Consumer complaint received 2018-10-17
Company: Bread Financial Holdings, Inc.
State: ND
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card debt
Issue: Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly
Sub-issue: Talked to a third-party about your debt

Complaint:
My husband and I had a credit card for the store XXXX. We were faithful customers with them for many many years. Their company went bankrupt in XXXX and we spoke with them in XXXX and said we were facing some difficulty due to financial issues related to my Husband and my health and would be working on this over the Summer to figure out our debt. Between my Husband and I, within the past few years we have faced complications due to XXXX which we both have, XXXX XXXX, a XXXX XXXX, a XXXX and I almost died and was in the hospital for months due to XXXX XXXX. We are currently still facing most of these challenges and this Summer was touch and go on some fronts for us and we are trying to get back on our feet but I am currently XXXX years old and my husband is XXXX and life is becoming more and more challenging. XXXX then this summer called our phone leaving threatening messages implying they would sue us or something as this, I don't remember the exact wording but the tone and they would use verbiage which would imply they were coming after us. My husband and I were so overwhelmed and did not know what to do and since my XXXX, I would not remember things after several days as these calls and my Husband 's recall of things is also getting bad. 

Then in XXXX my Son who lives in XXXX XXXX and is not on our account nor has anything to do with it began receiving many phone calls each day, sometimes two within 5 minutes from XXXX which goes by XXXX  Bank. He ignored them and then on XX/XX/XXXX, he received a threatening message which was saved on his voicemail which said verbatim - " DO NOT DISREGARD THIS MESSAGE TODAY XXXX XXXX, MY NAME IS XXXX THIS IS REGARDING YOUR ESCALATING SITUATION. WE HAVE TRIED TO REACH YOU MANY TIMES WITHOUT YOUR IMMEDIATE RESPONSE TODAY, XX/XX/2018. I AM FORCED TO PREPARE FOR THE NEXT STEP THAT MAY HAVE A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT TO YOU. I NEED TO HEAR FROM YOU TODAY AT XXXX EXTENSION XXXX. AGAIN XXXX MY NAME IS XXXX AND IT IS CRITICAL TO HEAR FROM YOU TODAY. '' I know this verbatim because my Son saved this message on his phone and they did not even say XXXX  Bank nor anything identifying and it was nothing he knew about and was upset they kept calling his phone and then leaving these messages. He did call XXXX back and she started talking about his father and he stopped her and said that she did not have permission to call his phone, leave these messages and then discuss information with a third party about his Father. She was offensive with him and then connected him with a supervisor who apologized and denied that they would make these types of calls even though it was recorded and saved on my son 's cell phone. He explained the challenges we were going through and said they can not call third party individuals and threaten them or leave threatening information about his family and to No Longer Call Third Party Individuals. 

Then my daughter in XXXX began to receive calls from XXXX this past week. They got her upset and my son called them back and I gave XXXX  permission for them to speak with my son and he asked why they are calling family and threatening family members let alone leaving threatening messages for anyone. They transferred him to another representative who became very rude with my son asking him questions such as if my son had to travel back to North Dakota several months back because of this, why he hasn't looked through our mail for the bills and taken care of it and my son kept repeating that they do not have permission to call around the country and make threatening calls to family members not on the account nor should they make threatening calls at all. The representative then cut him off and told my son he is just talking in circles and that they have a few numbers they can call if they wish to and my son then got even more upset and said NO, that they can not call random numbers and if they want to leave another threatening message, to do so with him but they are not to harass an entire family around the country about this debt and especially since my parents are currently struggling themselves and we have not figured out an action plan yet how to handle all. He then said why would they do this and the representative cut him off and ended the call. 

The only way I can remember all of the above is I am now documenting everything to help me remember and then my son and daughter have recorded calls and voicemails on their own phones from XXXX. My son had to help me write this today. 

We would be willing to work out a fair and monthly payment once we get our finances in order by the end of the year but to continue calling third party members and harassing them and sharing our personal details and challenges is too much to handle. This has caused not only my Husband and I great XXXX but this has caused my children such XXXX  XXXX  because they were being harassed with multiple calls and threats. I hope in this process, we not only rectify a positive path but also we help others who are experiencing this same type of harassment from XXXX  Bank.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief