Updating this with more bad experiences. SPOILER ALERT: STLL ONE STAR! At some point last year, I realized Citizens auto adjusted the payments for the escrow account I was scammed into having and never wanted so low that it could not have possibly covered my property taxes. I dug into it and figured out they based the escrow payments on the property tax for MY PARKING SPOT and not for my condo. Now, up until that point they had been paying for both and both had been calculated into my escrow payment (sometimes poorly and inconsistently.... but at least they'd been paying for both property tax parcels. I contacted Citizens and made it clear they needed to be paying for both parcels and they claimed to fix it. EXCEPT THEY DIDN'T - figured out today that they completely quit paying the parking spot parcel a few months ago and now my account with the city is overdue. Citizens is a complete failure of a bank but it just keeps getting worse. AVOID THEM AT ALL COSTS. read more

Citizens home loans need to address the incompetence within its escrow department. Their employees don't know how to do basic addition and subtraction that a child in first grade can do. The customer service reps are absolutely horrible. I had to request one to pull up her calculator just so she could understand that there was an error when Citizens said I had a shortage on my account. They refunded me $600 when I was supposed to be refunded $2k. It's basic math that they can't do. Now I have to contact them for the fourth time for them to correct the error. read more

Do not use them they lie and when they buy mortgages from other lenders especially if the PMI was already removed they re-add it on and make you do it all over again you can't get away from them unless you refinance for higher rates that are even worse you also don't get the chance or choice to say NO and to stay with your current mortgage lender when it comes to them buying and screwing you over read more

Ever since Citizens took over our home mortgage it has been nothing but problems! If you are making any changes to your loan you can not access anything on your online account! You can not even pull up previous payments, statements NOTHING. We had to do a loan modification, because well life happens. They sent out paperwork by Fed Ex, we live in a small town that does not have any Fed Ex locations. I tried returning it with a Fed Ex driver, but they could not take it. Then we had to have the paperwork notarized and were going to do the mobile notary with the bank so we didn't run into the issue again of not being able to find a notary. Well low and behold Citizens could not even get a notary in our area. After speaking with them 2 weeks ago they said try to find someone because they were unsuccessful as well, we just have to get the paperwork back before our next payment is due. Then 6 days ago I got a call and they said they received our paperwork and now it was complete, in complete shock because we still had the paperwork! She reassured me that they had it! Finally found a notary 2 days ago but had to drive several hours! NOW I get a call that they closed it and we would have to reapply! I am so beyond livid with this company and we were working with them to get things completed as they needed them, to turn around and just close it and the excuse I got was the number changed?! But that is not possible everything was calculated through June 2025!!!!! And the lady I spoke with Maudie would not give any other response and was rude and just sent a request to the "escalation department". If you have the choice DO NOT use this company, Unfortunately we did not have a choice it got sold to them!!!!! read more

I believe Citizens is set up in hopes that you fail. You can't do anything you can't make extra payments you have to pay the full mortgage and add the extra. You can't make the payments every 2 weeks of course because that would help with the interest. They were supposed to send some paperwork over a month ago that I still haven't received. I'm looking into refinancing ASAP. read more

Horrible customer service. They said someone would call me back to explain why my mortgage went up and THEY NEVER DID. When I spoke with someone on the phone, he was condescending, rude and unable to answer my questions in a way that I could understand. Buy beware. Once they have your loan they could care less. read more

We're trying to refinance our home loan. We contacted agent David Fay, and for the first time, we met the rudest agent ever! When he told us that he'll get back to us the next day, we didn't hear from him. Ad After few days, I sent him email and called him to follow up and what he told me is that I kept emailing and calling him to follow up! And that he was sleeping late night because there's a lot of work to do! So I stopped following up. He told us that they have a better appraiser than the other bank! But when our house was appraised, the value was sooo low! He told us he will fight for it, but we never heard from him! I didn't follow up soon as he said before that he is TOO BUSY! After 2months I sent hi. email and told me that the value is not there! He just let us wait for nothing! I think he already knows even before but he just let us wait for nothing! read more

I have been on hold for 3.5 hours trying to get log-in help. When I finally was connected with a representative that struggled with English I was disconnected and had to start over... The website errors out when I log in and states that I need to contact customer service. See paragraph one. The log-in help link errors out as well and directs me to contact customer service. As I wait on hold the AI keeps telling me to go on-line for faster service. See paragraph two.... I am sad that a company would let their customer service drop to this level... Simply horrendous read more

They are terrible to work with. Customer service is non existent. They send payments back for no reason. The charge a late fee. I hate rates are high or I would refinance just not to be under them. I did not pick them they bought my loan and I hate it. read more

An absolute pain to deal with. I can never get anyone that speaks English clearly. A 5 minute call turns into a 30 minute call because I cannot understand the dialect. read more

If there was Zero Stars I would have given it. People thinking of getting a mortgage through Citizens One Home Loans, DON'T!! They mislead you by enticing you with very low rates. Their customer service is the worst I've seen in any bank in my 62 yrs! Everytime I have a question or a situation where I need to get Customer Service it's a PROBLEM! There practically NO CUSTOMER SERVICE at Citizens Home Loans. I never can get them on the phone, even before COVID! I made the mistake of getting a low interest mortgage rate. Today I was waiting 65 minutes with constant recordings and could not get anyone. I can't find anywhere that I can contact them through email. DON'T USE CITIZENS ONE HOME LOANS. USE ANY BANK OTHER THAN CITIZENS. read more

Citizen's One is one of the worst banks I have ever had the misfortune of dealing will. From a payment website from the 90s, automated phone calls to let you know about late payments that sound more like a scam than actual scams, to a messed up autopay system that didn't withdraw a payment, penalizes you for that error then won't process an undeserved late fee for months penalizing you further. When you finally get feed up with the awful system, their website won't even allow you to change the amount of money included in a payment even a little let alone pay it off. They won't even let you leave when you realize that they are a broken, terrible, and incompetent company that doesn't deserve to be called a bank. Never ever get a loan from Citizen's One! read more

really horrible customer service. unbelievable. I paid off my auto loan right away because I just wanted stay away from them. I hope they won't charge me again by mistake. I can't trust them at all. read more

Had a loan with citizens for over 17yrs. Today the customer service agent HUNG UP on me. Settlement was two weeks ago. They're trying to say that it was only one week ago, and that I owe them for a week of insurance when I didn't own the property! The departments do not communicate with each other, as the insurance department had my loan payoff as "pending," when I had already received a payoff letter! Often mail is not sent and postmarked until days after the date printed on the the letter! Which is why it's probably a clerical error on their end. Why would my HELOC from another bank be paid off on the settlement date, and not Citizen's? How could I cash my check from selling my property on the date of settlement, if it didn't settle until a week later? I was requesting when the actual date and time of when the wire transfer went through, and the "customer service" agent basically told me two different ways that someone would get back with me by next Wednesday! It's Friday, while I understand it's a holiday weekend, it's 2021 and it was a wire transfer. All of that information is available through a few keystrokes. This isn't like I received a bad product at Target or something, this is a major loan attached to my name and my credit! So if you like receiving communications in the mail, over a week after they're printed: choose Citizens. If you like being hung up on by "customer service" agent's, after you've made over 200 monthly payments of your hard earned money to them, again: choose Citizens! full disclosure: I've never believe in yelping, but have signed up just to do so now. I have never been hung up on by a customer service agent anywhere in 44 years on this planet. Again, this is all tied to my credit and SSN. Abhorrent customer service! read more

The absolute worst customer service ever experienced. Multiple calls, all sit on hold forever. So use the call back, but 4 times and no one can actually help me although I'm talking top the correct department. Say they are connecting me to customer service but no, just another 30+ minute hold or a call back - which results in yet another party that can't actually answer and questions or fix the problem. If you loan originator sends your loan to Citizens One just go ahead and BEG for another servicer. read more

Each time to call the customer service, you need to prepare to listen to the music for over 60 mins. Yes, I mean it every single time just to be able to speak with a human. ugh, I am not talk about all other issues with this bank. read more

The app is atrocious, the website is constantly down, and they take a week to process mortgage payments so if you make a mistake you could end up being late due to how slow they are. Their phone number is a joke. It's either automated or when you try to get a live person you spend over an hour on hold. read more

Horrible, horrible, horrible - it's like a mom and pop shop out of the back of some no name store. They do not conform to most National employers and their web site is horrible! DO NOT USE! read more

Citizens One is horrid to use when trying to refinance your home! Go somewhere else, anywhere else if you don't want to jump through hoops of fire! We have a very simple refinance yet this process has so far taken 6 months! Not a single person who has "helped" us has been competent! Every single step has taken weeks or even months for no apparent reason other than they don't feel like doing their jobs! This has been the most frustrating process ever and I cannot wait to be done! My in laws have now purchased a home and refinanced a home in half the time! read more

Unfortunately every time I refi with our credit union we get stuck with Citizens One as the loan servicer. Their online website is fine but their mobile app registration and password process are somehow different from the website. The app does not use the same password and when you try to set that up it gives error messages that don't tell you why the password did not update. Then it locks you out and when you call support your on hold for 30m. I've had to call in 3 times today and each time spent 30m on home just to talk to someone. Now I'm told they can't unlock the account until tomorrow. Absolutely ridiculous. Their CIO should be fired for how difficult it is to use these systems. read more

Totally agree with the other reviewers. Since my mortgage is currently held by Citizen's One, I decided it might be good to to a refinance through them as well. Bad idea. It has been five months and counting since the refinance was initiated, and they still haven't closed. FIVE MONTHS. About a month ago, they began requesting the same forms and verifications again. They did another hard pull of my credit report, and had to refile the same forms I had done at the beginning. This has taken so long that the original information has "expired" and needs to be resubmitted. They needed urgent employment verification 2 weeks ago....and urgently needed it again today. I really don't know what is going on with this company. If I had not invested money into an appraisal, I would have bailed on these guys long ago. All the while they continue to solicit refinances from the general public knowing that they can't perform them in a reasonable amount of time. Run screaming from them. read more

Never felt the need to review any mortgage bank I've worked with until now. If I could give zero or negative stars I would. Absolutely the WORST customer service I have ever experienced in any context. Inept website, app, and phone line system. Truthfully surreal level of incompetence. The only mode of communication appears to be through their Facebook page and that's likely computer generated and doesn't result in anything. I'm thinking of refinancing at a higher rate just to get away from them. read more

The app is impossible! Automated phone service sucks plus there's not many options can't even make a payment over the phone for a different amount. Can't wait until I get switched over to a different loan company. read more

Worst customer service, cannot get anyone on the phone, terrible website. I wish I had read the reviews before I got my mortgage with them.

I did not choose Citizen One, they were forced upon us by the previous mortgage holder. Where to start. Calling their help line is a frustrating exercise in futility. Plan on being on terminal hold for hours. In addition to our mortgage being shifted, without our notice, we had also just switched home owners insurance. Guess what date each took effect? Yup, June 1. Having gotten the letter from the previous mortgage company informing us about the change, I tried to get ahead of the situation. But NO, see , your account # isn't active till after the first, but then, if you want to use it to set up online payments, you can't do that till after 5 business days. Secondly, our agent must not have informed the previous mortgage company about the insurance change, and they sent a payment to our old company. They did return the money to us directly, and our agent informed us we have to get it back into escrow. So we send our payment by check, since we can't do it electronically to Citizen One, with the slip marked on the line for how much goes to escrow. Did it? NO! They applied it to the principal and now our monthly payment is higher than it should be because the escrow account is too low. Tried calling to speak with someone, but what was I thinking, there are no humans there to speak to. If you ever get a letter in the mail informing you your mortgage has been shifted to Citizen One, it's time to refinance. Seriously!! read more

Only getting a 1 star because I can't give them a 0. Forget trying to get certain departments (tax/escrow) or Customer Service on the phone. If you happen to get someone on the phone, they can't do anything for you and will transfer you into a never ending hold or tell you the person you need to contact doesn't accept phone calls and the request must be mailed or faxed. read more

Horrible customer service with multiple people telling me different things. No option to speak with a manager or supervisor even when I cannot understand what the customer service rep is saying. I am pursuing a refinance so that I don't have to deal with this company ever again. Worst customer service and worst loan experience. read more

This review is for Mark Richards, the DC area senior loan officer for Citizens Bank / Citizens One home loans. Working with Mark Richards has been a most interesting and exasperating experience. On the one hand, you get the best rates on your mortgage in the DC area -- by a lot. The competition doesn't even come close to matching what he can offer. On the other hand, you'll spend 3 weeks banging your head against the wall in utter frustration as Mark's people skills and customer service are on par with a toddler. He won't respond to your email questions (or only partly respond), will give you timelines for receiving important documents that are mere suggestions, will keep shifting blame for tardiness to the underwriter or his processor, and will disappear from the office for long periods of time without giving you any notice. In my case, he went on vacation to Italy in the middle of our closing and failed to notify me or leave anyone in his office in charge of communication. I only found out several days later from his assistant when I didn't receive a timely response that was promised. To be fair, the issue here is communication not competence -- Mark did move along the closing process and we closed on time. But the communication is a challenge and ultimately its a tough call. You can deal with this anguish for 3 weeks and get it over with. Then you can enjoy up to 30 years of paying less interest on your mortgage. For most people, thats a worthy sacrifice. If that doesn't float your boat, I'd recommend looking at Chris Washburn at Caliber or Alex Jaffe at FirstHome. In my search, those two were extremely responsive and offered good rates. Ultimately, as far as Mark goes its a shame. If he can improve on his customer service, heck even hire someone to manage his clients, he'll make a killing in the DC area mortgage business with his rates. If you're a first time home buyer like I was, then dealing with Mark can be a real pain. If you've done this before and have a good sense of timelines and closing requirements, then its a no-brainer -- go with him. The savings are worth it! read more

Horrible, horrible experience from start to loan payoff. Slow response. Mistakes. Differing replies from multiple departments when asking same question. Run, don't walk away from this "bank". read more

PLEASE READ BEFORE USING THIS LENDER. If there was a National Award for the Worst Customer Service of Any Financial Institution - Citizens One Wins by a Longshot!! Absolutely the worst service of any banking institution anywhere. PERIOD. Have recently re-financed home. New lender paid off balance on 2/11/21. Have called at least 30 times to sort out. When I do get a person, they tell me that I have to speak with customer service and give the same phone number. Citizens One has confirmed that they received the payoff but have not applied it to the loan and now have collections department reaching out to me for payment!!! Next step is to report my mortgage as being late. On another note, these brilliant financial wizards paid Allstate for an insurance premium that has never before been handled out of escrow. They do not understand why I do not want to pay the premium twice!!! THERE ARE LOTZS OF OTHER LENDERS OUT THERE - Save yourself the trouble and request that your broker or lender use another bank. This has truly been the worst experience that I have ever had with a financial institution and I have had lots of them!!!! Hope this helps someone! read more

I am currently a banking member of citizen one and regret it deeply. My mortgage was bought by them from Franklin American (personally I highly recommend Franklin over Citizen) and now I have been stuck for months trying to get them to refinance my loan. Multiple other banks made me decent offers to begin with but I didn't want the hassle of switching banks...what I would give to have done that though. Citizen One has now given me their fourth "we'll have your loan ready tomorrow" that has taken nearly a month from the first "we'll have your loan ready tomorrow" these people are clowns who clearly don't know how to do their job and will not respect your time, money, or you. read more

I refinanced my home loan and it was quickly bought by Citizens One Home loans. This has been a harrowing experience so far that has cost me a lot of time and money. There is no way to contact customer service, they say they will call you back at odd times and when they do they do not have any useful information or authority to resolve issues. I've been with them for 3 months, 2 of which have had issues with my payments not being received by them, or received multiple times and they do NOTHING to resolve. Avoid at all costs!! 1 star is WAY too much for the experience I'm having dealing with them and their mistakes, incompetence and avoidance. The worst. Next step is https://www.usa.gov/complaints-lender read more

I will do whatever means necessary to NEVER have a mortgage with this company again. My title company has been trying to get a payoff statement from them for 2 weeks and now my closing is being pushed back. This is after I have verified 3 times for them to send my title company the info and I have tried to get it on my online account where it says "System Error" every time. Worst customer service I could imagine... I wish I had more say in the matter of who my mortgage is with because I would not choose them. I also wish they were held more accountable. read more

Incompetent. Disorganized. Told multiple times actions were complete that actually were not.

A house can be built faster than this company can finance one. Lucky I am just trying to refinance for a lower interest rate. I had a 90 day lock on a rate and they were not able to get the loan closed. Horrible communication with loan officer would not return message in a timely matter if at all. I have excellent credit and debt to income very low so no problems there. I will be happy to take my business some where else. Total waste of 3 months! read more

Worst at customer service. I communicated several times on holding off paying the taxes out of escrow cause I am refinancing. After they assured me it would not be paid, they paid it. communication is horrible. read more

When we refinanced in 2020 our mortgage was picked up by these clowns. They have absolutely no customer service presence. Again and again I have run into difficulties communicating with them. I tried to call the customer service line and there is no other option than autobot information or a request to call you back. Today is a Monday 2/22/21 and my request for call back was accepted and I was scheduled for a call back on Thrusday 2/25/21 between 10-12 am. WHAT!!!!! Are they planning on hiring someone to accept calls and that is why they need 3 full days to return a basic customer service call. On Friday 2/19/21 I decided to try their secure email for a response and that direction took me to a response of please give us 5 work days to respond. WHAT! Do you think they know they are a bank that accepts clients money and that people need to know their procedures? I also asked about additional amounts to the monthly payment. Our last bank automatically rolled any extra into a principle only payment. NOT HERE. I did finally get an answer on that question and they will only roll it into what they call a "suspense" account. WHAT! The suspense is if they know how to run a decent bank and loan organziation. It's a hard pass on this organization, in my opinion. We have been very lucky during COVID but if this is what I am dealing with when I want to give them EXTRA money my heart truly aches for those who need help during this time. This is simply unaccpetable. read more

My mortgage was sold to Citizens One. WHAT A NIGHTMARE!!! Worst customer service EVER. The company owes me money. I have been trying to reach them for more than a week. They have only an automated service. The only option is to allow them to call you back. You can't email. You can't get a person on the phone. HORRIBLE. So I chose the only option - to let them call me. I was told they would call between 12 and 2 pm two days later. I was on the phone when they called (I use my cell for things other than call backs from Citizens One). They left a message and - you guessed it - my only option is to wait again for them to call me. This is NOT customer service. The rep should have left a number where I could call him or offered to call me back. I just got tossed back to the end of the cue. HORRIBLE. RUN!!! If your mortgage gets sold to this company, refi elsewhere. They will never be available to help you with anything. There is no email address anywhere on their website. There should be a law against a mortgage lender being so difficult to reach. There's no excuse. read more

We purchase a reno home in spring 2019 with plans to renovate and then move in. We knew we would not have enough down to avoid PMI, but knew a few month later when our current house sold, those funds would be applied to the Citizen One loan. We have spent a great deal of time and money trying to remove the PMI on a mortgage that should have dropped off automatically once LtV was 78%. We paid it down to 25%! They still required us to get an appraisal and pay a fee to remove. We also requested at additional expense to have our escrow removed as we wanted to be in control of paying our own property tax. They managed to foul that up as well and paid our property tax out of escrow before returning the balance in the account to us. It is like pulling teeth to get anyone there to actually do anything without months of phone calls and letters. We have never had as many problems with a mortgage provider as we have had with this company and we haven't even had them a year! read more