Consumer complaint received 2022-12-06
Company: Bread Financial Holdings, Inc.
State: FL
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Fees or interest
Sub-issue: Unexpected increase in interest rate

Complaint:
Embarrassing as it is to talk about we got into credit card debt XXXX thru XXXX. We experienced a hurricane in XXXX and unexpected medical issues at a time when everything in the country increased in price. We had never carried a balance so interest rates etc. never really mattered because it didn't effect us. While waiting for the insurance company to payout hurricane damages, ( we are still waiting at present ) and medical bills we were quickly seeing our finances becoming burdensome. We managed for a bit but then the interest rate was consuming us, so we decided to reach out to see if there was any help available. We were told since we were BJ 's Club members there were no financial hardship cases allowed. There was absolutely nothing Comenity Bank could do. We couldn't close it and make payments, couldn't lower the interest rate, there was absolutely nothing that could be done. We swallowed our pride and asked family members for short term help to stop the interest rate. In XXXX of XXXX we paid off the total amount owed on our statement. Over {$18000.00} What a relief we thought. Then the next bill came and we owed over {$200.00} interest and no charges were late?? We spoke with over XXXX people from Comenity. Some couldn't do basic math. The others said they could only take off {$10.00} and others said we owed it there was nothing to be done. In researching Comenity we found several other complaints ( thousands with BBB ) online and that they are now Bread Financial which no employee will talk about. We also found out they had increased our interest rate 2 times and not informed us and of course when we questioned them they said they had but we have no record of the increases. When asking to be escalated to upper management we were told we were being transferred. We were hung up on or transferred to other employees that were the same level and couldn't help. We tried to find a physical location to speak to someone in person but one doesn't exist. We tried to pay it off to be done with Comenity/Bread Financial again and were being charged a {$9.00} fee and then a late fee because even though the payment was paid on XX/XX/XXXX, the due date, it was after XXXX Eastern time! In this process we found out that an XXXX card that we paid off was also a Comenity product. We were told the interest would be waved. We decided to look at the balance again just to see. Yes that's right. A {$33.00} interest was assigned for NO charges. If we hadn't looked at the online statement for the XXXX card due to the shadiness of our converstions with the employees, we would never have known about the interest and would have been paying interest on the {$33.00} interest that had been assigned. We were never planning on using anything from Comenity ever so we would have never known there was anything there to be paid. All this has left us wondering how much of the $ XXXX we paid off, on the BJs card, we actually owed? We decided even in our extreme embarrassment to go ahead and try to let as many people know so they look to other companies beside Comenity/Bread Financial . Also to look at interest rates etc in case tragedy ever strikes. We have always been the ones to help other people out of tough situations and never carried a balance but it happened to us. We believe strongly that Comenity/Bread Financial should be shut down but we are just one family struck by unforeseen circumstances that they preyed on. We are hoping many see this and steer clear of Comenity/Bread Financial . 
We are encouraging all we know not to do business with Comenity/Bread Financial and any Business that uses them as their Credit card Bank. We will be speaking with the companies to find out if they are aware of how Comenity/Bread Financial is treating their customers and if they are we won't be shopping there anymore.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief