RBS Citizens Financial Group (RBSCFG) today announced the introduction of the Citizens Bank Education Refinance Loan and Charter One Education Refinance Loan, creating a new option for students looking to refinance their private student loan debt. Designed to help simplify private student loan payments, the loan enables borrowers to refinance or consolidate their private student loans at a competitive rate with flexible repayment terms.

"Private student loan borrowers have historically had a limited number of refinancing options available to them," said Brendan Coughlin, Head of Education and Auto Finance for RBS Citizens Financial Group. "After graduation, many students successfully build their credit and are off to a promising start to their career, and they deserve more flexibility regarding their student loans. As part of our company-wide Bank Better program making banking simple, clear and personal for our customers, our new Education Refinance Loan offers qualified borrowers an option to change the terms of their loans to better meet their current life situation."

With no prepayment penalties, the Citizens Bank Education Refinance Loan and Charter One Education Refinance Loan provides borrowers with the potential benefits of a single monthly private student loan payment, refinancing a variable rate into a fixed interest rate loan and potentially lowering the interest rate and/or lowering the borrower's monthly payment. The loan offers interest rates as low as 2.82 percent. There are no application, origination or disbursement fees, and refinancing is available with either a fixed or variable rate. Borrowers and co-signers with a prior TruFit Student Loan or qualifying Citizens Bank or Charter One account receive a 0.25 percent interest rate reduction on their loan. Detailed information on qualifications required for the loan is available on the Citizens Bank website and Charter One website.

As part of its commitment to students through the life of their student loans, RBSCFG has created a number of resources to aid borrowers in making the decision of whether refinancing is right for them, including decision-making guides and loan estimators from Citizens Bank and decision-making guides and loan estimators from Charter One, as well as a dedicated team of education finance specialists who work with students to make sure they are aware of all of their options.

The Education Refinance Loan follows the recent introduction of the Citizens Bank TruFit Annual Summary and the Charter One TruFit Annual Summary. The annual summary provides annual updates on loan amount and repayment so students and their families have more visibility into their total debt and estimated monthly payment well in advance of graduation to help them effectively manage their student loans and be well prepared for life after graduation.

RBSCFG's Education Finance products, which include the TruFit Student Loan for undergraduate and graduate students, and the new Education Refinance Loan, are available through its Citizens Bank and Charter One brands nationwide.

About RBS Citizens Financial Group, Inc.

RBS Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is a $120 billion commercial bank holding company. It is headquartered in Providence, R.I., and through its subsidiaries has approximately 1,400 branches, over 3,500 ATMs and more than 18,000 colleagues. It operates a branch network in 12 states and has non-branch retail and commercial offices in more than 30 states. Its two bank subsidiaries are RBS Citizens, N.A., and Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania. They operate a 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, Michigan and Ohio. RBSCFG is owned by RBS (the Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc). RBSCFG's website is citizensbank.com.

RBS Citizens Financial Group
Lauren DiGeronimo, 781-471-1454