Consumer complaint received 2018-04-26
Company: Experian Information Solutions Inc.
State: GA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement

Complaint:
Complaint # XXXX re dispute of charges on XXXX XXXX credit card : I have a XXXX XXXX card. I've tried to dispute charges from Experian ( I'm submitting a separate complaint regarding Experian - text is below as well ) with XXXX and XXXX refuses to accept my dispute for anything over 90 days old. Specifically, their website does not allow one to select charges over 90 days for the purposes of dispute. When I sent them a free form message stating I was disputing older charges, I received a call from someone who promised that I'd get a document in the mail to facilitate that complaint ( even though the person was not encouraging regarding XXXXXXXX XXXX willingness to accept the dispute ). What arrived in the mail was an XX/XX/2018 letter stating XXXX had " resolved '' my dispute. They state they contact Experian. It says Experian is not willing to credit my account and that the charges are too old for Experian to be obligated to credit my account. It does not state whether anyone has determined whether the charges were actually valid - only that they are too old and there is no way for the charges to continue to be considered disputed on my account. I believe it is contrary to the FCRA for XXXX to arbitrarily implement an internal policy refusing to maintain accept disputes over 90 days old. The disputes for the charges less than 90 days have yet to be resolved. Oddly, tone charge just over 90 days old was " blocked '' for a short period of time before being denied.I got this card to take advantage of the 0 % balance on balance transfers until XXXX XXXX it's now XXXX ) in order to finance a few big purchases and have not been monitoring the bills as closely for that reason. I think the primary issues here are whether XXXX XXXX is offering it's customer adequate ability to dispute and whether it is properly processing and resolving disputes. Complaint # 2 regarding Experian Credit Report monthly charges of {$24.00} : My data was exposed in the XXXX breach. Rather than waive my rights to hold XXXX  accountable by checking my credit with XXXX, I chose to check my credit with Experian. I intended ONLY to get my free credit check and the screens I was on indicated " free ''. ( In fact, once I realized this problem and cancelled my account, the url for cancelling has the word " free '' in it. ) I don't remember providing my credit card info account to Experian. ( I must have done so thinking that I did not need to opt out at a later date to cancel the charges. Had I understood that was the case, I would have been sure to calendar the need to go back and opt of the free service. ) Instead, my credit card was charged {$21.00} in XXXX and {$24.00} every month after that until I stopped the charges for the month beginning XXXX. It's unclear to me what the justification for the price increase would have been even if I did sign up for the service. This is a bill for access to their credit monitoring service. If they disclosed that would be the case, I'm doubtful that it was clear and/or clear whether I was required to opt out at the end of some period of time. ( I don't have screenshots, of course, but I'm a practicing attorney, I read fine print, and I would have understand any clear information on their site I believe. ) THE EXPERIAN SERVICE OF {$21.00} DOLLARS PER MONTH FOR CREDIT MONITORING HAS NO VALUE FOR ME WHEN THERE ARE FREE CREDIT REPORTS AVAILABLE. I have been charged {$21.00} per month for roughly 9 months. I've written Experian a free form email to complain and dispute the charges and have received no response from Experian. ( I don't recall finding a mechanism on their site to dispute charges from Experian as opposed to a creditor on my Experian credit report. ) I've also disputed all these charges with my credit card company, XXXX XXXX. ( See Complaint 1 ) My dispute was denied for my charges over 90 days old and the more recent charges remain in dispute while, oddly, the charge just over 90 days old was " blocked '' for a short period of time before being denied. I'm unsure what that meant exactly. MY CONCLUSION : EXPERIAN IS EXPLOITING THE PUBLIC TO PROFIT FROM THE XXXX BREACH. I think the primary issues here are whether Experian is misleading the public on it's free credit report site regarding opt out and charges and whether Experian is responsive to consumers disputing charges from Experian itself ( as opposed to a creditor on my Experian credit report. ) I hope the CFPB will closely examine the practices of both XXXX XXXX and Experian. I'm ( clearly ) unhappy with my experience as a consumer, but I'm also disturbed by the practices of these two companies for what I view as unreasonable and unfair practices.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief