Consumer complaint received 2018-01-16
Company: FIRST CITIZENS BANCSHARES, INC.
State: GA
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Personal line of credit
Issue: Problem when making payments

Complaint:
To : Consumer Financial Protection Bureau XX/XX/XXXX I kept receiving numerous telephone calls, beginning XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX from XXXX in the customer accounts department for XXXX XXXX. Even though I have received a letter from XXXX XXXX  sometime in XX/XX/XXXX or XX/XX/XXXX informing me that First Citizen bank would be taking over XXXX XXXX 's customers. It was so vague as to whom I was to contact concerning any questions that I might have concerning my accounts with XXXX XXXX. 
Anyway, I wound up closing my checking and savings accounts without anyone talking to me about any consequences that may arise from my closing the accounts. I left my XXXX XXXX account opened as I was paying on this account per my contract agreement with XXXX XXXX. 
Shortly after closing my accounts, I began receiving telephone calls from XXXX that my XXXX XXXX account was delinquent. I have never ever been late, nor have I ever missed a payment. I asked that XXXX pull my records beginning in XX/XX/XXXX with the very first payment, up to the current payment in XX/XX/XXXX where a payment was now delinquent. I asked her to show me how in all this time that I am showing a delinquency when all payments were made each month. 
XXXX states that because I made XX/XX/XXXX payment before the due date, that it caused the payment to appear in my account as late when the due date arrived. Meaning that the early payment was applied to interest and not principle. By paying that far in advance of the due date by the time the due date arrived and I made no payment on that date, it appeared that I had not made a payment for that month. Absurd! 
XXXX asked me to make another payment and it will bring the account current. I told her I will not. What I would like for her to do is reverse the XX/XX/XXXX payment that I made on or around XX/XX/XXXX or XX/XX/XXXX, to be applied to the due date XX/XX/XXXX. She said, she did not think that she could do that and would see what she could do and give me a call back. 
On XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX, I called XXXX to inquire about any resolutions and another person answered the telephone and tried to assist me. The lady checked my account and said she saw no problems with the account that the account was current with no delinquencies. Well, I felt happy and relieved to hear this. The lady asked if she could place me on hold to further investigate why I was getting the telephone calls from XXXX. 
XXXX wound up picking up the telephone to let me know that she reversed the charges but that now I was late for XX/XX/XXXX payment, if I do not pay, I may start getting more collections calls ; and I did, even though while waiting for her to clear up the XX/XX/XXXX issue, I paid XX/XX/XXXX payment on XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX told me that my account will still come up delinquent until I pay on the actual date the payment is due. I told her, I 've heard of companies getting upset when customers pay late or not at all, but I have never heard of a company getting angry or penalizing a customer for paying their bill early. 
The argument got so heated that I requested XXXX 's supervisor to intervene in sorting out this mess to my satisfaction. XXXX sarcastically told me her supervisors name was XXXX. I asked her if XXXX had a last name. She said XXXX, I asked her to spell the name, she said XXXX. I asked to speak with him. She placed me on hold and had someone to tell me that XXXX was in a meeting. During the lady and my conversation, the lady paused to say that XXXX has sent an email to have the charges reversed. 
I never received a call back from XXXX explaining whether or not she was able to reverse the charges, but I did continue at this point to receive numerous collections calls to pay the delinquent debt. I called XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX, because of the continuous collection calls, and XXXX says she did not see a XX/XX/XXXX payment. However, at XXXX I called XXXX XXXX XXXX pay-by-phone ( XXXX ) XXXX, and spoke with a female ( do not remember name ) who stated she could see where a payment was made on XX/XX/XXXX. She placed me on hold to speak with someone about the payment since I told her their credit accounting department XXXX keeps calling me about my account being delinquent. XXXX????? I did not get her name because she dropped my call. I called back about 5 minutes later and spoke with XXXX. XXXX went through the same process that XXXX took me through, I stopped her and explained that I was well aware of the reversals that XXXX claimed she processed. But now every time I call XXXX call-and-pay number, I keep being told that even though I made a payment on XX/XX/XXXX I am late until I make 2 payments. I let XXXX XXXX know that that is n't going to happen. XXXX XXXX offered to call me back after she track down where my payments were reversed to and why the XX/XX/XXXX, payment is coming up as late or not paid. She will call me back on Monday by XXXX CT. XXXX did call and told me to pay 2 payments in XX/XX/XXXX to bring the account current. 

My final attempt was to go on and make 2 payments to clear up the delinquency. One payment was made on XX/XX/XXXX and the other on XX/XX/XXXX, the actual due date. 
I got tired of the collections calls and made one final attempt and called XXXX XXXX auditing department to try to resolve the matter again. This is where XXXX XXXX 's employees started referring me to contact First Citizens Bank, that it was out of their hands. I contact First Citizens and explain the nature of my concerns and First Citizens referred me back to XXXX XXXX. They played the ping-pong-ball game with me until I finally decided to contact CFPB ( Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ) to intervene. 
Thank you

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation