Consumer complaint received 2023-01-08
Company: Bread Financial Holdings, Inc.
State: IL
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem when making payments
Sub-issue: Problem during payment process

Complaint:
In XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX  sold XXXXXXXX XXXX credit card to Commenity Bank. XXXX XXXX sent us a last bill which was due on XX/XX/22 for {$950.00}, we paid the bill electronically through our bank 's bill pay service on XX/XX/22 as we always did every month. The balance was transferred to Commenity and the payment was not credited. We contacted Commenity however they said that XXXX XXXX never forwarded the payment so we needed to address the issue with XXXXXXXX XXXX Our bank 's XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX bill pay service contacted XXXXXXXX XXXX with us to help resolve the dispute. Our bank provided XXXXXXXX XXXX with proof of payment, XXXXXXXX XXXX still did not credit us. 
Our bill pay service contacted them again on XX/XX/XXXX, our bank again provided proof of payment, initially XXXXXXXX XXXX refused to address the issue stating that we had to take the issue up with Commenity. Commenity says the payment was submitted to XXXX so it is not their problem. The payment was not submitted to XXXX, it was submitted though our bill pay service to XXXXXXXX XXXX as they were the ones that had billed us, so we paid that bill just like we did every month electronically. 
Our banks bill pay service kept explaining this to the XXXX representative, eventually the XXXX XXXX representative stated that they located the payment and that they would send proof of payment on their part to Commenity, that never happened. We contacted XXXX XXXX  again with our bill pay service, XXXX customer service rep said again that they never received the payment in the first place and denied that they ever said they had located it, even though the calls are recorded and the representative from our bill pay service was on the line and heard the same thing we did. XXXX said they could not help us and that we had to talk to collections Monday through Friday. 
On XX/XX/XXXX we contacted collections, again with a representative from our bank 's bill services on the line ; XXXXXXXX XXXX stated that they had received the proof of payment from our bank but did not have a record of the payment on their side so they could not help us as they no longer serviced the account. Our bill pay rep asked to speak to a manager, we were transferred to XXXX with XXXXXXXX XXXX collections, he again said that although they received the proof of payment, they did not have any record of the payment and could no longer help us then proceeded to hang up on us. Our bill pay services have sent an affidavit with proof of payment to XXXX and requested the case be reopened. Our banks bill pay service also sent documentation to Commenity as did we multiple times, however Commenity just sent letters saying they needed more documentation, we sent the documentation but then Commenity said they have no record of receiving any documentation ( even though we sent it and our bank sent it as well ). The last communication we had with them they said they never received any documentation and they had closed the case out a day before they sent the last letter to us requesting more information. Commenity refused to speak with our banks bill pay service. 
We sent the information in to the Better Business Bureau, they contacted XXXX ; XXXX sent a letter saying they looked into the missing payment twice and could not locate it and since they no longer service the account, we need to contact Commenity but did not resolve the issue. The XXXX XXXX XXXX asked us if this was an acceptable answer to us, obviously it was not as we still are out {$950.00} even though our bank sent the proof of payment and XXXX is doing nothing to resolve this. The XXXX  just closed the case as unsatisfactory, but no other recourse. 
I do not understand how these banks can take our money and no one seems to care. What recourse do we have? We provided both banks with our proof of payment however neither Commenity or XXXX has credited us. Now our banks bill service has washed their hands of it as well saying that Commenity would not respond to their attempts to contact them, so there is nothing more they can do to help us. We are still out {$950.00} as well as all of the interest to Commenity that has built up over the last 8 months as we have refused to pay the {$950.00} that we already paid. I get that the banks have somehow missed placed that payment, however we, the consumer, paid the payment and provided proof from our bank that it was paid, yet the banks refuse to accept that they lost our money and refuse to credit our account. 
We further question the fact that XXXX bank sent us the bill in XXXX when they have told us repeatedly that they were no longer servicing the account in XXXX, so why ask us for money that was not legally due to them? Sounds like fraud to me. We did not arrange to have our account sold to Commenity, we had no control over that, but then they take our money and say so sorry, its not our problem and walk away with our money? And this is somehow okay? 
We have spent countless hours on the phone arguing with these banks trying to get our payment credited. We as the consumer did nothing wrong. We submitted our payment to the credit card company as they had billed us, we used our online banking system to send that payment just like we had done month after month before and now, we are out {$950.00} and not one of these banks seems to care anymore, they just point the finger at the other bank and say its not our issue, you have to take it up with them. The banks just expect that we will get sick of fighting this and since they will no longer help us, we will just go away. Doesnt anyone care that the customer is out {$950.00} that we paid in good faith using a legitimate bill pay service? This is just wrong. Will you please help us? 
We already tried to resolve this through the XXXX  with XXXX with no success so we thought maybe you might have better luck with Commenity since they still have the account open however they refused to respond to our bank 's bill pay service. Please help us, we don't know what else we can do.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief