Consumer complaint received 2019-03-12
Company: Bread Financial Holdings, Inc.
State: OR
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Problem with balance transfer

Complaint:
Quite a while back I was offered an " Ultamate Rewards Mastercard '' credit card issued by XXXX XXXX  while shopping at XXXX XXXX XXXX. I applied for the card to get the special discount they were offering that day. I paid off the card and didn't use it so it sat with XXXX balance for some time. 

In XXXX, I received a mailer on the account offering a no fee balance transfer up to my card balance of {$15000.00} for 0 % interest through the fall of XXXX. I then went online and submitted balance transfer requests through this offer to pay two other XXXX XXXX  accounts. One was for {$11000.00} to be paid to my XXXX XXXX  line of credit and another for {$4000.00} to be paid to my XXXX XXXX  Visa account. 

XXXX XXXX  posted these to my Ultamate Rewards Mastercard on XX/XX/XXXX. However, the payments were never made to either of my XXXX XXXX  accounts. 

The last week of XX/XX/XXXX I received a statement from XXXX XXXX  stating that I had a balance of {$15000.00} with a minimum payment due on XX/XX/XXXX. I called their customer service to find out why I was being charged even though the balance transfers had not been paid to my account. 

I was provided 2 different stories by customer service during a call with a first agent and supervising agent 1 ) The checks were mailed to XXXX XXXX  but bounced back due to an error in the account information ; 2 ) The checks were mailed to XXXX XXXX  and have not gone through but the amounts will automatically be reversed after 30 days ( this did not happen ). 

The following week, after waiting until the 30 days had passed for the " automatic reversal '' that had been promised, I signed into my account online to find that the {$15000.00} balance remained. I then contacted XXXX through their online secure account portal. At this time I was told that they were investigating and would respond within 30 days. 

I then contacted them through XXXX and they indicated that they were investigating but the balance due would be frozen while they investigated. I have received no other indication that the balance due is frozen and continue to receive payment due notices. 

I filed a complaint with the XXXX XXXX XXXX  on XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX responded to the XXXX that they would contact me directly and were investigating. I have received no further correspondence as of today, XX/XX/XXXX. The XXXX  closed the complaint despite my refusal to accept XXXX 's general promise to handle this. 

After reviewing the reputation of XXXX with other consumers online I became concerned that if I did not pay the card that they would report me as delinquent and charge maximum interest/fees while this was being " investigated ''. I therefore set up a minimum payment of {$150.00} to post XX/XX/XXXX - two days before the due date. 

I am essentially now paying money to XXXX in a credit score hostage situation. They have indicated that they could be investigating for up to 90 days and during that time I will either risk my credit rating or need to pay {$150.00} per month.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief