.92!!! my paycheck was 266.55! I FREAKED Not only did they charge me an OD for the gas the week before, but because i now had 39.00 less in the account then i thought, for each of those dollar store purchases i was charged an additional 39.00, totaling in $312 in fees, well, payday had just past, so how am i going to get gas, eat, buy my son a birthday present(his 2nd birthday is the 17th) pay bills, they totally screwed me! Then last night i look to see if they replied to my second email (in which i told them i filed a report with the Better Business Bureau) and i see that my 14 netflix charge has been added, plus ANOTHER 39! alright, so i'm 182.75 negative now, so, as much as i hated doing so, i told my fiance about the events(we have separate accounts with different banks) and he wrote me a check for 200 and gave me cash for gas and food, so after work i deposited the check via the atm because i didn't want to deal with people and the receipt said -217.75! UGH they have now added this other bogus fee they call it"08/12/2009 Debit Memo SERV CHG $35.00" WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!!!!! But i get paid tomorrow night so everything will hopefully go positive again, then as soon as i get back to my normal job i can cancel my direct deposit, close my account and find a bank that doesn't F**K you anyway they can!!!
Rachel in PA

like all others i have a good story about it fran in lower burrel branch was the person i talked to i was on the intrnet and was looking at stuff and added the wrong item to my account and finished the order when i did it was 12:03 am and i cought what i did and it was so much it overdraw my account buy 13 dollars the bank opens at 9 at 9:02 i made a cash deposit into the account of 40 dollars said there would be no charges it was on the same day well i deposit my pay check and write my bilss out like everyone does and thinking that all was good three days later i check my account and its 566 overdarwn i called and they tell me its not a bank error well if a teller and acount manger tells you no fees you should be able to believe her right wrong she lied to me and now im stuck with overdraft fees that keep comeing in now three months later because of citizens bank im loseing my car my bike and dont have a dollar to my name i tried to switch banks but because of the balance they have all ready reported it so i cant open anther account and i can only get derict deposit so thank you citizens bank you are not the typical bank

$0.37 overdrawn. $39.00 overdraft charge and then hit with a $35.00 sustained overdraft charge because I hadn't brought the account back to the positive 7 days later. I am a landlord and this account is only used for rental deposit and to pay mortgage. Their online banking is horrible and takes forever for bills to be paid. I've switched to ING and never looked back. My bills get paid in 2-3 business days, the funds are automatically deducted from your available balance when you put the payment in so there's not a misleading avaialble balance, you get a FREE $165 overdraft line of credit that only charges finance charges of about 7-15 cents. Amazing, a bank that isn't out to screw you

Citizens: you want to learn how to treat customers and actually be an effective bank? Take a look at ING. Citizens Bank = worst bank ever. Plus I worked there for 10 months a few years ago, truly horrible institution. I could go on for hours but I'll keep it simple: do not do business with Citizens Bank!

I am closing down my account after a terrible experience with Citizens Bank and their customer service. Citizens Bank placed a two week hold on my paycheck in order to "verify the funds." After contacting my employer I was told the funds were transferred three days after the check was deposited. On top of holding my check, I was specifically told that Citizens would not bounce the checks that I had written while my paycheck was on hold. Guess what? They bounced at least two checks which is going to increase my interest rates as well as accrue additional fees. I have called customer service which is useless and have made multiple trips to the local branch without any resolution to the problem. They have lost a customer for life as well as my family members who are also pulling their accounts.

I worked for Citizens in PA for almost 2 years. Fran, the Bucks County Regional Manager, pushes OD fees EXACTLY as described by many posts.

We were forced to open checking accounts that had excessive overdraft fees and monthly charges in order to ripoff the customers. Here's how:

We had to open accounts, lying to the customers that the account has "no fees" and put specifically designed waivers on the accounts so that the customer doesn't realize the scam (the maximum waiver you could use was for 1 year...)

Then, when the waiver expires months later, the customers have their guard down and they don't obsess with every line on their statements, they get hit by monthly fees that will overdraw the account (as most people keep in their checking account only enough money to cover their checks - that's why it's called a CHECKING account). The overdraft fees will overdraw the account again and again and so will the checks you write believing that your account is still good....

I routinely had customers with hundreds of dollars in fees by the time they received their statement - we were specifically instructed to hit high school kids, college students and senior citizens.

Another trick we had to use is open a "Gold" checking account to senior citizens who would come in and ask for a savings account by using a high interest rate as a carot and not disclosing the fees (using the waivers as noted above). Problem is, that "Gold" checking account had a high-balance requirement and the poor people would be hit by unneccesary monthly fees a few months later...

And to add inslult to injury we even had telemarketing days and evenings when we were forced to make telemarketing calls (disguised as "service calls" so that the bank circumvents the do-not-call registry laws). Not only these were clearly marketing calls (as suggested by the program feeding us the leads!!!) but also we had to open a number of checking accounts over the phone (the daily and weekly targets were set by Fran again, the Regional Manager).

If only homeland security new how many checking accounts Citizens Bank routinely opens over the phone without proper identification or signatures... all the auditors have to do is go to any Bucks County branch towards the end of the day and ask for the signature cards of the checking accounts opened the SAME day to uncover the illegal practice (this way there is no time to mail the signature card and obtain backdated signatures....)

Stay away from Citizens Bank in PA! I quit several years ago and I am still haunted about the things we had to do...

i keep track of my finances... never had an overdraft or fee from them but they are an aweful bank.... services suck or even non existant.... i wouldnt recomend this bank to anyone.

After 3+ years of trying to find a resolution I withdrew my savings from Citizens Bank today. In Jan 2006 the teller at a branch deducted $215 from my savings account saying a $215 deposit in Nov 2005 was a mistake. After way too many calls the bank reinstated the money only to deducted it again later. I keep on doing the phone calls and on July 16th 2009 Citizens sent me a letter saying they added $429 to my account, I have no idea where they got this amount, so I decided to withdraw my savings with only the $215 they stole from me and leave the difference between $429 and the $215 behind. Well after a half hour at the bank trying to withdraw my money turns out the $429 was deducted the same day it was entered, I got no letter about the withdrawal. My savings account passbook is the only receipt available to me for the Nov 2005 deposit and was the only receipt available to customers at that time and it clearly reads a $215 deposit in Nov 2005. There is something seriously wrong with this bank and it isn't a money issue at this point but you must hold those who are dishonest accountable. Small claims is my last option, seems silly.

What an absolute HORRIBLE bank.

I got my daughter an account to teach her how to manage a bank account.
What a nightmare. I must point out she did not understand some concepts
but that was the point of getting an account, I would teach her.

As far as the bank..... They play games with deposit and debt postings so they
can get the $39.00 overdraft fee.... Don't understand why deposits (CASH) take
days to post???? I don't understand why debts get randomly posted out of order
sometimes right away, sometimes days later. In all honesty I swear they do it
anyway they want just to get the fees.

Customer service is totally rude and unhelpful.

Worst of alll the online banking is VERY confusing. There are 2 different account balances,
one on the summary page and one on the details page. THEY DO NOT MATCH. I do my
bank management online and with Citizens your not realtime with any transaction. If
you keep a ledger then Citizens is your average large bank. If you bank online or manage
online go somewhere else.

Very disappointed with the way we were treated. No relief on the fee's , they did not even want to hear it. This bank in my opinion is preditory and plays games with transaction posting.

Go somewhere else.

I'm closing my account today after they refused to refund overdraft fees that weren't my fault. Terrible customer service and terrible fees. Who give's a S!@# about being open on Sunday anyway? Even if you make a deposit on a weekend it doesn't go through till Tuesday anyway. I hope that Bank of Scotland drags them into ruin.



If you need a bank, don't bother with citizens. Go to a credit union.

Reading all the posts, wow, Citizens Bank sure attracts their share of deadbeats who don't keep track of their financial affairs. Their charges are designed to get rid of people like you, because your balances are too low to make much of a profit and you want to use their capital to cover your bills. Sorry chumps, but if you make any deposit on a weekend, the bank can't use your money until Monday in the afternoon. Because nobody else wants you, they can gouge you for fees.

That all said, I am getting ready to leave Citizens Bank. I moved all my accounts to them when the nicely, but grossly unprofitable Bank Boston was acquired by Fleet Bank, a bank known for the worst retail, commercial and any other kind of service in New England. Citizens' had acquired the local S&L that financed the addition on my house and then acquired the commercial banking business of a former employer and so puff, I had several Citizens accounts Across several branches, service was great. Also, during my brief and unpleasant career in banking, I learned that Citizens had no clue as to customer profitability and did not care. Citizens offered me products that had to cost more than the bank made by lending my deposits and charging me fees. Whenever, I saw a fee, I would ask any newly minted loan officer, what the fee was for and they would give me a rebate, and do an officer override to eliminate any future such fees. (Oh yeah, I deposit lots of money with these guys, so the local people think I might be a profitable customer, but I sweep it all out and have lots of expensive teller deposits.

Well, as anyone should no, all good things come to an end, and I have been expecting the end for the last 5 years. Two years ago, Citizen's Bank honchos made the speaking rounds in the forums I attend saying we are now a big bank and so will lend like a big bank. (No body thought they would and they didn't.) That was the clue that Citizens would soon be a big bank and try and screw me. I did my research and the bank across the street, looked like a winner, or at least not a loser. Two years ago, I opened a college account at the new bank for my son to test the waters. Finally, the red light went on, Citizens now wants to charge me $5 every time I use my overdraft protection. What, that is BS. So it is time to walk. So, in the fall, when I am back from vacation, my two business accounts will walk across the street and I will close my two personal accounts and use one new account with USAA, which gets great reviews.

Citizens has nice people in their branches and I hope they can find work in the local banks who will take Citizens business. That will leave the poor Brits holding the bag as they should, since Royal Bank of Scotland took all of Citizens Bank customer's money and invested in sub-prime loans which are now wroth didly.

Without a doubt the worst banking experience of my life! I receive my unemployment check via a Chase Debit Card here in Arizona. Yesterday even though the activity report show I should still have $51.31 in the account, their computer states I have $1.13
I have spoke with for computers and one real body at their office in Catalina, Arizona. When I explained the problem to the lady to see if there was someway she could help me resolve the issue or put me in contact with someone that could, This lady (if you can call her that), said "I don't know what to tell you" and hung up. Thank God I do the rest of my Banking with another company. It is not so much that getting screwed out of $50.00 is going to totally turn my world upside down, It is more the fact that they were Rude, Uncaring, A totally of little or rather any help in trying to resolve the issue. It is no wonder their stock has went through such turmoil in the past year.
I hope someone reads this before they do any business with such a dysfunctional corporation.
HR Thompson
Tucson, Arizona
Twitter www.twitter.com/n7mwh

The worst bank ever. In 24 hours that bank cleaned me out of 400 bucks. I'm so tired of being on the phone with this company I'm at a lost for words except that anyone who deals with this bank. Your time will come when you will be on here saying your a** hurts from citizens being behind you. I also thought it was a good bank for 8 years but since this incident i looked back not realizing i had fees here and their. Good luck with those who keep this bank.

This is the Worst Bank ever ... Go to a smaller bank that really cares.. I have pulled my bussiness and personal accounts OUT all they due is charge charge charge....

Citizens Bank is the worst. Not only to their customers, employees get treated bad too. I worked there for a long time and every year it got worse and worse. They are cheap, however they ALWAYS find new ways to rip off customers. I started feeling so bad for these people that they were charging all these fees, I couldn't be a part of it anymore. I don't have much money myself and Citizens truely kicks you when you are down. Trust me, all they want is to charge you fees, I would highly suggest not having an account with them because they add new fees pretty much once a month. It's only going to get worse! I give it 0 stars.

I banked with Citizens Bank in New Hampshire...

Summary of Experience:

Branch customer service is good - but corporate office eventually ruins it. Placing your money with Citizens Bank is not a safe bet; e.g., my fiancée and I made a deposit worth thousands of dollars: this deposit was returned by no fault of ours. When the deposit was returned we were assessed a $10 fee, which we paid. We had also spoken extensively with our branch and phone banking service and made sure to correct the problem in less than 24 hours by depositing the returned amount in cash. Despite this, the bank's "fraud" department closed our account - even after all the evidence of our acting in good faith to correct a problem we never caused. Our ChexSystems record is now soiled with an "account abuse" item based on an event which we addressed immediately and was not our fault - the branch gave up on helping us and succumbed to the corporate decision, which was based on partial information. Citizens Bank is as problematic as Bank of America. DO NOT OPEN AN ACCOUNT WITH CITIZENS BANK.

Detailed Account of Experience:

Branch service is initially good - but eventually the corporate office will ruin it - quite unjustifiably too. The branch will make the effort to work with you and most other branches have friendly personnel too, but they struggle as mediators between customers they are trying to keep and a bank corporation eager to assess fees unfairly whenever it can. After many months of working well with us - and in some cases going out of their way to help us as customers - our account was closed by way of a unilateral decision on their part. My fiancée and I deposited a check for thousands of dollars. This check was returned by no fault of ours. When it was returned we were assessed a $10 fee, which we paid despite not being responsible for the returned deposit check. Over the course of the next 24 hours my fiancée and I spoke repeatedly and consistently with branch employees as well as phone banking employees making sure to understand the repercussions of this returned deposit (to find out, for example, how payments coming out of our account would be affected, etc.). We also spoke at length of how we could correct this issue immediately. Within 24 hours we re-deposited the money in CASH. We left the bank relieved that this problem was taken care of only to find out a couple of days later that Citizens Bank had frozen our funds - we could not withdraw a penny - and that the account was scheduled to be CLOSED. Shocked by this, we called the branch, the phone bank service, etc. and received conflicting feedback: everyone but the branch employees ascertained that the branch could correct the problem. The branch insisted that they could not do anything and seemed eager to close the account and stop speaking to us - there was no intent to resolve an obvious misunderstanding. The corporate Citizens Bank office, specifically a "fraud" office in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, had flagged our account as fraudulent simply because a deposit that we made was returned by the bank it came from. There was never any recognition of the effort we made immediately to resolve the matter nor did employees at the local branch acknowledge this effort. At the corporate level no one ever accounted for our effort, in good faith, to fix the problem by depositing the cash amount the account was now missing due to the returned deposit. Citizens Bank has now soiled our ChexSystems record with an "account abuse" label - something that is most definitely not merited in this case. We had NEVER had a check deposit returned and we took care of the problem by replacing the returned deposit with an equal amount in cash within 24 hours. When we spoke with the branch it was like speaking to completely different people - there was no human element whatsoever in their effort or conversation and we left baffled that the bank had made this decision, treated us like delinquents, and moved swiftly to clear us out of their system - all while damaging our ChexSystems record with an inaccurate picture of what happened and a partial account of the story. DO NOT OPEN AN ACCOUNT WITH CITIZENS BANK - they are as problematic as Bank of America and by the admission of at least one employee we spoke to in the course of this event they are getting worse. The online banking system is also very deceiving - you will never really know what your accurate balance is because they take days and days to post items against your account: many of these items are hidden fees and this is most likely by design and meant to catapult you into a nightmare of fees. For your sake and the sake of your hard-earned money, please don't feed this monster of a corporation. I am a pro-business, pro free-market conservative Republican and I can admit that this company has gotten out of hand in abuse – I cannot stand by their business practices. We should not have "account abuse" and fraud all over our ChexSystems: Citizens Bank should have that all over their customer reviews and ratings.

I get what everyone is saying about the overdraft fees and no, I am not here to defend them. The fees are high and its easy to rack up $300 in fees over one weekend. Maybe one day the banking industry will change, but for now it is what it is. You will find the same thing in most banks, at least the large banks. One may charge $37 for an overdraft instead of $39 but it's still the same thing pretty much. As far as posting from high to low, most large banks do that too. Does that make it right? No, but it is what it is.

What I am here to say though is please don't take it out on the employees and then come on here and say how incompetent they are. Most employees in most branches are hard working and go above and beyond for their customers. The branch employees do not set bank policy. They no longer have the authority to rebate overdraft fees, even the branch managers do not. If a bank error or fraud causes the fees, another department has to research and approve the rebate. If there was no bank error or fraud, nothing can be done. It doesn't seem fair to hold employees accountable for something they are not authorized to do. Think about it, if it was that easy to rebate fees, wouldn't they just do it or do you think they like getting screamed at and insulted by customers who are angry about overdraft fees? It just doesn't make sense.

If you are upset about fees and bank policy, you can write a letter to the bank and the address is on your statement. You can also email them through citizensbank.com and they will respond. Just don't go into the branch and try to coerce the employees into rebating fees. They do not have the authority to do it and it just puts them in an uncomfortable position.

Citizens Bank is the worst. They bilked my husband and I out of about 5,000.00 10 yrs ago. Today, we got a letter letting us know that they sold 116 shares of one of our stocks. When we called them, they claimed that they sent us a bill in Nov. That is a crock of crap!! We never received a bill unless it was a disguised as something else. THIS BANK IS THE WORST!!! They can legally rip you off!!

0 stars, some how my account is negative 1,087.00 right now. yes, one thousand eighty seven dollars. unbelievable. i have 2 kids, a home and all the bills to pay for and as a single mother i dont know how im going to do it. one of my children has endless doctors appointments that im paying for as well. 1,087.00 is greed and the charges are all random and high. i might as well have just got robbed.

Like everyone else here, Citizens Bank of RI & MA is ONE bank in the SCAM business. Just got hit with a $273 overdraft charge because of what should surely be an ILLEGAL OVERDRAFT SCAM. I wanted to contact the Senate in Washington yesterday while passing legislation to curb credit card company fee scams and yell WAIT! Can you make sure Banking SCAM is in that bill!!
I attended a PMP Class a few years ago and about 10 people who worked for Citizens were in the class. NOT one of them had a good thing to say about working there. Apparently they ALSO treat their employees almost as bad as they treat their customers.

An abominable bank. NOT deserving of one star. The guy who gave them 5 stars must surely be a Citizens “plant”

Fees, BS marketing, and lousy service are what this bank is known for. Credits take for ever to go though wile debits happen instantaneously.

If I could possibly rate them a -1 I would. This bank was great until they realized I was going to close my account. My account had been inactive for 4 months while I switched banks. There was a balance in the account but not a large one. For the first two months of inactivity there were no charges then the next month one charge, then after that 3 charges in the same day. In the last 5 years I had never received any fee whatsoever. One fee was for inactivity with my debit card. That is the only fee that I agree with. These fees caused my account to go negative. Then I got hit with overdraft fees. I drove 2 hours to go to the nearest citizens bank to find out what the fees were for and to close my account (the customer service rep was no help at all, the only words she knew how to say was I don't know and its not a bank error so I can't do anything). When I got to the bank the assistant branch manager told me my account was not overdrawn and it was already closed. I had to tell her to litterally go into the account and look at it because yes it was overdrawn and no it wasn't closed. Finally after a few minutes of looking she saw that it was indeed overdrawn. I asked her what the fees were for and at first she said there are no fees on the account then finally when she found them she wasn't sure what they were for. Then she looked in a book and said one was for inactivity with the debit card, the other was for not keeping a minimum balance of 500, and the other she didn't know. I told her I never received a fee for not keeping a minimum balance because when I opened the account there was no minimum balance requirement. She said yes there was and I must have worked something out with charter one for them not to charge me the fees. Then I asked her well why was I never charged the fee when it switched to citizens. She said she didn't know. the other fee she had no clue but like the rep she kept repeating its not a bank error so nothing can be done. Not once did I ask to have anything refunded. It was my fault for not closing it earlier. All I wanted to know is what the fees were for and why they suddenly showed up when I had never had fees before. The only response I kept getting was I don't know and its not a bank error. Now all I want to do is close the account. Obviously this lady has no idea what is going on. As I'm trying to close the account this woman says "She hopes no other charges are going to go through because if they do it will open my account and send it negative again" She doesn't look to see if anything is going to go through or even call someone who may know something. She is just hoping. Well after that my husband blew up at her. He said "You better do more than hope, get on the phone and talk to someone who knows what they are doing and find out if anything will be going through." Finally we kind of get the account closed. For the next 60 days if there is no activity then the account will be closed. So basically I have to cross my fingers that the account stays inactive. I guess closed doesn't really mean closed anymore.

For anyone thinking of opening an account be careful. The people I talked to didn't care about you as a customer at all. They don't even try to help with a problem. I would be very wary about letting these people have control of my money.

And for all the people that said people who have been rating citizens low are uneducated I went to college have a double major and a minor and have a gpa of 3.88. Just because people happen to have spelling mistakes in their review doesn't mean they are uneducated, probably just pissed and typing too fast.

I just finished a case with the Better Business Bureau regarding this bank. I finally got back my $110 dollars that I allegedly overdrew my account by. However, the overdraft fees with this bank are $39...you can't multiply anything by 39 and get 110. Also I never overdrew my account! I keep a hard ledger that never was negative and when I went online to check my online ledger against my hard ledger they matched, no negatives! However when I called the help line they refused to take of the erroneous fees and lectured me on keeping a ledger...which I reminded them I did and that this was their mistake. So I went in to the bank to talk to a person, well they were just as rude and unhelpful. I got the person's name and told her I would be getting help through the BBB. She laughed and I just left. I reported my claim and got my money. I would advise the rest of you to do the same because a lot of claims are the only thing that is going to force some scrutiny on this bank!

The customer service reps are rude, I don't blame them though I've dealt with a few of their managers and they are horrible! No one wants to work with you or help you out. I've seen some extremely racists things happen at this bank as well while waiting in line and it's just terrible. Comments and practices that no bank should condone! I switched to TD Bank and they are just a breath of fresh air!

First & foremost I enjoy the saying, " instead of pointing a critical finger, try a helping hand". I am a high school drop out & by my own choice never acquired my G.E.D. That being said I would like to share some profound quotes with you all:
The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable combination, as are intelligence and necessity when unblunted by formal education. – Maya Angelou
I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. – Mark Twain
Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance. – Will Durant
Learning is not attained by chance. It must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence. – Abigail Adams
Knowledge is a process of piling up facts; wisdom lies in their simplification. – Martin Luther King, Jr.
To learn, you must want to be taught. – Proverbs 12:1
To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge. – Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)
An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you know and what you don't. – Anatole France
The education of a person is never completed until they die. – Robert E. Lee
Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation. – John F. Kennedy
And as Albert Einstein said long before, We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.
How wonderful to live in an age where there's an "Idiots Guide" for almost every situation one may encounter in life. e.g. The Complete Idiots Guide To A Healthy Relationship, Dating, Living Together, Buying or Selling a Home, The Perfect Marriage, Amazing Sex, To Pregnancy & Childbirth, To Baby Brain Games, Parenting a Preschooler & Toddler Too, Parenting a Teenager, Surviving Divorce. Okay, so if you've read this far you're most likely asking yourself "what's my point?".... It's like this....
I have been a patron of Citizens Bank for almost two years. Recently I had the unfortunate misfortune of over-drafting my checking account. Truth be told, when I opened my accounts savings/checking I was given the banks Terms & Agreements (which by the way... I did not read) Had I done so I would have been clearly informed of the banks policies regarding insufficient funds. Yes, it is in "fine print", but it "is" there. I've written this post with the hope that others may benefit from my experience. I've heard it said before, that "a smart person learns from their mistakes, but a wise person learns from the mistakes of others". Was I at fault?...yes....was I happy that I was being charged $233.00 for my error?...no. Ultimately, I came to accept my wrong. But just because I accepted it, didn't mean I had to like it....Right?..."NO SIR!!!". Originally I was enticed to enter into a relationship with Citizens Bank because I liked the idea of being able to do my grocery shopping at STOP & SHOP, have my medical prescriptions filled at the "in store" pharmacy (yes, I'm medicated for your protection!!!), grab a cup of java from the Starbucks that is also located in the store and if I wanted to, I could even save some money by renting a movie from the REDBOX DVD Machine at $1.08 rather than spending the $5.00 they charge at Blockbuster. What I didn't expect or enjoy were the enormous fees I incurred, as a result of "MY" ignorance. Here's the breakdown....I checked my balance at the ATM, performed an instant transfer from my savings to my checking and off I went. Ironically the logo on my ATM card is a Mastercard logo, I think we've all heard or seen the commercials for Mastercard... right?...$30.00 gas for my truck...$25.00 fee...$26.97 Walmart....$25.00 fee (got all the way to my truck, realized I forgot to buy a hair brush for my daughter,ran back to get it... $5.30 Walmart again....$37.00, fee...$15.97 PizzaHut...$37.00 fee... Sears, $49.97....$37.00 fee...$28.11, STOP & SHOP $37.00 fee and last but not least, rented a DVD from (yes you guess it) the REDBOX machine $1.08...$37.00 fee... The look on my face when I finally realized that I was being charged all those fees for having insufficient funds...."PRICELESS!!!!". So here's where we separate the people who see the proverbial glass half full, from those who see the glass half empty. I called the 800 number for the bank, spoke with a representative from Citizens Bank to verify what had happened and to rule out bank error. I decided that I would have a better chance to resolve my dilemma in a face to face meeting. I called my local Citizens Bank ankd spoke with the branch manager, set up an appointment. I went to bank asked for help to see if I could recoupe "some" not all of the fees (after all, it was my own doing)... I was informed that a branch manager was not authorized to reverse any fees... Branch manager referred my request to a District manager.... District manager credited my account $37.00 and filed my case with the banks Customer Relations Dept..... Within three days I received a call from the bank, I spoke with an intelligent, articulate woman who expressed sincere concern that I was unhappy with the amount of charges I sustained. She then proceeded to explain how the bank offers overdraft protection provided that you have a savings account with them & the only fee is $15.00 per transfer that the bank charges you in the event that an amount presents itself for payment and you don't have the funds to cover a particular purchase. Also, I was told that as an account holder the bank has a three tier system or levels if you will regarding over-drafts. The first tier charges the customer $25.00 for the first & second over-drafts, then the amount increases to $37.00..(second tier) finally the third tier results in a $2.00 addition.... for a total of $39.00 per over-draft. Then there is a fee for having your account in a negative balance...$35.00. So, in the end the banks representative refunded me an additional $150.00. Here it is ladies & gentlemen, $235.00 in fees - $37.00 (District Manager credit) = $198.00 .... -$150.00 (Customer Relations Dept. credit) = $48.00... A total of $187.00 of fees that I caused as a result of mismanaging my finances were returned to me because instead of pointing my finger & yelling, blaming everybody at the bank for this great injustice, I accepted full responsibility for my actions. Then, I set out humbly ( a key state of mind to be in "Humble") to see if there was any recourse available for me. My account had been in good standing, I am not in the habit of having insufficient funds in my accounts. I ask that the bank let my past actions and record speak for itself. Honestly, I was not aware of how purchases made with my ATM card post to my account, e.g. the time it takes for a pending purchase to present itself, the various cause and affect that dictates how many merchants hold onto funds. Largest amount to smallest or vice a versa. Where did I learn all this???? I drove to Barnes & Nobles and bought "The Complete Idiots Guide To Managing Your Money".... By the way I paid in cash.... "Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise...Education is a human right with immense power to transform. On its foundation rest the cornerstones of freedom, democracy and sustainable human development.”Peace & Blessings To All!!!!!

I am closing my Citizen's bank account. I recenty made a $2,000 deposit on a Saturday and then went shopping. I incurred $273 in overdraft fees because they posted every purchase to my account immediately but not my deposit. Some of the purchases did not actually post to my account until Thursday but I was still charged and overdraft fee. If the funds were not available to me then Citizens should not have honored my debit card when it was swiped at the store. Instaed they allow you to use the card and then charge you overdraft fees, when I actually had money in my account!

I was once over drawn for less than 1 dollar and they charged 44 $ insufficient funds fee. Again once I transfered money from my saving account to checking account using ATM and then used my card - since my atm transfer was after 3 pm, they made this transfer avaialable the next day and charged more than 100$. (note that my account seemed fine at the ATM - but they told me that their system was not working that way)

I opened this acount at the beginning of 2009. Since that time I have had over $265 in fees for transactions under $30. Below are the trans actions that led upto the over drafts.

03/16/2009 Debit Memo SERV CHG $35.00 ($312.79)
03/13/2009 Insufficient Funds Fee $39.00 ($277.79)
03/12/2009 Master Money Purchase SPECIAL THOUGHTS SALEM MA $6.59 ($238.79)
03/12/2009 Insufficient Funds Fee $39.00 ($232.20)
03/11/2009 Preauthorized Debit CLARKE AMERICAN CHK ORDER $28.89 ($193.20)
03/10/2009 Insufficient Funds Fee $78.00 ($164.31)
03/09/2009 Master Money Purchase BURGER KING #3874 LYNN MA $5.01 ($86.31)
03/09/2009 Master Money Purchase DUNKIN #300316 LUNN MA $7.06 ($81.30)
03/09/2009 Insufficient Funds Fee $74.00 ($74.24)
03/06/2009 Master Money Purchase MCDONALD'S F2845 EAST BOSTON MA $7.48 ($0.24)
03/06/2009 Point Of Sale Debit AJ EAST BOSTON MA $15.98 $7.24

So I have a low rating of this bank, and all banks that charge overdraft fees. I will be closing my citizens bank account soon. And I plan to use cash in the future, no more ATM/Debit transaction. I also wrote the Federal Reserve Bank and filed a caomplaint.

I had alot of problems with citizens in October, when they had a glitch in the system that double withdrew a bill twice. The bill they withdrew just happened to be my car payment for $460. They did eventually refund the 2nd withdrawl, and also the bounced fee, but in the mean time it had made a few other transactions bounce also. My wife contacted the 800 number for customer service, and the lady argued with my wife that all the transactions associated with their mistake had been credited. I finally had to print a copy of my statement and take into my local branch and argue with them. They admitted the fault and credited the money back to my account. This week i had to make 2 visits to citizens. I received a notice in the mail that 4 transactions had bounced. When I checked my account it only showed 2 had bounced, but they charged me for 4 bounced transactions. I went into the bank and they informed me that there must have been a hold on some funds, from previous transactions and that the hold had come off after the money had been deposited to cover the transactions, so only the 2 where showing up but that 4 had bounced. SHe said the computer automatically hits the account with a fee even if the item hasn't cleared. Well the next day, I checked my account and again it was overdrawn, but none of the transactions had cleared. So I deposited some money, but they had already hit me with a $156 bounced fee, and after everything cleared, nothing on my statement showed any transaction in the negative. I argued with the lady that the money had been deposited and hadn't cleared the account ,so why am I getting hit with bounced fee. SHe tried to explain it away, and said that she coouldn't credit my account, it had to go to the regional manager to review. WHAT A PIECE OF SHIT. I have 3 accounts plus a business account, that I am highly considering leaving.

I wish I could give this bank a NO STAR rating!
This bank can kiss my ass!!!

Horrible overdraft fee policy. I had $160 in my account yesterday. I used my debit card twice, once to withdraw $20, once at the grocery store for $76. Last night I check I wrote over the weekend, which I thought wouldn't clear until tonight (I have money to deposit to cover it today) cleared. I realize the check clearing early is entirely my fault, and will take my penalty of $39.00. My issue is, the bank also charges me an overdraft on the two debit transactions yesterday. On-line, debits show up immediately, so when I went to bed last night, the two debits were out, the check was not. When I get up this morning, the check is out BEFORE the two debits. Again, I know it's my fault I was overdrawn, I screwed up and I should pay the fee. But instead of $39, I now owe $117. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like BS to me.