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Citizens Financial Group awarding customers $135,000 in free groceries
Citizens also offering RI Stop & Shop and Peapod customers “Extra Green” loyalty pilot programProvidence, R.I. (April 10, 2008) - In response to rising grocery costs, Citizens Financial Group, Inc. today announced it will award $135,000 in free groceries to Citizens Bank and Charter One customers throughout its 13-state footprint, including nearly $6,000 to customers in Rhode Island. Citizens also announced that its Rhode Island customers who shop at Stop and Shop and Peapod (Stop and Shop’s online grocery shopping and delivery service) can be rewarded with free money to buy groceries through the bank’s new loyalty pilot program “Extra Green.”
“At Citizens, we are committed to convenience and to providing our customers the products and services that fit their banking and lifestyle needs” said Joseph J. MarcAurele, President, Citizens Bank, Rhode Island. “Through our partnership with Stop & Shop, we are able to provide customers seven-day banking and extended weekday hours. Leveraging this partnership to offer our customers the opportunity to win free groceries is just one of many ways we are fulfilling our promise to fit into our customers’ lives, not the other way around.”
From April 10 through April 30, 2008, a customer who opens a new checking or savings account at any of Citizens’ more than 540 branches located inside grocery stores and other retailers will be eligible to win a $250 gift card for purchases at the store where the branch is located. Citizens, the nation’s No. 2 in-store banker, operates 23 branches inside Stop & Shop stores in Rhode Island. These full-service branches offer seven-day banking and extended weekday hours.
Through the free groceries promotion, a customer will receive 10 chances to win when he or she opens a checking account and five chances when opening a savings account. While Citizens offers several checking accounts to meet the needs of its customers, including Green Checking, the bank’s free checking product, a $500 opening balance is required for customers to be eligible to win a $250 gift card. There is no opening balance requirement for customers who open savings accounts.
A total of 540 customers will be selected by random drawing for $250 gift cards. In mid-May, one winner from every Citizens in-store branch will be notified by the branch where he or she opened the account(s) and entered the drawing.
Additionally, Citizens’ Extra Green pilot program in Rhode Island, a first of its kind loyalty program, will put some extra cash into the pockets of Citizens and Shop & Shop customers by enabling them to earn up to three percent of the money they spend on groceries at Stop & Shop locations throughout Rhode Island.
Citizens Bank customers who are enrolled in Extra Green will receive a percentage of their total grocery receipt each time they spend $50 or more per visit to any Stop & Shop location in Rhode Island. The percentage earned is based on the type of checking account in which the customer is enrolled at Citizens. Items purchased through Peapod, Stop & Shop’s online grocery shopping and delivery service, are included in the program.
Customers enrolled in Circle Gold Checking with Interest, Citizens’ premier relationship-based checking account, will earn three percent of their purchases. Customers with Circle Checking accounts, the bank’s mid-tier relationship-based checking product, will earn two percent, while those enrolled in Citizens’ Green Checking product will earn one percent.
Citizens’ relationship-based checking accounts, Circle Gold Checking with Interest and Circle Checking, provide checking, savings and borrowing benefits in one package. Green Checking is Citizens’ free checking product and comes with a free debit card and additional benefits.
There is no limit to the amount of money customers can earn through this program. With the average family spending $7,000 on groceries annually, the amount of Extra Green customers can be awarded is substantial. For example, customers with Circle Gold Checking with Interest who spend $7,000 on groceries per year would receive more than $200, while customers with Circle Checking and Green Checking would earn $140 and $70 respectively.
Deposits will be made on a monthly basis into the customer’s Citizens savings account. Enrollment in the program is free and requires customers to have a Citizens checking and savings account, as well as a Stop & Shop scan saver card. Customers can sign up for Extra Green at any Citizens branch in Rhode Island, including its 24 locations inside Stop & Shop stores.
About Citizens Financial Group, Inc.
Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is a $160 billion commercial bank holding company. It is headquartered in Providence, R.I., and, through its subsidiaries, has more than 1,600 branches, more than 3,500 ATMs and more than 24,000 employees. Its two bank subsidiaries are RBS Citizens, N.A. and Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania. They operate a 13-state branch network under the Citizens Bank brand in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont, and the Charter One brand in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. CFG has non-branch retail and commercial offices in about 40 states. It is one of the 10 largest commercial banking companies in the United States ranked by assets and deposits. CFG is owned by RBS (The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc).
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