Consumer complaint received 2021-10-10
Company: Continental Finance Company, LLC
State: CA
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt was paid

Complaint:
XXXX XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Continental Finance : Dispute In XX/XX/XXXX, I, XXXX XXXX, entered into a financial agreement with Continental Finance, to receive a Reflex credit card with a {$500.00} credit limit. The agreement included use of my XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX account for all XXXX account payments. As is typical with these financial arrangements, I provided Continental Finance with my XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX account and routing number. ( Copy of statements dated XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX are included in this file. ) Almost immediately, issues arose regarding the access to current and accurate information provided in XXXX online website, when in XX/XX/XXXX, I made a {$300.00} online payment on that account. When I referred to the account the next day, 1 day before the payment was due, there was no evidence I had made the payment arrangement. ( This was a recurring issues ). Worried that I might be charge a late fee, I made another {$300.00} online payment. A few days later {$600.00} was extracted from my account, well in excess of the balance due. In telephonic communication with a XXXX representative who instructed me that the only way to correct this was to arrange a conference call from the office of a Credit Union representative. The call was made from the office of XXXX XXXX, a Senior Service Specialist at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX in California. The issue was resolves and {$300.00} was returned to my account. 

In XX/XX/XXXX, the credit limit on the card was raised to {$1000.00}. Between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX each XXXX payment was made on time without incident from with funds accessed via XXXX XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I reported the loss of my XXXX credit card account number ending # XXXX. Although, XXXX would later claim ( XX/XX/XXXX ) that it opened a second account number ending # XXXX, I never received that card nor was a charge ever made on that card. My last charge on a XXXX issued card was on XX/XX/XXXX, on account number ending # XXXX. I never requested another card or account and I never received one. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I made a {$170.00} payment on the account which XXXX failed to retrieve. Subsequently, I was denied online access to my account preventing me from evaluate the issue. On XX/XX/XXXX th XXXX, I called to find out what the was the problem. Nothing about my account activities prevented access to the funds available in the account. When I had attempted to access statements via XXXX online website there was no statements available. The statements link at the top of the web page possess no statement access. I requested that I be sent paper copies of the previous 4 months ' worth of statements and the Reflex rep said that I would be provided with those. That never happened. 

I would only have online access to account information from XX/XX/XXXX th until XX/XX/XXXX during which time I made 3 additional payments. {$210.00} on XX/XX/XXXX th, {$150.00} on XX/XX/XXXX and {$150.00} on XX/XX/XXXX. According to the online web page that should have brought my account balance down to {$310.00}. My only interest at this stage was pay off the account as quickly as my resources became available and close the account. Once I became aware that online access to my account was once again blocked, I went to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX and I had the credit union rep, XXXX XXXX, make a conference call to Reflex. Ms. XXXX led the conversation. The XXXX representative who when pressed by MsXXXX XXXX, would only identify himself as XXXX. XXXX would go one to claim that retrieval of the two recent payments I had made on XX/XX/XXXX ( {$150.00} ) and XX/XX/XXXX ( XXXX ) had been denied. He then said my account activity appeared fraudulent and that I would have to pay my entire balance of {$640.00} before I would be granted access to my account. I told him that the reason for my call was on that date was to prevent any late charges to my account with the next payment being due on the 2nd. I attempted to arrange a payment on the spot to prevent any additional charges but was denied. I told him making payment in full, but obviously I had become highly motivated to end my relationship and close the account. This disturbing conversation only elevated that mitivate. I told him the account would be paid as soon as was possible. At the end of the conversation, I asked MsXXXX XXXX to recite my account number to XXXX. XXXX claimed that the account information she gave him was not the information he had. The same number that XXXX to access the funds for payments from XX/XX/XXXX all the way up through closure of the XXXX account number ending in # XXXX in XXXX of XXXX. The same XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX account that I still maintain. Nothing about that account has changed. I have enclosed in this file a copy of the account statement dated XX/XX/XXXX as well as a copy of the statement dated XXXX. If fact, while Continental Finance was having so much trouble gaining access to the 5 payments made between XX/XX/XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX XXXX different entities with the EXACT same information, had no trouble accessing funds, they were uninterrupted for payments made on those accounts during the same EXACT period. XXXX XX/XX/XXXX. A total of 7 payments made between XXXX XXXX to XXXX  XXXX, XXXX  XXXX and XXXX Insurance XXXX I have enclosed 7 screenshots of payments made to XXXX XXXX drawn on the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX account from XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX. I have included another 7 screenshots drawn on the same account with the same EXACT information by XXXX XXXX, XXXX  XXXX and XXXX in XXXX, XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. Each of those screenshot display date of payment, amount of payment, account balance and entity receive funds. I think its highly likely that XXXX XXXX closed the account ending # XXXX and opened the alternate account ending in # XXXX despite the absence of my interest, it did so in error. The account information that what used to open the account in XX/XX/XXXX and remains the same to this day was altered, intentionally or otherwise, that information remains the same to this day. As for the lost debit card, that card number is inconsequential and irrelevant. The account number and routing number is the information that provide access to funds in this account. That is the information used by every other company to receive their payments. It also bears mentioning that I have 4 other credit card accounts. I have never made a single delinquent payment and each of those accounts are either at, or very near a {$0.00} balance. I also have 3 bank accounts that Ive never been charged a single overdraft fee without ever paying for the service. 

After my disturbing conversation with the rude, provocative and offensive XXXX representative XXXX and his attempt to bully me, I received regular XXXX account statement. My balance had gone from the {$640.00} figure XXXX had quoted me to {$730.00}. This would be the last correspondence I would receive from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX end of XX/XX/XXXX, after I had filed a dispute against Continental Finance with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau XXXX 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I had a certified draft for {$250.00} and sent that check to XXXX via XXXX mail U.S. Postal service. I repeated this procedure on XX/XX/XXXX th, XXXX ( XXXX ), then again on XX/XX/XXXX ( {$230.00} ), for a total of {$730.00}. On each envelope was my address. The same address Ive maintained since XXXX, XXXX. The total cost for Priority mail delivery {$41.00}. After each payment, I waited for return correspondence. It never came. I concluded that my business with XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX be over. ( All documentation is provided in this file ). 

In XX/XX/XXXX, while checking my credit report, I found out that my account had not been closed. Continental Finance was maintaining that I continued to have, an outstanding balance had missed 3 consecutive payment and was being penalized each month financially as well as the damage being done to my report. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I filed a dispute with the Consumer Financial Credit Bureau ( document enclosed ), I described my experience and on XX/XX/XXXX the Consumer Financial Credit Bureau received a response from Continental Finances  Senior Vice President, XXXX XXXX and the case was marked closed. Several days later ( XX/XX/XXXX, I received a copy of that response, the first direct correspondence I had received from Continental Finance since XXXX of XXXX. The response, from Ms. XXXX, was filled with inaccuracies and factual errors. ( a copy of document is included ). In it, she claims, on XX/XX/XXXX, that I reported a lost card, which is true. She also claims that a replacement account ending # XXXX was opened to replace account ending # XXXX. Which I was never aware of. At the time I notified Continental Finance of the lost card I never requested another account be opened nor did I request a new card be sent to me. I never received one. My last charge on a XXXX credit card was on XX/XX/XXXX account number ending # XXXX, for {$20.00}. Next, she claimed the payment I submitted on XX/XX/XXXX was denied as unauthorized payment. It bares noting, it is at this points each subsequent payment made over the next 2 1/2 months ( 4 ), were also denied. The information necessary to access and receive funds on this account had not changed. Account number and routing number remained the same. Having been issued a new debit card with a different number was inconsequential and irrelevant. Simply stated, Continental Finance failed to enter the proper information. Period. It had nothing to do with my activity on the XXXX XXXX account. My account access was then suspended from XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX XXXX then claims I stopped payment on the account because of fraud. This is false. I NEVER made that request to XXXX XXXX. I never said that nor would I have reason to do so and there is no evidence to support that claim. In fact, each of the banking statements, covering that same period of time, ( XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX ) In my experience, banking institutions charge fee for this service. XXXX XXXX charges? There is not a single instance that suggests that Continental Finance had attempted to access funds in this account and had been denied. Nothing. I have never found it necessary to stop payment on anything in many years and this circumstance is no exception. 

Yet, during the same period, ( XX/XX/XXXX-XX/XX/XXXX ) under the same circumstance, with the exact same information Continental Finance is in possession of, XXXX  XXXX, XXXX  XXXX and XXXX accessed 7 the funds for 7 different payments ( documents enclosed ). I have also, reluctantly, enclosed my entire banking statements for the months of XXXX, XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX. Most of this information is not the business of Continental Finance, but in the interest of resolving this matter, these documents show 0 activity associated with Continental Finance. Fortunately, XXXX XXXX, are most credible financial institutions, are in the business of serving their customers, consistently providing them with accurate providing accurate and timely information and supports. Continental Finance has set an extremely low bar. 

Next, Ms. XXXX claims, XXXXontinental Fianance, has suddenly and conveniently forgotten how to deliver mail. She claims, on XX/XX/XXXX, Continental Finance received return mail on my account. While it is conceivable, though dubious, that a mail carrier can insert a piece of mail to a mailbox, in a bank of boxes, in a senior building, when that happens the receiver of that mail would leave it out to be retrieved by their neighbor, but, according to Ms. XXXX, it happened again in XX/XX/XXXX. This premise is ridiculous, particularly since it was in XX/XX/XXXX, that same month, that I received the last original statement, indeed, the last correspondence from until late XX/XX/XXXX after filing my dispute. This defies logic and establishes a definitive pattern of behavior that only serves Continental Finances interest. 

Consequently, Continental Finance, used this claim to justify the decision to withhold all access to my account information, online and by mail, all while adding charges, penalties and fees to my account and destroying my credit. The letter from Ms. XXXX, then goes on to claim, falsely, that on XX/XX/XXXX th, XXXX my address was updated. That never happened and is intended to mislead. My address has never changed. In fact, every piece of mail Ive ever received from Continental Finance, has the SAME address. I received, along with Ms. XXXX letter, on XX/XX/XXXX XXXX, copies of all back dated statements from XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX. On every one of those statements is the same address. 

Every delinquent notice and each of the 3 priority mail envelopes I sent certified checks in XXXX, XXXX and XXXX, all have without deviation, the same address. My current address. More than 40 pieces of mail. To suggest they were unable to deliver correspondence to me via mail defies credulity and is entirely self-serving. There isnt a single other instance where anyone, financial entity or otherwise, has claimed to have sent mail to me at this address and had it returned. Not once. This is false. If evidence exists that proves that mail was delivered to me on either of those occasions, something other than someone word, I havent seen it. Id be happy to examine it if it exists. Something like a returned envelope, a post marked envelope with my actual accurate address, though not definite, would be a start. 

From XX/XX/XXXX, when Continental Finance claimed to have closed account ending # XXXX and opened account ending # XXXX, I had online access to my account information for exactly 30 days form XX/XX/XXXX, until XX/XX/XXXX. I received one original mailed statement on XX/XX/XXXX. I received 0 mailed statements on my account until XX/XX/XXXX, all while being charged late fee, returned check fees interest fees, annul renewal fees returned check fees etc ... without ever being provided any information and despite the fact nothing about my address or account information had changed except for a debit card number which has no relevance to these matters Any and all claims to the contrary are false. 

In the letter I received in XX/XX/XXXX, from MsXXXX XXXX she wrote Since the guaranteed payments toward your account satisfied the {$730.00} balance, we have removed the hold on your account. I interpreted that to mean the account balance had been paid in full and that it would be closed which charged was what was my intention since XXXX of XXXX. However, on XX/XX/XXXX I receive a new, original statement, placing my balance at {$600.00}. This figure was update to {$340.00} in XXXX. As of the most recent statement/demand letter the figure now stands at {$510.00}. To have made any payments on this balance would be to acknowledge this debt. I do not. This current debt has been entirely manufactured all the back to the {$39.00} late fee in XX/XX/XXXX to the {$28.00} returned check fee in XX/XX/XXXX and all the interest payments that did not reflect the five payments I made between XX/XX/XXXX, and XXXX of XXXX, the last month I received a statement from Reflex. XXXX was never without the information to access those funds and their failure to process the proper information when they changed my account is entirely their own. I have no intention of being bullied into paying for its incompetence or intentional deception. Any single one of these failures individually could be construed as mistake, taken together, collectively, they appear as deliberate, malicious, and fraudulent. The net result of these activities all serves Continentals Financial interests. 

Moreover, every charge administered between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, when I received no information whatsoever from which to respond proactively and effectively are similarly invalid. This account should have been concluded in XX/XX/XXXX again in XX/XX/XXXX and then again in XX/XX/XXXX. The most recent charges include an annual Fee of {$99.00} billed to my account in XX/XX/XXXX. I have been dragged through this debacle for 1 1/2 years and this experience has been startling, painful, stressful, and costly in time and resources. For the final time this account needs to be closed, my balance cleared, and my credit restored. On a final note. The statements Ive provide in this file are of two types : The originals that were sent during designated months and the copies sent in bulk. Its an important distinction. Failure to make this distinction might blur the lines regarding Continental Financials ' egregious withholding of information needed to administer this account properly. 

Thanks, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. 

In conjunction with the delivery of this correspondence, I have renewed my dispute with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau regarding this account. Hopefully, with new leadership, the agency will impose a greater degree of oversight toward financial institutions exhibiting these types of predatory behaviors.

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 explanation