Citizens Bank Home Equity Loans

When I sold my condo and paid off the HELOC, I also closed the associated overdraft checking account. Citizens, however, DID NOT close it and they also never sent me statements or emails or any other communication to let me know it was still open. They charged me an annual fee, which I of course didn't know about, so I didn't pay it and they reported it to the credit bureaus. They ruined my credit and when I finally was able to get a human on the phone (no one would answer or help me, I had to report them and THEN they called me) she said too bad, I should have opened my statements (that they never sent). 30+ years of an 800+ score and these people ruined it and then refused to help - over FIFTY FOUR dollars (that they refunded, which to me is an admission of guilt, but they refused to fix my credit score). STAY AWAY FROM THESE PEOPLE, they are unprofessional and unreachable.

saw their ad on LendingTree, which of course had the most competitive HELOC rate of 2.5% - called and asked the loan officer multiple times *on a recorded line* if there was any catch. He swore that this was the actual rate and there was no catch. An hour later after my app is submitted, I check the website and it shows my rate as 3.5%. I mail back the loan officer and he promises to apply the "promotional rate". A few days later it shows up as 2.5%, but then a few days after that it reverts again to 3.5%. Subsequent calls and emails to the loan officer go unanswered. They also tell you you can get an additional quarter point discount on the rate if you open a Citizen's Bank checking account. I call and attempt to do that, but it turns out they have shuttered their branches in all but 7 or so states and you're not allowed to have an account unless your state is one of those 7 where the have actual physical branches.

A bit more googling (Google "class action against Citizens Bank") revealed multiple class action lawsuits against the bank for stealing depositor money.

Run, don't walk away from this so-called "bank".

Sent in App just 2 weeks ago and am approved for a $200,000+ HELOC at 2.5% prime minus .75. Things cruised through perfectly, everyone was nice and informative along the way. 15 days from start to closing. Used EQ FICO 8. Best rates >740, rep said. Home run.

Customer service is terrible and using Covid excuse its non-existent. Writing letter to President of the division, Eric Schuppenhauer, falls on a deaf ear. Be careful when you want to get lien release, discharge and suddenly new fees will be levied.

HELOC Application ****257251
Handled by Loan Officer Jordan Addington
If Citizens bank does not believe a preliminary deal will not go through or be beneficial to them, they will drop you and never follow up with you. Tried reaching out to Citizens Bank Heloc applications department because the aboce officer was not responding; on hold for 1.5 hours. Called back in the morning the next day. 1 hour on hold. Sent multiple emails, called several times, left voice mails to the person above...never responded. Reached out to him a month later. Said he would follow up the next day. Did not follow up. Wasted 2 months because of this person and citizens bank practices.
Do not like leaving bad reviews but it is not right for people to be treated that way.
I would AVOID dealing with Citizens bank on any home loan products, especially avoid the above loan person.

Horrible Lending Dept. I'm near 3 months in with a 35% LTV, Perfect Credit & plenty of reserves. Still not closed on equity line.

Service is horrible... no one ever called me.. no calls were ever returned... I received a preapproval letter for 500,000 and eventually was reduced to 268,000. This was fine with me... I could get no one to set closing much less respond to emails or calls...
When I expressed my frustration in an email to the loan originator, Jon Humbert, who has never called, emailed or responded to me,
my loan amount was reduced to 17,500 and the interest rate increased by 2 points without any explanation... still no response

Citizen's Bank works against you. To me, it seems like they have to be doing on purpose in order to get more money out of you. I schedule regular transfers from another bank because they insist on auto-deducting from a Citizen's Checking account. Ok, I transfer money 5 days in advance prior to the auto-deduct, except they delete the scheduled transfer. Even if a credit occurs the same day as a debit, like all banks that suck, they record the debit first so they can charge a fee. Like I said, working against you. Looking out for number one - themselves. Terrible policies.

I STILL can't get this horrible experience with Citizen's Bank out of my mind though it is maybe 3 or 4 years in the past. My wife and I opened a home equity loan to help my son buy a home. From the first monthty payment I made, there was nothing but problems. They lost a payment that I mailed to the address I was given and I was charged a penalty. We got that cleared up but roughly $700 I made in accelerated payments "disappeared",it took months and months and countless letters and me sitting in the branch to get it finally resolved. There is so much more but anyway, after almost a year of terrible service we paid the loan off and moved to a different bank, also in Franklin, MA. Nice people at Citizens, TERRIBLE service. I wrote letters and called Citizens corporate office contacted and filed official complaints to the RI banking commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and so on and on...until I finally was fully reimbursed.

So I thought....it turns out there was a $50 annual fee on the Home Equity Loan (never stated in the contract). I was assessed penalties because I was told, "this can only be paid in person", not online or through a transfer from my Citizen's checking account. WHAT $50 annual fee? WHY can't I transfer it from checking? This was NOWHERE in the contract either! I should point out that our monthly payment was somewhere around $400 and we vastly overpaid it each month so we could pay it off quickly. Imagine my DELIGHT when a class action lawsuit was filed against Citizen's Bank recently because of this non-existent annual fee...which many people paid on their Home Equity loans. I signed up to join the lawsuit immediately and ultimately received my reimbursement. This, in my opinion, is verification that something is seriously wrong at Citizens Bank. I can only speculate what is behind the multitude of complaints against them! Do yourself a BIG favor; find a small, local bank or credit union and give Citizen's a WIDE birth. Save yourself a great deal of frustration. Read the numerous reviews in this site and believe them!