As briefly as possible, we had two checking accounts with Citizens Bank, the first was one we used to save for our mortgage payment –and a second account we used for other expenses. At the time of the incident 10/2/02 our second account had $67.69 in it, which was more then enough to cover my written agreement with a web site company for their monthly fee of $49.95 (the company had faxed me over an agreement for that amount which I signed and faxed back to them with the agreement stating the amount of $49.95). But when they processed my withdrawal they made it for the full year (an amount that I didn't agree to nor had in my account - $480.00). Citizens Bank instead of seeing it as fraud or a mistake honored the withdrawal from our second account and took the money plus overdraft fees from our first account or froze them without informing us of their actions. No I'm not saying that they took the funds from the first account and put them into the second account, because they didn't, they just took the money and hid it from us, not letting us know what they did, nor applying it to the account that they made overdrawn by honoring a withdrawal that I didn't authorize. They just repeatedly kept sending us letters demanding their money to replace the money that they shouldn't had paid out in the first place. Upon receiving the first letter of demand about our second account I went down to the bank to find out what was going on. They informed me that they had made a payment for $480.00 to Discover, which meant that Discover had made a payment to the web site for that amount. I then brought down my written agreement that I had (which Citizens Bank Customer Service representative made a copy of) and I then started the process of trying to get my money back from the company that overcharged us despite repeatedly talked to everyone and anyone I could get a hold of all the way up but they continued to give me the runaround until I got Discover involved who finally got the matter resolved for me. Shortly thereafter, on or about October 18, 2002, Citizens Bank took without telling us or stole - theft (which is the unauthorized taking of property of another person with the purpose of depriving them of it), in the amount of $509.31 from our first account, and this was with the full knowledge that I wasn't responsible for the mistake, that I had authorized a withdrawal of only $49.95 from our second account (I had provided written proof – my written agreement with the Website developer, which they had made a copy of). By taking money illegally out of our first account and freezing it, we didn't have the money that we needed to make our mortgage payment, because we didn't have the funds available to replace it, we ended up losing our house because of Citizens Bank. I even ventured to ask Citizens Bank for a personal loan which was denied, only to find out later that they were the cause of all our problems in the first place. So, while I was trying to get back our money from the company I had hired to create a web site for me, I was saddled with another problem, missing money from our first account. I was now not only bringing down information about my progress with the company, but trying to find out what happened to a deposit or so I thought. The deposit as I was repeatedly told had in fact been made (I had the deposit slip), but what they failed to inform me was they had taken the money and froze it, again I'm not saying that they put it into the second account because they didn't. I just couldn't figure out where the money had gone, my deposit showed that I had made a deposit to our first account, yet it wasn't available. As I found out a year later in 2003 they had frozen from our account $509.31, which even after I straightened out our second account when the web site developer issued their refund check (finally) and late fees, which were deposited into our second account (which didn't cover all of our loses because of the bank fees for overdraft fees), but the company considered the matter closed, despite all the problems they caused never mind the financial loss we felt because of their actions. The discovery of the frozen money didn't happen (or happened by mistake when I was making a small withdrawal to run errands) and this was more then a year after I had straightened the whole mess out with our second account. Our statements had been reflecting a difference of over $500.00, but I was unaware of the exact amount until this time, because I had been assured by the bank representatives that all our deposits had cleared and their was no error on their part. As stated earlier they had neglected to inform me that they were holding without our knowledge nor even informed us of their action of holding our money. So, as I started to say on November 04, 2003 I needed to withdraw some money and did so at the ATM, which reflected the fact that we had more money in our account then what I was allowed to withdraw (a difference of over $500.00). This was the Citizens Bank on North Elm Street in Manchester and was informed that I would have to make my inquires at the main branch, which I went to. There the lady looked up my account and informed me that they had been holding money from my account. Can you imagine that, for a year they had been holding money from our account, without our approval or knowledge and even after all the accounts had been straightened out, they still hadn't released it! Well, the lady finally released it saying that there was no reason why they were still holding on to it, our account had been fine. Needless to say I was pissed. Imagine our frustration when we found out that the reason why we lost our house and the ability to purchase another, was because the bank took money from our account without telling us “Stealing” or “theft” as described by the Criminal code or releasing it once the accounts were straightened out allowing us ample time to make our mortgage payment and not lose our house or the ability to get another house. In conclusion, Citizens bank was dead wrong to pay off such a large amount from an account that had $67.69 in it. They were wrong in not seeing fraud or seeing it as a mistake. Citizens Bank was also at fault for taking money out of our main account (theft) – and not informing us of their action and then not replacing the money once I got the refunds into the account and the account back up. All of their actions were wrong from the start, they knew what was going on (I had been down there repeatedly with information and paperwork which they made copies of), they knew I hadn't authorized such a withdrawal and they had no right to honor such a withdrawal in the first place. It shouldn't have mattered that we had money in our main account (that was our money and our mortgage money) and they had no right to it, it wasn't their's!!, it was ours and they didn't even put it into the second account to straighten it out, thereby stop all of their insufficient fees that they added on and added on which I didn't get reimbursed for since the company refused to pay more then the initial first 2. They were also wrong in not pursuing the matter themselves, but letting me do all the work (running around, calling – bitching, calling and finally resolving the original problem myself) only to find out all my actions and hassles I went through could have been avoided if Citizens bank would have done what they should have, refused to pay and let me then chase for the overdraft fees only! Citizens Bank did act in such a malicious or reckless way because they had no regard for us or what they were putting us through. They did nothing but add to the problem all the way around. They paid off on something that they shouldn't have, withheld money from our main account without our knowledge or approval, causing more problems. Because of Citizens Bank we lost our house in Center Barnstead because they hid our money from us, making me (Anne) feel as though I had mismanaged our funds. They caused us to experience hardship, humiliation, pain, suffering, frustration, and always in the back of our minds was the fact that we had no where else to go, which meant we came close to living on the streets. We were forced to give up our house and try to make the time to find a place to live, find the money to pay for the apartment (deposit and first months rent), moving expenses and expense in having utilities connected, having to pay a lot more for rent then what our mortgage, insurance and taxes were when we owned our house. Because of Citizens Bank we also lost the equity that we had when we had to give up our house (no not sell, but reposed) causing us NOT to be able to purchase another house any time soon. We are now stuck in a place that's not ours with the humiliation of having lost our first house due to circumstances that were literally not our fault, and living in a place that we are not happy living in. Definitions. According to Title LXII of the Criminal Code, Chapter 637:4 – Theft, by deception: 637:4 Theft by Deception. – I. A person commits theft if he obtains or exercises control over property of another by deception and with a purpose to deprive him thereof. II. For the purposes of this section, deception occurs when a person purposely: (a) Creates or reinforces an impression which is false and which that person does not believe to be true, including false impressions as to law, value, knowledge, opinion, intention or other state of mind. Provided, however, that an intention not to perform a promise, or knowledge that it will not be performed, shall not be inferred from the fact alone that the promise was not performed; or (b) Fails to correct a false impression which he previously had created or reinforced and which he did not believe to be true, or which he knows to be influencing another to whom he stands in a fiduciary or confidential relationship; or (c) Prevents another from acquiring information which is pertinent to the disposition of the property involved; or (d) Fails to disclose a known lien, adverse claim or other legal impediment to the enjoyment of property which he transfers or encumbers in consideration for the property obtained, whether such impediment is or is not valid, or is or is not a matter of official record; or IV. A person commits theft under this section notwithstanding that the victim has suffered no actual or net pecuniary loss. Source. 1971, 518:1. 1986, 222:2. 1992, 239:4, eff. July 1, 1992. Also under Title LXII Criminal Code, Chapter 637 – Theft Section 637:6 which states: 637:6 Theft of Lost or Mislaid Property. – A person commits theft when: I. He obtains property of another which he knows to have been lost or mislaid, or to have been delivered under a mistake as to the identity of the recipient or as to the nature or amount of the property, without taking reasonable measures to return the same to the owner, and II. He has the purpose to deprive the owner of such property when he obtains the property or at any time prior to taking the measures designated in paragraph I. Source. 1971, 518:1, eff. Nov. 1, 1973 And Title LXII Criminal Code Chapter 637 Theft – Section 637:3 637:3 Theft by Unauthorized Taking or Transfer. – I. A person commits theft if he obtains or exercises unauthorized control over the property of another with a purpose to deprive him thereof. II. As used in this section and RSA 637:4 and 5, 'obtain or exercise unauthorized control' includes but is not necessarily limited to conduct heretofore defined or known as common law larceny by trespassory taking, larceny by conversion, larceny by bailee, and embezzlement. Source. 1971, 518:1, eff. Nov. 1, 1973