Consumer complaint received 2017-11-29
Company: Bread Financial Holdings, Inc.
State: DC
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: Store credit card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Card was charged for something you did not purchase with the card

Complaint:
Dear Sir or Madam : After repeated phone calls to XXXX XXXX attempting to resolve this matter, I am now formally requesting in writing that all erroneous fees charged by XXXX XXXX be refunded, that my XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX account balance be returned to XXXX, and my account closed. I bought several items in the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX located in XXXX XXXX in XXXX DC in XXXX XXXX. Because I did not have my card physically with me at the time of purchase, the employees at the store looked up my account number, billed the items to my XXXX XXXX XXXX, and assured me I would receive a statement in the mail when my bill was due. I never received a statement in the mail. Nevertheless, on my bill due date ( XXXX ), I made a payment online for the FULL AMOUNT THAT I OWED, which was {$83.00}, for items purchased in XXXX XXXX  XXXX. I was not credited for this amount until XXXX XXXX, XXXX, at which point I was charged a late fee. I can not explain why this payment was not immediately processed by XXXX XXXX, but have XXXX, XXXX, and other comparable credit cards, and have NEVER had ANY ISSUES whatsoever with either i ) fees, nor ii ) the processing date of my online payments. I received an e-mail ( not a billing statement ) in early XXXX XXXX stating that my payment was due. Because I had paid ( in full ) the entire bill in XXXX XXXX, I called XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, on XXXX XXXX, XXXX. At this point, I was informed I owed a balance on my account, consisting only of two late fees that had been charged on my account. I told the XXXX representative that I had paid my bill on time, and asked them to refund the late fees charged. I also updated my mailing address and explained that I had never received a statement in the mail informing me of my bill due date as I was promised in the XXXX XXXX XXXX store. The representative refunded only one ( 1 ) of the erroneous late fees on my account. She was rude, unhelpful, and dismissive of my concerns. She stated that XXXX was by law only permitted to refund one late fee. I asked the representative to provide me with the law or statute that stating this, and she had no response. I stated that by acknowledging one of the late fees was in error, it was non-sensical to refuse to refund the second, which was incurred allegedly because I did not pay the first late fee ( WHICH I NEVER OWED ). After I asked to speak to her supervisor, the representative placed me on hold for over ten minutes, and then ultimately hung up on me. She was dismissive of my concerns, even though I stepped out of work to call her, and was on the phone for over 20 minutes. She made NO EFFORT TO CONTACT me back, nor to resolve this issue. Because the representative only refunded one late fee, this still left a balance owed on my account ( due to the second erroneous late fee ), which has continued to accrue additional fees each month. I called XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX XXXX ) again on XXXX XXXX, XXXX, and spoke with a supervisor, XXXX ( Employee ID : # XXXX ). I repeated my request that my account balance be brought to XXXX, but XXXX informed me that he lacked the authority to refund the fees in question and requested that I send a written request to the above address. I sent a secure message through the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX message portal on XXXX XXXX, XXXX, and also submitted a complaint through the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on XXXX XXXX, XXXX. I also sent ( via US Mail with tracking ) a letter reiterating my request that all fees be refunded by XXXX XXXX on XXXX XXXX, XXXX. I will not be paying ANY ERRONEOUS FEE to XXXX XXXX  which is clearly in error, both because I was not credited timely for my payment, and also because I never received a bill in the mail for my XXXX XXXX purchase informing me of my bill due date. XXXX has been rude, utterly dismissive, non-communicative, and utterly opaque about how and why anything is owed, and why they can not refund the fees which were mistakenly charged. I ask FOR A FOURTH TIME that XXXX XXXX to please refund the erroneous fees assessed to my account, return my account balance to XXXX, and close my account within ten ( 10 ) days of receipt of this letter, or no later than XXXX XXXX, XXXX at XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX has been uncooperative and unhelpful, despite repeated my repeated telephonic and electronic messages, and letter sent via US Mail. XXXX  SHOULD ALSO IMMEDIATELY REMOVE ANY NEGATIVE INFORMATION FROM MY CREDIT REPORT. Finally, a letter memorializing that XXXX XXXX has removed negative information from my credit report should be sent to me via US Mail. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Thank you very much for your prompt attention to this matter.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation