Consumer complaint received 2020-11-11
Company: Bread Financial Holdings, Inc.
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: Store credit card
Issue: Getting a credit card
Sub-issue: Application denied

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2020, I applied at XXXX for a credit card account. Comenity Bank issues the XXXX credit card and handles any account related matters. On XX/XX/2020, I placed a call to Comenity to inquire why I had not received a phone call, because according to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, as a victim of identity theft, Comenity was required to call me to verify my identity. I also wanted to know if I was approved, because, I was not approved on the spot and was told I would receive a letter by mail. Verifying my identity has been done for years, anytime I apply for credit. As of today I have not received a call from Comenity to verify my identity, and no messages have been left on my voice mail, which is against the law and is required. When I called Comenity, I spoke to several supervisors who stated they were not aware of the law and could not figure out which department to send me to. How is this? If your company supplies credit to consumers, your company and it's employees in the credit approval department, should be well versed on the Fair Credit Reporting Act and identity theft. Not knowing how to handle victims of identity theft is very dangerous and again I will say, illegal, and could have placed me in direct contact and harm with identity theft yet again. 
I received a letter from Comenity dated XX/XX/2020 stating that in evaluating my request for credit I was denied because the credit reporting agency advised Comenity that a security/credit freeze was placed on my credit report and due to the freeze on my bureau report you were unable to verify my credit history. This statement is false. I feel that because you never called to verify my identity, you knew it was wrong, so you thought you would deny my application and that would take care of your wrongdoing. I lifted the freezes with XXXX, XXXX, & XXXX, the 3 major credit bureaus, hours before I went to apply for the credit card, so you were able to verify my credit history. As a matter of fact, you did verify my credit history with XXXX, which provided/provides you with a complete view of my credit. When the freeze is lifted, it is lifted immediately. I have enclosed the letter I received from Comenity and I have enclosed the copies of what I received from each bureau stating the freeze was lifted. I did not enclose the copy for XXXX because my pin number was on it. If needed, I can ask XXXX to send me a copy without the pin number on it to provide to you. I have also enclosed a copy of a section of my credit report that shows that you did view my credit with XXXX on XX/XX/2020. The letter also states that I can re-apply in 30 days if I lifted my freeze from all major credit reporting agencies. 
There are 3 major credit reporting agencies and those freezes were lifted and you did view my credit. Any other reporting agency is a secondary reporting agency not a major credit reporting agency. You had a full view of my credit and you were able to verify my credit, and there was a hard inquiry placed on my XXXX credit file, so you should have processed my application, because there were no other reasons provided as to why I would not be granted credit. I am requesting that my application be reconsidered without prejudice, with the credit history that you actually verified and have access to with the XXXX file you requested last week. If not, please remove the hard inquiry from my credit file. I will not be penalized for something you claim you did not do when the proof shows you did.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation