Consumer complaint received 2023-07-12
Company: Bread Financial Holdings, Inc.
State: CA
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 rewards from credit card

Complaint:
In XX/XX/XXXX I applied for and was issued a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Credit Card. The card was issued by Comenity Capital Bank pursuant to a license from XXXX XXXX XXXX. The card offered cash back rewards in the following amounts : 5 % on gas station purchases and electric vehicle charging ; 3 % on grocery store, restaurant, travel, and XXXX purchases ; 1 % on everything else. The terms and conditions of the rewards are attached here as a pdf. The promised rewards were the primary reason I signed up for this credit card. 

XX/XX/XXXX : On XX/XX/XXXX I called to report suspected credit card fraud. During the call I realized that it was not fraud, but rather a legitimate charge made by my wife, who is designated as an authorized buyer on my credit card account. At that point, my wifes credit card had already been deactivated for suspected fraud, so a new one had to be issued to her. The charge in question remained on my statement and was paid for. 

XX/XX/XXXX : On XX/XX/XXXX I called Comenity Capital Bank customer service to report that rewards had stopped appearing on my statement from XX/XX/XXXX onwards ( a reward was also missing from a XX/XX/XXXX charge, but that was a dentist office charge, which may not have been eligible for any reward ). I noted to the customer service rep that the stoppage of rewards seemed to coincide with the cancellation of my wifes credit card described above. I was told by the customer service rep that it would be resolved in approximately 2 weeks. I asked what the next steps would be, but I was not given any instructions on how to proceed or on what I should expect to happen ( i.e., should I call again in 2 weeks?, would I receive a call or letter in 2 weeks? ). Nothing happened for a week. 

XX/XX/XXXX : On XX/XX/XXXX I called Comenity Capital Bank customer service to follow up on the missing rewards issue. Based on my conversation with this rep, he did not seem to be aware of the issue from what he could see in the system. I asked to speak to a supervisor, who did little to resolve the issue, but did at least see that the issue had been reported back on XX/XX/XXXX. I was not given any specific update or status on what was being done about the missing rewards. At this point, the rep started referring to the missing rewards issue as a dispute, as if it were still a fraud issue. I repeatedly told him that there was no disputed fraud. It was simply an error on the part of Comenity Capital Bank not issuing rewards I was entitled to. The supervisor was literally not able to know what was being done about this issue. He said a ticket might be created, but he had no way of knowing if XXXX had been or would be created. Essentially, he knew nothing about how this issue was being dealt with or even if it was being dealt with at all. He recommended that I submit an inquiry regarding the issue via the Comenity Capital Bank website Secure Message Center, which I did right after our phone conversation ended. I received a response the next day, XX/XX/XXXX, which was very generic and did not specifically answer any of my questions. I proceeded to have several electronic message exchanges with various Comenity Capital Bank customer service reps via the website XXXX XXXX XXXX over the next couple of weeks, none of which provided me with any specific answers. Furthermore, it was clear that the reps that I messaged with had no understanding of the situation, as they were talking about the situation as if it was still about suspected fraud, which it was, and still is, not. All message center correspondence is attached here as a pdf. 

XX/XX/XXXX : On XX/XX/XXXX I called Comenity Capital Bank to have them directly deposit my incurred rewards in the amount of {$110.00} ( excluding the missing rewards ) into my checking account with another financial institution. Ordinarily this could have been done online ( which I had done successfully once before ), but I was told that the website was being updated, which temporarily XXXX the rewards direct deposit feature and required customers to call Comenity Capital Bank customer service for incurred rewards direct deposit requests. At that point the only way to claim incurred rewards through the website was to take a credit for them against your existing balance. During this phone conversation, I asked about the status of my missing rewards, which at this point amounted to approximately {$29.00} ( by my calculations ). The ensuing conversation was similar to the previous XX/XX/XXXX phone conversation. 

At this point, I am very frustrated with the shoddy customer service and inability of Comenity Capital Bank to resolve such a simple issue. Furthermore, Comenity Capital Bank is not keeping its end of the deal with me. I have paid off my monthly balances on time. They have withheld rewards they promised me. They should not be allowed to do that and get away with it. Finally, I am put in a position where I no longer trust this financial institution and wish to end my relationship with them, but I have to consider the consequences of that action negatively affecting my credit score. Theyve got the proverbial XXXX of XXXX in the form of a ding against my credit score hanging over my head.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation