Consumer complaint received 2023-03-10
Company: FIFTH THIRD FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: AZ
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Closing your account
Sub-issue: Can't close your account

Complaint:
Previously sent email addressing the problem. No response : Dear XXXX XXXX, I am writing you at the recommendation of a banking friend, since I am at wits end dealing with 5/3 Bank and my account with them. 

I held a 5/3 credit card until XXXX, at which point I left the XXXX for XXXX. I continue to carry a balance on that ( closed ) credit card account, and have been making monthly payments ever since via my XXXX checking account. All was well until XX/XX/XXXX, when 5/3 seemed to have made an online system update. My XXXX payment info was deleted in this update, and I kept receiving error messages when attempting to re-add it to make my monthly payment. I have had to call 5/3 every month since XXXX to make a payment, which in and of itself is a dreadful experience : 1 ) the average hold time is an hour or more ; 2 ) you frequently are assisted by a representative who is difficult to understand.

3 ) Since I no longer have an active card, I get the runaround from customer service : transferred from one department to the next with my call dropped in the process more often than not and thus having to start the whole process over again. My own working hours are the same as those of 5/3s customer service line, and I am unable to spend hours monthly to make a simple payment. 

This was difficult enough to deal with on a monthly basis, but it got worse : since XXXX, I have attempted to call customer service to make my payments, but am told ( again, after a hold time of at least 40min to an hour ) that this account is now being handled by the fraud department. I am mystified by this : the account has been closedhow is fraudulent activity possible? The customer service representatives are never able to tell me, but insist that only the Fraud Detection department can help me. I am then transferred to this Fraud Detection Departmentand 100 % of the time, my call is dropped in the transfer. I then start from scratch : call in, wait on hold for an hour, then told I can not be helped by anyone but the Fraud Detection department and then, call dropped in transfer. I have tried to communicate the fact that my calls continuously get dropped in transfer, but to no avail. 

I have had only a single day in XXXX where I was available during the customer service business hours to attempt to deal with thisafter 6 hours I got simply nowhere. I couldnt even at the very least make the needed payment, not to even mention understanding what the source of the issue is. Today, XXXX XXXX, I spent 5 1/2 hours on thisand with zero result. I work a full-time job as a XXXX  and XXXX at the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX my time is valuable and I simply dont have a day to spend on this every month. It would be marginally bearable if at least I got a payment made at the end of these immensely frustrating phone calls, but my account is now two months overdue. I will suffer credit damage, and none due to an error of my own. 

At this point I would prefer to transfer the remaining balance over to a XXXX credit card to pay off, but without my account number I am unable to do so. The account has been closed for so long I no longer have access to an account number. 

I would settle for being able to set up monthly automated payments, but also that is currently impossible. 

I received the email below today, and called the number on this communication. I was again put on hold, but gave up after 1 hour and 20 minutes. 

This is an impossible situation and I hope you can assist me in sorting this out. Otherwise I am left with no other options but to file a consumer report again 5/3. 

Your time and attention is much appreciated. 

Kind regards, XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation