Citizens Bank introduces Michelle Powers from Northville, Michigan as part of "Ask a Citizen" campaign

Plymouth, MI – In tandem with its rebranding campaign, Citizens Bank also recently launched a marketing campaign, “Ask a Citizen,” featuring real-life Citizens bankers both at home managing their personal lives and at work helping Citizens customers manage their personal finances.

Michelle Powers is a Citizens banker who was selected as part of the 11-state campaign. She has been with the bank for 10 years, currently as a Branch Manager at the Plymouth location. A single mother of a four year old daughter, Powers resides in Northville. When not helping customers achieve their financial goals, Powers spends time cuddling with her daughter and cooking.

Like her customers, Michelle has had financial hurdles to overcome, namely after her divorce when she became a single mother with a single income. “I went from relying on someone else for financial support to having to be completely responsible for my future as well as clean up what was left behind me,” recalls Powers. “Divorce taught me you can start over and allow me to be empathetic to my customers’ struggles even if they aren’t changing their marital status.”

In particular, Powers recalls intensely working with an 80-year-old customer that had just lost her husband. “He had always managed the checkbook, paid the bills and handled every financial facet of their lives. When he passed, she had to learn everything. She came in twice a week for a year to understand how to essentially start over. I never thought the lessons I learned as a 28 year old from starting over after my divorce would become so important to an 80 year old woman,” says Powers.

The campaign, which underscores the shared life experiences and the relationships of trust between Citizens bankers and their customers, focuses on some of the core challenges consumers face today – saving for retirement, paying for college, paying down debt and managing a household budget that allows for unexpected expenses.

According to Citizens research, most consumers know that these are areas where they need help. But they don’t always know that the advice they need is available to them in their local bank branch.

“Consumers today are looking for help planning to pay for college, to pay off their debt, to retire and to meet other financial goals, and they prefer to get this help from someone they know and trust,” said Brad Conner, Vice Chairman and Head of Consumer Banking. “Our customers come to us every day to tap into our expertise in these areas. We are very proud of the results that our colleagues are delivering for our customers and very excited to feature some of these ‘real-life citizens’ in our new campaign.”

The Ask a Citizen campaign is supported by radio, television, digital and outdoor advertising in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.

The Citizens Bank brand replaced the Charter One brand in Ohio and Michigan this April.

The “Ask a Citizen” campaign underscores the Bank Better enhancements that Citizens has implemented to make banking simple, clear and personal. These enhancements have included:

• New Cash Back Plus World MasterCard®: A new credit card offering up to 1.8% cash back on everyday purchases with our Purchase and Relationship Bonuses
• One Deposit Checking: One deposit of any amount each statement period waives the monthly maintenance fee
• $5 Overdraft Pass: No overdraft fees on transactions of $5 or less
• Education Refinance Loan: A unique opportunity for college graduates to refinance their private and federal student loans

To learn more about Citizens Bank, customers can call the 24/7 customer contact center at 1-800-922-9999, Like the bank on Facebook, follow the bank on Twitter or visit the Citizens Bank website.

About Citizens Financial Group, Inc.

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is one of the nation’s oldest and largest financial institutions, with $137.3 billion in assets as of June 30, 2015. Headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, Citizens offers a broad range of retail and commercial banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, middle‐market companies, large corporations and institutions. In Consumer Banking, Citizens helps its retail customers “bank better” with mobile and online banking, a 24/7 customer contact center and the convenience of approximately 3,200 ATMs and approximately 1,200 Citizens Bank branches in 11 states in the New England, Mid‐Atlantic and Midwest regions. Citizens also provides mortgage lending, auto lending, student lending and commercial banking services in select markets nationwide. In Commercial Banking, Citizens offers corporate, institutional and not‐for‐profit clients a full range of wholesale banking products and services including lending and deposits, capital markets, treasury services, foreign exchange and interest hedging, leasing and asset finance, specialty finance and trade finance. Citizens operates through its subsidiaries Citizens Bank, N.A., and Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania. Additional information about Citizens and its full line of products and services can be found at www.citizensbank.com.