CHARTER ONE BANK - CITIZENS BANK CHARGED FEES FOR "NO FEES CHECKING" ripoff Dansville New York

I agree with you totally and have had the same trouble with Citizens bank. How dare people try to tell her she was in the wrong. We live in America, and should have the right to open or close a account when we want to. I have several unauthorized charges come through my account that cost huge fees. I told Citizens bank I too wanted my accounts closed. There suggestion was to open two others before they closed them. They still never closed the accounts and one of the reasons for closures is too many un authorized charges are going through.

I have three accounts with them I have been trying to close. I see that I am not alone in this. I am going to take it to the attorney general. I have had my accounts for years so there should be no reason not to close the accounts. One company I have canceled service with 7 months ago still tap the accounts twice a month. I have sent letters and even sat down with the bank managers. I did open a new account at another bank. In the end I will have to file bankruptsy just to get these closed once and for all.

I think more people should complain to the attorny general. As far as reading all knowing all the bank policies, tell me did your citizens explain for show you anything. They didn't me. In fact they don't even give you time to read anything. The shove a pen in your hand and tell you to sign at the X. It is tereible to think we might have to take a checking account appliaction or forms to our attorney for advise now before we open a simple checking account.

Probably the reason your account could not be closed is as per company policy (which was provided at account opening) an account must be opened for 120 days before you may close it free of charge, meaning you are able to close it prior to the 120 days, but for a fee. I believe that what the manager was trying to explain to you is how to avoid the fee, however it sounds like you could have been a little irrational (although if you are irritated, perhaps you felt you had reason).

Where your responsibility comes in: when you have an account it is up to you to make sure it is closed properly. If you waited a year to come back that means that you were receiving statements for a full year, so you knew the account wasn't closed. The closest example would be getting a mortgage statement month after month and then claiming ignorance when the eviction notice comes because no payment was received. A word of advice would be to take responsibility for yourself and your accounts.

To the people whom replied on this, thanks for the ideas but WHEN I tried to close the acct it been 3 months since I used it! So waiting for checks to clear was not an issue.

AND I did go in calmly with agreement papers in hand and showed them that, to which they claimed that terms can change "AT WILL" and insisted that I would have already received notice of that- NOT!

ONLY after I tried to close it pleasantly (regardless of what their new terms were)and they refused did I get angry with them and I think it was appropriate to do so.

REMEMBER these people refused (to my face) to close the acct period! I could care less about the "waiting period" I WANTED IT CLOSED! They could have waited 3 more months to close it for all I cared as long as they didn't try to add more maintainence fees.

I WISH people would not assume that things were handled in an uncivilized manner the first time around and say to themselves "that explains why she got poor service and why no wanted do close the acct for her".

I did everything short of getting a "Presidental Pardon" to get these people to just close my acct, BEFORE I became angry with them.

to expand your vocabulary a little bit and control your anger a lot. If you go in breathing fire, you end up getting little or no help. Go in with a calm logical argument and documentation to back you up (in this case a copy of the account terms) and you usually get what you are looking for.

Good luck.

As we all know, banking rules have changed these days, and not for the better. Banks have changed their rules because they want those fees from us.

Back in the good old days, we used to be able to close an account, and any checks or charges that came in after that were returned "account closed". Banks are no longer doing this. If you close your account, but a check or charge comes in after closing, the bank re-opens your account, bounces your check or charges, then charges you the fees. Banks are doing this because people would write checks, then close their accounts when they didn't have the money to cover them.

Before closing your account, make sure ALL checks you have written have cleared. Make sure you have paid all bounced checks to the merchants and get your checks back. This way they don't try to cash your previously bounced check months later and re-open your bank account you hate. Also, make sure all your direct debits have been redirected to your new account and you have filed the necessary paperwork with your closed account to no longer allow these companies to direct debit. It really takes about 2 months to change your bank account with creditors that are directly debiting so, unfortunately, you will have keep enough money in both accounts in case the creditor erred and did not change the bank account.

Since they have now closed your account, probably with a zero balance, they may have reported the balance to Chex Systems. If you get mad at your new bank (which you probably will due to all the new rules), make sure you can open another account because closing that one. You may not be able to if Citizens listed you in Chex Systems.