The Best Online Photo Printing Services for 2024

Citizens Upgrades Digital Experience To 'make Banking Quick And Convenient'

This story was originally published on CX Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily CX Dive newsletter.

Citizens Financial Group is adding features to boost digital experience with the introduction of advanced appointment scheduling and a virtual digital financial assistant, the company said Tuesday.

It also streamlined its mobile onboarding experience, added a savings tracker to set and achieve personal savings goals and introduced a checking accounts benefit calculator.

"We know managing your finances, including switching to a new bank, can be daunting and our goal is to simplify this journey," Chris Powell, head of deposits and customer engagement, said in a prepared statement. "Our new onboarding experience and other digital enhancements make banking quick and convenient."

Citizens' efforts to update its digital capabilities and provide quality customer service is in a response to careful customer listening. 

"We recognize that quality customer service and digital banking are essential factors in selecting a primary banking relationship and we remain committed to meeting the evolving needs of our customers," Powell said. 

The importance of digital banking capabilities has grown since the pandemic — more consumers want to do all their banking on their phones instead of in-person or on a desktop browsers.

Mobile is an "orchestration channel," Catherine Lynch, head of digital experience and human centered design at Citizens, told CX Dive in August. Many customers start within mobile and may then continue on to different channels.

"We have to really think about those sort of starting trigger tendencies, and then when you transition to the other experiences, how you flow through that," Lynch said. "Journey design, journey mapping of those experiences is critical. Layering in the jobs that customers are trying to do on that journey — it's really critical to making sure that we're delivering a good experience through that type of flow."

Citizens is not alone in zeroing in on digital banking and customer service, as customers are clear on their needs and willingness to switch banks.

Nine in 10 consumers say quality customer service and digital banking are important factors in choosing a bank, and three-quarters said that they would change banks if another better met their needs, according to a Motley Fool Ascent survey from August.

Banks are upping their investments in virtual assistants as well, with both Bank of America and U.S. Bank improving their generative AI-powered chatbots.

Citizen's AI-powered virtual assistant, CiZi, provides personalized banking support on such tasks as setting up direct deposit to adding a debit card to a digital wallet. Citizens plans to launch additional features to improve the digital experience in early 2025.

Citizens Bank Review

All America Bank, Alliant Credit Union, Ally Bank, Amerant Bank, America First Credit Union, American Airlines Credit Union, American Express National Bank, Apple Bank, Arvest Bank, Associated Bank, Axos Bank, Banesco Bank, Bank of America, Bank of Hope, Bank Purely, Bank5 Connect, Barclays, Bask Bank, BECU (Boeing Employees Credit Union), Bethpage Federal Credit Union, BMO, BMO Alto Bank, Bread Savings (formerly Comenity Direct), BrioDirect, Capital One Bank, CFG Bank, Charles Schwab, Charlie Financial, Chase Bank, Chime, CIBC USA, CIT Bank, Citibank, Citizens, Citizens Bank, Colorado Federal Savings Bank, Comerica Bank, Connexus Credit Union, Consumers Credit Union, Credit One Bank, Cross River Bank, Current, Customers Bank, Delta Community Credit Union, Discover Bank, East West Bank, Emigrant Direct, EverBank (formerly TIAA Bank), Federal Savings Bank, Fifth Third Bank, First Citizens Bank, First Internet Bank (of Indiana), First National Bank of America, First Tech Federal Credit Union, FNBO Direct, Frost Bank, Golden 1 Credit Union, Heritage Bank NA, HSBC, Huntington Bank, KeyBank, Lafayette Federal Credit Union, Lake Michigan Credit Union, LendingClub, Limelight Bank, Live Oak Bank, Lonestar Bank, M.Y. Safra Bank, M&T Bank, Marcus by Goldman Sachs, Mercury Bank, Merrick Bank, Michigan State University Federal Credit Union, Milli, Morgan Stanley Private Bank, Mountain America Credit Union, My eBanc, MySavingsDirect, National Bank of Kansas City, Navy Federal Credit Union, NBKC Bank, North American Savings Bank (NASB), Northpointe Bank, Patelco Credit Union, PenFed Credit Union (Pentagon Federal), PNC Bank, Popular Direct, Presidential Bank, Provident Bank, Quontic Bank, Quorum Federal Credit Union, Randolph-Brooks Federal Credit Union, Regions Bank, Ridgewood Savings Bank, Rising Bank, Salem Five Direct, Sallie Mae Bank, Santander Bank, SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union, Security Service Federal Credit Union, Service Credit Union, SoFi Bank, South State Bank, Spectrum Credit Union, Spring Bank, Star One Credit Union, State Bank of Texas, State Department Federal Credit Union, State Employees' Credit Union, Suncoast Credit Union, Sutton Bank, Synchrony Bank, Synovus Bank, TD Bank, Texas Capital Bank, Third Federal Savings & Loan, Transportation Alliance Bank (TAB Bank), Truist Bank, U.S. Bank, UFB Direct, Umpqua Bank, Upgrade, USAA Bank, USAlliance Financial, Valley National Bank, Varo Bank, Vio Bank, VyStar Credit Union, Webbank, Webster Bank, Wells Fargo, Western State Bank, Zions Bank, Zynlo Bank

Federal Judge Allows Elderly Woman's Consumer Protection Suit To Proceed Against Citizens Bank

A 74-year-old woman's negligence claims against Citizens Bank are moving forward after she was allegedly scammed out of $131,900, with a federal judge in Pennsylvania concluding she established the bank owed a duty to notify her of potential fraudulent activity.

In a Tuesday decision, U.S. District Judge Michael M. Baylson of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania denied Citizens Bank's motion to dismiss Barbara Downz's claims for negligence, Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law (UTPCPL), aiding and abetting fraud, and breach of contract. The court concluded Downz sufficiently alleged Citizens Bank was negligent in failing to warn her of potentially fraudulent activity and by allowing her to overdraft her Home Equity Line of Credit account by over $100,000.

"This case is about holding a bank accountable for allowing an elderly homeowner to be victimized by scammers and risking the loss of her home. We are pleased that the court found that, at this stage in the litigation, Citizens Bank appears to have had a duty to accurately reflect a customer's account balances and to notify its customer when it learns of ongoing fraudulent activity," said Downz's attorney, Ian Charlton of Community Legal Services of Philadelphia.

In Downz v. Citizens Bank, Downz alleged she was targeted by two scammers who attempted to fraudulently deposit around $150,000 into her account over multiple days. While the deposits were returned as unauthorized, the Citizen's Bank online banking app allegedly credited the third attempted deposit for $131,900. As a result, Downz's HELOC reflected an inflated available balance of $131,908.46, despite an actual balance of $8.46, according to the opinion.

In 2021, a scammer allegedly posed as a federal employee and informed Downz that the money had erroneously been put into her account and she faced prosecution if the funds weren't "returned." Downz claimed Citizens Bank incorrectly reported her available balance in the app and on her monthly mortgage statement. She complied with the scammer's instructions to return the funds, unknowingly overdrafting her account twice for a total of $105,000.

Aside from an attempted phone call, Downz claimed the bank never warned her of the potential fraud, and as a result, she continued sending money to the scammers. This allegedly caused her outstanding principal balance on the line of credit in her HELOC to skyrocket and her monthly loan repayments to balloon. Downz claimed she often couldn't make the full payments or late fees, leading the bank to threaten to foreclose on her home.

The bank moved to dismiss all of Downz's claims for failure to state a claim and failure to state with particularity the circumstances relating to fraud. The bank argued the claims were barred by the two-year statute of limitations and Pennsylvania's gist of action doctrine, which precludes a tort claim where the claim is essentially "a claim against the party for breach of its contractual obligations."

The court disagreed, finding the plaintiff's claims were partially based on the bank's alleged failure to monitor Downz's account for fraud, warn her of any suspected fraud, and prevent her from obtaining the fraudulently deposited HELOC funds. Baylson held that such duties were imposed by the law of torts, regardless of the contract.

"The court finds that at this stage, Citizens Bank's purported duties to accurately reflect plaintiff's account balances and to notify plaintiff of ongoing fraudulent activity are duties 'imposed by the law of torts and[ ] hence exists, regardless of the contract,'" Baylson said. "Lastly, plaintiff's claim is not time-barred because at this juncture, the court cannot determine whether application of the discovery rule to toll the two-year statute of limitations is appropriate."

According to the court, the complaint maintained Citizens Bank was on notice of suspicious activity after the first two failed deposits. As the bank had rejected those first two attempts, Baylson concluded Downz plausibly pleaded the bank was aware of the third attempted fraudulent deposit for $131,900 but continued to allow her to withdraw money from her over-drafted checking account. Baylson also declined to bar the claim as untimely, concluding further factual development is needed regarding when Downz learned of her injury, as she claimed she didn't know she was injured because the bank didn't inform her of the fraud and misrepresented her balance.

Downz's UTPCPL claim was also sustained. She claimed the bank breached the law by misrepresenting the amount of money available in her accounts, "particularly after Citizens Bank allegedly became aware that the funds were fraudulent and returned." Downz argued she relied on these balances which allegedly led her to send money to the fraudsters.

As to Downz's alternative claim that the bank breached the HELOC agreement by improperly extending her an additional $105,000 of credit beyond the HELOC agreement's $132,000 credit limit cap without her consent, Baylson rejected the motion to dismiss, concluding he wouldn't interpret the agreement provisions to determine whether an overdraft constitutes an additional extension of credit at the current stage of litigation.

Baylson granted the bank's motion to dismiss Downz's negligence per se claim.

Citizens Bank's attorney, Mark W. Fidanza, of Reed Smith in Philadelphia, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

---