Consumer complaint received 2018-04-27
Company: Bread Financial Holdings, Inc.
State: FL
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: Store credit card
Issue: Fees or interest
Sub-issue: Charged too much interest

Complaint:
I purchased treatment packages on three separate occasions from the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX location off of XXXX XXXX ( which is no longer open ) in the past two years. I pay my bill every month, on time, sometimes early, and sometimes more than the minimum. I had received notifications of finance charges upwards of {$700.00} and {$800.00} previously and did not think it was odd because I knew the APR was around 26 % or 29 % so I assumed charges would be around that at the end of each year. I was just charged an additional {$1600.00} on XX/XX/18 because XXXX XXXX ( who the financing went through ) and XXXX XXXX claim that the purchase cost of my package was only good for 24 months. This was never told to me, on THREE SEPARATE OCCASIONS. I was never told that I needed to pay the full $ 2500- {$4000.00} within a 24-month period. For many reasons, this whole situation is wrong. They were never transparent about the 24-month deferment period, they never explained that the promotional pricing is only valid until the  plan " expires '', and they never explained that I would be charged the full remainder of their version of the plan if the promotional amount wasn't paid in full by the end of the 24-month period. I cited my income on my initial application and there is no way anyone of that income level can pay off these amounts in 24 months. XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX know this and yet they approve huge credit lines, above what is necessary so they can charge these crazy interest fees. XXXX XXXX   rep XXXX simply apologized that it was never explained to me but said there was nothing they could do. To charge a 29 % APR and not tell someone the price they agree to pay would expire in 24-months is complete lack of transparency and I'll go a step further and say that this is also false advertising. XXXX XXXX plays commercials on the radio stations all the time that falsely state certain packages are free or specially priced and when you go into the office to purchase them, they give you this big schpiel about how lucky you are that you came in during this time for special pricing on all areas. They never once, in THREE separate purchasing occasions ( in that office specifically ) explained or told me the plan would expire after 24-months then I'd have to pay an insane amount of interest accrued according to them over those same 24 months. This is robbery. First they charge you for the service, then don't tell you those charges expire, and instead you end up paying thousands of dollars on top of the service. They should only be charging for the service and nothing else. Also XXXX XXXX, out of nowhere, last year, closed my account without notifying me or giving any explanation. The only way I knew was because I check my credit report regularly and saw that the account was closed without my knowledge. XXXX is wrong in this situation and so is XXXX XXXX. They are pulling a huge scheme and just keeping good people that pay their bills in debt. Please help sort this out and hold these terrible businesses accountable.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief