Consumer complaint received 2019-07-29
Company: Bread Financial Holdings, Inc.
State: PA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: Store credit card
Issue: Fees or interest
Sub-issue: Charged too much interest

Complaint:
Purchased a wedding dress onXX/XX/19 from David 's Bridal. I applied for the store 's zero percent interest credit card onXX/XX/19 through Comenity Bank and was approved. Didn't receive the credit card and/or Comenity Bank 's first billing statement from David 's until on aroundXX/XX/19 reflecting the first payment due date of XX/XX/19. Received an email from David 's Bridal onXX/XX/19that dress was on it's way ( already had appt scheduled forXX/XX/19to try dress on as that is the date the sales rep promised me the dress would be in ). 

Paid my first payment of the 6 month 's promotion onXX/XX/19. Picked up dress on XX/XX/19like promised. Paid every payment on time ( due every month on the XXXX )  with the exception of a few months where I paid several days earlier. Paid remaining balance of the promotional amount ( {$1400.00} ) on XX/XX/19.Every month statements were mailed to my house, however, every month I paid on online bill pay which were paid on or before the XXXX of each month until the balance was paid off by XX/XX/XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I received an email from David 's Bridal that said " statement enclosed '. Knowing the balance was paid in full byXX/XX/19I went online to and download the XXXX statement only to then realize that my promotional balance must have been paid in full by XX/XX/XXXX, 2019 and not XX/XX/XXXX when the due date was. I called David 's Bridal and explained that I had not known they changed the promotional date. The rep stated that they never changed the due date but that the 6 months promotional started running 3 days after the date of purchase ( XX/XX/19 ) and not on the billing cycle date. I explained that I had not even received the dress until 1 month and 3 weeks later. I asked how they could justify charging me for something I hadn't even received yet and start a promotional balance on an item I haven't even received until at least 40-45 days later? 

I explained that I made my first payment ( after not receiving the dress yet ) as a responsible consumer because I knew the balance would have to be paid off in six months from the XXXX statement. The rep explained that I had 60 days to call into them to complain to them about my bill. I asked why would I complain about the bill when the bill amount was correct and that I knew the dress must be paid off within 6 months ( i.e. XXXX 2019 ). The representative told me that if she received a bill in the mail and had not yet received the product that she ... herself ... personally would have called Comenity bank to tell them she wasn't paying for something she didn't receive yet. Consequently, assuming that I had 60 days to call Comenity bank to let them know not to start the clock on the promotional interest, I had never received notice in writing or otherwise, advising me to call Comenity bank if I didn't approve of the promotional billing date. More importantly, why would I call to complain about the six months promotional balance anyway??? As far as I was concerned, the balance was to be paid in full byXX/XX/19 which is exactly what I did. 

I further explained that I have utilized zero percent interest on over 20+ retailers and have never once in my life heard of the bank starting the promotional balance three ( 3 ) days after purchase of an item I didn't even receive yet. Let 's assume my item wasn't available, or possibly no longer came in that size, shape color, etc. If I would  have to re-order another dress then theoretically David 's Bridal/Comenity Bank would then have to alter that date for promotional purposes to the new dress 's order. She said no, I still would have been responsible to continue to pay my original promotional balance byXX/XX/19.Does that even make sense??? So I would have to pay a bank/retailer for an item I would never receive? 

In addition, the representative said that the David 's Bridal/Comenity Bank notified me on each statement that the balance was due byXX/XX/19. I assure you, my eyes at XXXX are not that bad. I have 20/20 reading vision but because it's the smallest print I didn't see it at all for SIX MONTHS STRAIGHT. The Comenity Bank representative claims the color was in RED which it is not. It borders on the pale pink side at the very best ( PLEASE SEE ATTACHED COLOR PHOTOGRAPHS OF THEIR FIRST AND LAST INVOICES TO ME ). At no time at all is the promotional balance date listed or affixed to the front page or remittance stub for all that matter. It is however, cleverly placed on the second page of the statement behind the other papers in the smallest print and the palest color. Additionally, since I paid everything online and never once looked at the statements ( because they were being mailed to my house ) there was never anything notifying me on the front interface of their website to reflect that the promotional balance must be paid byXX/XX/19 instead oXX/XX/19. In addition to that, almost invariably, every blessed time I have used zero percent interest, the bank sends you an email either a month or two or a few days before to let you know the promotional date is expiring ( PLEASE SEE AN EXAMPLE FROM XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX ). David 's Bridal/Comenity bank did not do that. They expected that I was able to read their pink small print to reflect that the balance must have been paid in full 5 days before my billing due date. I paid the balance off in full within the 6 month 's billing cycle and kept to my end of the bargain and they did not. 


I want them to remove the {$130.00} of accrued interest they charged me on my David 's Bridal/Comenity Bank Credit Card ; reflect my balance owed on their credit card/charge card as zero and make sure they do not report any negative balance and/or charge offs to any credit agency as this is not a charge off situation it's a fraudulent situation where they attempt to unilaterally choose a promotional billing due date without any input and/or say from the consumer and without sufficient or adequate knowledge of the consumer or for a date other than the billing cycle date.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation