Consumer complaint received 2022-08-30
Company: Bread Financial Holdings, Inc.
State: FL
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem when making payments
Sub-issue: Problem during payment process

Complaint:
XX/XX/XXXX fraud was detected on my credit card with BJs commenity Bank. They closed my card and mailed out a new card. 

Immediately after that Commenity had a company wide system update that locked people out of their account. Mine along with many others accounts were still affected including mine and my mom 's. I called back 2 weeks later when my card never arrived and at that time their wait time to talk to customer service was at minimum an hour due to the amount of accounts affected by their faulty system update. 

The lady I spoke to told me to try back on Monday if the card doesn't show up before she sends another one out. So I waited until Monday and the card never came. But because I work and I'm busy and can not sit for 1.5 hours waiting to talk to a customer representative, I waited for a week or a week and a half and called back. The woman I spoke to set out the send me another card. She also was trying to work on my account because I expressed that there was a minimum payment due and I could not get into my account due to my card being canceled from the fraud and I can not get into their easy pay without the new account number from the card I didn't receive. She asked me to be patient and that she will work on the account and call me back. I never receive the card nor did she call me back. They assured me that they wouldn't charge the people that had their accounts affected with late fees etc due to it being out of our control and me specifically in my situation with the fraud and not having th card and not being able to get into anything to make any payments. I expressed I needed to get into my account or.make a payment but they couldn't take a payment from me at that time. 

I waited a couple weeks for the card but that one didn't come either, However, I got an email from commenity that my minimum balance was due XX/XX/XXXX do.i thought, let me check my account to see if I can get in. I was able to for the first time on XX/XX/XXXX get into my account. I was locked out since XX/XX/XXXX. I noticed there was a interest charge and late fee. Two fees they said would not be charged since it was their issue with the system update that made it impossible to get into the wind and the fact that I had a special circumstance with the fraud and not having my card and couldn't use XXXX XXXX and when I called them 3 times now at this point they they couldn't take a payment. 

After I got the email, noticed the charges, I called commenity to ask them why I'm being charged when over and over I was assured that I would not be since this was completely out of my hands. I had zero history with this account of even once being late or keeping a balance for over 2 weeks. Not one did I incur an interest charge. The man I some to said he was going to take care of it. He asked me to make a payment of minimum XXXX dollar and some change and I did. I soon after paid my entire balance except for the XXXX of late fee ad interest charge. He sent me to another representative to fix the issue of my card but arriving and sending me out a new one. That man came back telling me to call back tomorrow because there was an issue with my account and that another person would help me. 

I couldn't call back tomorrow because I don't have an hour to sit on hold waiting for customer service so I called a week later when I had the time to spare. I had to explain again the situation and that I have some fees that incurred during their system update, my card is still closed from fraud back in XXXX, I never received the card, I need a new card sent, but can they help me figure out what's going on? He had no answers except that he could not get into my account and to call back later. I was frustrated at this point because I felt like a ping pong ball no one willing to help, sending me to the next person. I expressed that my concern was that I was being pushed from person to person and there has to be someone who knew what to do, a supervisor or something because this has gone on for over a month and I see no end in sight. Can not use my card, I have fees I didn't incur, now they can't get into my account and that isn't being resolved. Nevertheless, I called back a week later, leading to today. 

I called in again, asked for a supervisor when the guy tried to do the same thing and the one last week. I can not get into your account, I'm so sorry, call back. I insisted he send me to someone who could help. I was transferred by that man told me he couldn't get into my account either, he listened to me when I told him the story from the day of the fraud and the system update and all the call backs I made and etc. He then accused me of lying to him, talked over me, gaslit me to try to make me the person in the wrong when I did everything I could have done. He didn't offer any solutions. He didn't give me any assistance but then hung up on me. 

I want to close this account after the way they run their business. I want my fees to justifiably be removed as they were not incurred by me but by their system not working. But I also just want to put the complaint in about the way they handled this. I got this card to improve my credit so I can get a habitat house and save money on groceries and gas for BJ 's. I had the intent to use it properly and have been doing so. They had some crazy long system update that messed up people 's account and they couldn't solve the issue in a timely manner, asked for patience from me, which I gave plenty of and when I insisted someone help me instead of passing me off again and again and again ... I was called a liar and gas lit. This is a bank and they do business with BJS. I have requested to cancel my account but it falls on deaf ears. I don't know what else to do.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief