Consumer complaint received 2019-03-09
Company: Atlanticus Services Corporation
State: IN
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Fees or interest
Sub-issue: Problem with fees

Complaint:
I had opened a credit card through XXXX  in XXXX, and have had a multitude of issues with their service ever since. The situation can be quite long-winded, but can be basically reduced to the company initially not honoring a late fee being waived at the very beginning of my membership. 

I pay my bills online, and on time. My bill is due at the XXXX of each month, to which i not only paid on time, but had paid significantly more than my minimum of {$25.00}. I had accrued a late fee despite the fact that XXXX  had received my payment before the end of the business day on XX/XX/XXXX. I had come to realize that they charged me a {$27.00} late fee, to which increased my interest and began to be applied to my minimum balance in the following month, resulting in yet another late fee because my newly adjusted minimum is substantially higher than it once was, and my auto payment didnt meet their increased requirements. They refer to this is a late fee, because what i post ( and should be paying in a normal circumstance ) is no longer the total of the new minimum, so therefore can be labeled is late and in turn give way to yet ANOTHER late fee and resulting increase in what i in turn have to pay. It's a cycle that repeats itself. 

I had called customer support in XXXX to address this issue, and the representative had told me that my initial payments were late because the digital payment was not received by XXXX ( a previously unaccounted stipulation ). She did not specify what timezone. She advised me to make my payments before XXXX, and agreed to waive this minor transgression and credit me back the late fee money, which she explained how it would cancel out the increase in minimum payment required because there will no longer be additional fees and interest tacked on to my next bill. 


The representative did none of the things she had agreed to over the phone, and the initial issue was never corrected resulting in an explosion of spontaneous and unavoidable increasing minimum requirements, fees, and interest. It is not only forcing me to pay ever-increasing ( and asinine ) amounts of money every month, but it's beginning to interrupt and possibly damage my credit because im being docked as not being able to meet financial obligations. 

I had contacted customer service roughly 6 times, and 2 of them were of no use whatsoever. The remaining 4 had asked me to make additional payments in promise that they will make the much-needed adjustments to lower my monthly dues to a real level. Not only did they not make these adjustments to fix the issue, but i ended up paying this credit card twice a month, on 2 separate occasions. There are no credits on any of my bills, and no evidence that anything was actually changed. 

My minimum payments in chronological order from XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX : {$25.00} ; {$36.00} ; {$62.00} ; {$99.00} ; {$130.00} I had not made ANY purchases using this card during the entire last 6 months. My late fee is not only being applied directly to my new bill, it is ALSO being converted into interest, to which is then added to the {$25.00} i should be realistically paying. And this is an ever-growing issue that compounds off of itself, and it can only continue spiraling further out of control as it so predictably has been so far. I believe this to be a scam, or at least some fraudulent activity is going on. 

i have a detailed spreadsheet that has all of the pertinent information needed, however this simple HTML page will not transfer. if provided an email address for delivery I shall submit it upon request.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation