Citizens Bank Citizens Bank Ripping Customer Off Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

I dealt with the Citizens Bank at 4570 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 twice in the past few years and the bank cheated me, lied to me and ripped me off.

The first time took place in 2007, when I met with the banks financial advisor Joe. I told him that I would like to do some short-term (about three years) investment and would need the money in three years. I also told him to be conservative. He told me that he knew my needs and would take good care of my money.  Then he showed me a figure and told me that type of investment was doing very well. The figure showed the stock going up, though the curve moved up slowly. When the first months statement came, I lost about $5000; then about $3000 in the second month. I called Joe and expressed my concern. He said he asked some of his friends and they told him the stock would do well and go up. I trusted him and stayed put. The third month statement came and I lost another $2000.  I called him again and he told me it would get better.  But it didnt. Less than 8 months, I lost over $15,000.  Each month the statement reported a loss.  Later, a financial advisor of another bank showed me that Joe put my money in Class C stocks and it would take about 22 years to see any return. I was also told that bad stocks paid high commissions.  I could not believe Citizen Bank hired a liar and cheater like Joe to serve its customers.

About a year ago I opened an account with Citizens Bank (Pittsburgh does not have too many choices for banking).  A few weeks ago, I needed to wire money to another bank and close the account. So, I went to the Citizens Bank at 4570 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213. A young lady met with me and told me that she could wire the money for me and then close the account for me after the wiring process. She also said that I would not need to go to the bank to close the account if I signed a paper. I asked her if I would be charged a fee if I took my money out and the money left might not meet the account balance requirement. She said I would not be charged. So I signed the paper and waited to hear from the bank. A couple of weeks later, I received a statement from Citizens Bank, showing that I was charged a $20.00 maintenance fee. It also showed that I was given $31.16 as interest. By the way, Citizens Bank charges you $2.00 for a paper statement each month, which is not the practice at many other banks.  Obviously, the interest is for the period (about 10-11 days) when my money with the bank, i.e. from the beginning of the most recent statement period till the day I withdrew the money, about 10 or 11 days.  When I asked the banks representative to withdraw the maintenance fee, she said she could not do that because I did not close my account after the bank wired my money. She also said that I would not get my interest if my account was closed after the money was wired and before the end of the statement period. I was shocked to see that the bank could get away with lying to its customer and "legally" keep its customers' money. First, they told me that I would not be charged a fee, but now they charged me. Second, the bank representative told me that the bank could keep the interest that I was entitled to have if I closed my account before the end of the statement period, even though the interest was for the 10-11 days when my money was still with the bank. Though the amount in my case was small, it could be thousands (even millions) of dollars if they do the same to all of its  customers. Thats a highway robbery! A man came into the office when I was still explaining my view to the customer representative. He said I disturbed other customers and he asked me to leave. I could not believe how rude he was. He definitely did not come in and try to serve his customer.

To those current and potential Citizens Bank customers, I suggest you stay away from the Citizens Bank at 4570 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, because they will cheat you, lie to you and treat you rude and with no respect. Worse of all, they legally take (I believe the correct word is steal) your money and tell you thats their banks policy.