Consumer complaint received 2023-10-09
Company: Bread Financial Holdings, Inc.
State: TX
Product: Credit card
Sub-product: Store credit card
Issue: Fees or interest
Sub-issue: Problem with fees

Complaint:
XXXX XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XXXX Initial phone call with company regarding the interest fee. The representative let me know there was a grace period and as long as I made payment the interest fee would be taken off and it would be reflected on the next statement. I over paid the amount and asked what would happen with the over paid amount and she said it may either come in a statement credit or as a refund check. I asked her to repeat back to be that the interest would be taken off. She put me on hold to verify with a supervisor and she said it would be taken off. payment was made on XX/XX/XXXX {$5000.00}. Pay off amount is for {$4400.00}, Interest amount {$3900.00} ( which the representative assured me would be taken off ). The rep gave me a case number of XXXX. 

XX/XX/XXXX - Next statement comes out with a new interest fee of {$87.00} as well as the remaining balance. I immediately call the company and spoke with a representative and she put me on hold to speak with a supervisor and told me the XXXX and the {$3900.00} would be taken off. I had to hurry off the phone as I was in-between work calls myself. I called back XX/XX/XXXX to verify the notes had been put in correctly and that representative read the notes back to me. The notes that he read back/were written on the account and the actual phone conversations I had with the representative on XX/XX/XXXX did not match. I asked to speak to his supervisor, I was transferred to the supervisor and went over the situation, he basically could not help me so I asked to speak with his supervisor. I was on the phone with a gentleman I believe his name was XXXX and said the case was being escalated to a research team who would listen to the calls and said they may or may not make an exception for the interest of {$3900.00} and believed I had a strong case for the {$87.00} at minimum. This supervisor also let me know there is a grace period the company allows. I was on the phone for at least XXXX. He let me know someone from the research team would call me back in XXXX hours with a decision. I did to receive a call the following week and due to a family emergency I was unable to follow up that week. 

XX/XX/XXXX. I called got an entry level representative and immediately asked to speak to a supervisor which I got and went over the situation. They said I was responsible for the interest per the notes on the account. I was upset as no one ever called to let me know a decision and I asked to speak to that persons supervisor. He told me there was no one else and I informed him I spoke to someone above him last time I called and he finally sent me to another supervisor which I believed to be his supervisor her name was XXXX XXXX ext XXXX ). She went over the notes and told me the notes all say that I was informed I was liable for the interest. This is most definitely not the case, every representative I spoke with gave me the impression the fees were being taken off due to the company 's " grace period. '' She did not have an explanation as to why I did not receive a call regarding the decision. She again looked into the calls and placed me on hold so she could listen to the calls. I asked if I could listen to the calls at the same time and she said that was not possible. I am upset by the fact that had I not followed up, my account would continue to incur interest fees. The company is telling me one thing over the phone and inputting different notes into the system. I spent over an hour on the phone with XXXX while she reviewed the phone calls. She came back and said there is nothing that can be done and that we have not yet started a formal dispute ( which I was under the impression had already started ). There is no record of who put the notes in and the company is conveniently missing recording of the phone calls I had with multiple representatives. She told me my promotional period ended on XX/XX/XXXX and there was no grace period she was aware of ( when multiple other employees told me there was a grace period ) I made the payment on XX/XX/XXXX and she is telling me their system does not show the payment being made till XX/XX/XXXX. This company is not doing right by its customers and the service they are providing, there trained employees tell customers one thing and then the note they write reflect differently that the phone conversations that were actually had which. The end result is the customer being misinformed and as a result the company benefits in the misinformation because finance charges are continuing to add up. I was also to informed a formal dispute had not been started or I would have made sure to start one. I would suggest any phone calls made with this company be recorded by the customer when it comes to a dispute.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief