Consumer complaint received 2019-06-19
Company: BARCLAYS BANK DELAWARE
State: TX
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a credit reporting company's investigation into an existing problem
Sub-issue: Problem with personal statement of dispute

Complaint:
This dispute is in regards to an account I had with Barclay Aviator Mastercard which I was no longer using, however, left open for credit reporting reasons. As a client in good standing and with no previous late payments in the history of our relationship, Barclay made no attempt to reach me ( by phone or by a mailed statement or notification ) to inform me that a {$35.00} charge from XX/XX/XXXX was past due and was accruing monthly late fees. 

Despite having my current phone number and mailing address, no attempt was made to notify me about this line charge until I received a letter on XX/XX/XXXX informing me that my account was being closed. I called immediately and paid my balance, but not only had Barclay closed my account, they had also reported me to all three credit bureausover a {$35.00} and without making one attempt to notify me. 

As I found out, this {$35.00} charge was for a one-year service I had paid for the year prior. I had not set this up, to my knowledge to auto-renew. However, it had. 

Barclay Aviator Mastercard violated the terms of my credit card service agreement by failing to notify me by phone or by mail that late charges and interest were being charged. Oddly, this same company regularly called me concerned about " suspicious card activity '' when I was actively using the card for every day rewards spending. 

When I contacted Barclay, I was told I had enrolled in paperless billing and that I received emails and not mailed paper statements. I never consented to electronic statements! I couldn't find any emails despite them having my accurate email address. Still, their associate acknowledged that I should've received multiple calls and letters during the 3 and half months this charge was adding late penalties. Why didn't I? Apparently, if you are enrolled in paperless billing you've agreed to receive statements AND Notices " electronically when legally permissible. '' It's legally permissible to notify a cardholder of their default status, the assessment of late charges and interest via email? If it is, that's a major e-statement loophole consumers should know about. 

In addition to them closing my account without warning, they've also ruined my credit score as they reported my account as 90 days late to all 3 credit agencies. My credit score has drop from over 800 to XXXX. This despite over 30 years of credit history without one late payment on my record. 

I've mailed goodwill letters explaining all of this to the agency I was told to, and after 3 months I've been told my appeal has been rejected. I've reached Barclay 's resolution department, but I'm told they make no goodwill adjustments regardless of the circumstances. 

My last resort is disputing the validity of the original auto-renewal charge, but it's now almost been a year. 

How could a company that called me regularly to verify that " suspicious card activity or behavior '' was valid, make no attempt to call me or send a letter for a matter with such severe consequences? The only logical answer is that a {$35.00} balance that can generate {$35.00} a month in late fees and compounding interest is worth more unpaid than not. I have no doubt that had my balance been {$500.00}, I would've received a call or something in the mail. 

Regardless of how many times a business asks you if you want to stop receiving paper statements, I would strongly advise against it. I don't even remember consenting to this, but it was clearly used as a loophole in my case.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation