Consumer complaint received 2017-12-13
Company: BBVA FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: CA
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Personal line of credit
Issue: Problem with additional add-on products or services

Complaint:
Back in the month of XXXX I had traveled to XXXX California to attend a wedding reception for my friend. While on this trip there were some unexpected extra expenses which I needed to charge to my checking account into a negative balance. I was not worried about this overcharge because I had an overdraft protection line of credit granted to me from BBVA Compass Bank, which I would 've paid back when I got back home and paid interest on what I had spent while I was about. My banker at the local branch told me that situations like this are what the line of credit was meant to be used for. 

In all, I ended up needing to spend {$280.00} by the end of XX/XX/XXXX, to make up for the debt I had accrued, however ; without notifying me before hand, the bank account I had used from BBVA Compass Bank, had cancelled my overdraft protection line of credit without notifying me in any way, right as I made use of the line of credit, subjecting me to several non-sufficient funds charges without my awareness that the line of credit had been removed. I was charged a fee of {$32.00} per item that was charged to the account regardless of how much or little it was. This might have been okay, had I been notified and so I could adjust my behavior to avoid more charges. They expected me to pay back nearly double the amount charged. I was alarmed by the sudden rush of additional charges to my bank account and immediately called their customer service line to correct the issue on XX/XX/XXXX. Unfortunately, when I called the bank 's customer service line, they had no useful information to give me and could not explain to me why my line of credit had been revoked. The gentleman on the phone told me to go to the bank branch and talk to them there. So I went to the local bank branch to investigate the issue, my regular teller did not have any new information or explanation for why the line had been closed but told me she would talk with the bank manager about getting the other charges removed. In the meantime, I was encouraged to pay back the {$280.00} as a token of goodwill, but I could not find the money to do so because of the other costs from the trip and costs associated with attending school took up all my money. To make matters worse, my student loans from school were delayed considerably. I called the branch a few times each week and the financial aid department a few times each week while they were finishing my loan. They charged me two extended overdraft charges while I was waiting for the financial aid department to get its affairs in order and to disperse the funds. I managed to scrape up {$300.00} to pay some of the debt off on XX/XX/XXXX and was told by the bank teller that she would try to talk to the bank manager to settle my account back to XXXX, but she never did, and I never heard from anyone. 

Even after my payment, they charged-off the account and never contacted me again. I thought that they might have just charged-off and closed the account, but they apparently sold the debt to XXXX XXXX and told me they want {$270.00} in a letter. They have failed to address me or contact me in any way or work with me. I was always the one who had to reach out and I feel like I was misled and bilked by a failure to render services as promised their customer service department consistently failed to address my questions and actively misled me for their own benefit at my expense. This feels like a bait and switch to scam me for as much money as they could by pulling the rug out from underneath me. There never was an adequate explanation for why the overdraft protection line of credit was revoked and now they want to make even more money off me. I am still diligently making payments on a credit card I have through that bank, but honestly, with the way they do business, I am eager to get rid of this debt and close the account rather than deal with these unscrupulous bankers.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation