[July 16, 2014]

Citizens Financial Group Announces TruFit Good Citizen Scholarship Winners

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. today announced the winners of its fourth annual TruFit Good Citizen Scholarship program, awarding a total of $50,000 in college scholarships to ten students across the country. Started in 2011, Citizens created the scholarship program as a way to recognize and reward students whose volunteer efforts have made a lasting impact in their communities.

The 10 winners will each receive $5,000 and were chosen based on the responsibility and leadership skills they have demonstrated through their community service. The scholarship program was open to U.S. residents who are 16-years of age or older and are attending or accepted to a federally accredited four-year college, university or graduate program for the Fall 2014 semester.

"The TruFit Good Citizen Scholarship recipients are an inspiration to us all. They have each contributed to their local and global communities in ways that are making a long-term impact," said Brendan Coughlin, President, Auto and Education Finance, Citizens Financial Group. "As a private student lender offering affordable solutions to help students finance their college education and a company committed to contributing to the health and vibrancy of our local communities, we are honored to recognize and reward this year's TruFit Good Citizen Scholarship winners for their efforts."

2014 scholarship recipients include:

• Rachel Braman of Loudonville, NY helps others as the Project Director of the Anti-Human Trafficking Pro Bono Legal Project at Albany Law School where she attends school.
• Bevin Bankston of Saunderstown, RI has participated in mission trips to Mexico, Tennessee and Turkey, and has been involved in several community service projects in Rhode Island. He is attending New England Institute of Technology in the fall.
• Zachary Certner of Morristown, NJ started a nonprofit organization called SNAP, Inc., which provides special needs children with athletic and social programming. He will attend Duke University in the fall.
• Kathryn Clark of San Ramon, CA (News - Alert) developed a resource website for newly bereaved children called "Grief Pals". She will be attending Cal-Poly in San Luis Obispo, CA.
• Sydney Devane of Jacksonville, FL founded "Better Bags for Kids" to eliminate foster and abused kids from having to use garbage bags to pack their things when moving from home to home. She will be attending University of North Florida.
• Theodore Kretzman of Poy Sippi, WI is a certified Outdoor Emergency Care Technician, National Ski Patrol, who volunteers over 100 ptrol hours per season. He will attend Michigan Technological University.
• Cindy Le of Chandler, AZ began the American Red Cross Club on her campus, providing medical supplies, raising funds and awareness for issues impacting third world countries. She attends Arizona State University.
• Alyssa Savarino from Malden, MA volunteers at Middlesex Hospital in CT, tutors elementary and high school students and works with children with developmental disabilities. She attends Wesleyan University.
• Ashley Williams of Los Angeles, CA co-founded the Bruin Guardian Scholars (BGS) Program, a program that focuses on providing a peer network for foster youth, academic enrichment, and opportunities for advocating publicly on the behalf of former and current foster youth at UCLA. She is attending Southwestern Law School.
• Christopher Yao from Jericho, Long Island, NY founded the nonprofit Kids Change the World whose mission is to leverage the power of youth to change the lives of children around the world. He attends the University of Pennsylvania.

The bank also recently introduced the Education Refinance Loan, to enable borrowers to refinance or consolidate their private student loans at a competitive rate with flexible repayment terms.

Looking for more information on financial aid and the student loan application process? CFG offers online tips and tools to help students prepare for, save for and finance college, including information on free aid like grants and scholarships and federal loans alongside their private student loan offerings.

For more information on the TruFit Good Citizen Scholarship program and the TruFit Student Loan product, please visit Citizens Financial Group online.

About Citizens Financial Group Inc.

Citizens Financial Group Inc. is one of the nation's oldest and largest financial institutions, with $126.9 billion in assets as of March 31, 2014. Headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, the company offers a broad range of retail and commercial banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, middle-market companies, large corporations and institutions. Citizens helps its retail customers "bank better" with mobile and online banking, a 24/7 customer contact center and the convenience of approximately 3,100 ATMs and approximately 1,200 Citizens Bank and Charter One 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 selective 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 via 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.

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