Consumer complaint received 2019-04-12
Company: Bread Financial Holdings, Inc.
State: AZ
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt was result of identity theft

Complaint:
My complaints are over the creditor XXXX XXXX and the handling of my case XXXX/XXXX by the credit agency XXXX. 
XXXX XXXX Complaint - This bank has approved credit to me on 4 occasions this decade without my written or verbal approval. On all 4 occasions, this has lead to fraudulent charges. The list of cases has involved : XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX all of which are funded by XXXX XXXX. The problem goes back to the very first contact with XXXX earlier this decade. XXXX  XXXX  sent me a XXXX credit card and a week later I received a bill for ordered items. That was complete fraud and I disputed it with them. After I disputed it, the amount when on my credit and I had to get it removed. Obviously, they kept my information. Since then I have run into them again because they provide credit with several merchants and have continued doing the same thing to me in different ways. The XXXX XXXX/XXXX charges I have not been willing to pay because I noticed several charges that were not mine on the XXXX website totaling a little over {$1900.00}. I disputed directly with XXXX at the end of XXXX. Half of the charges that are fraudulent were put on XXXX credit and the other half was done on NON-XXXX  credit. The XXXX account was closed by them but the balance was not removed and they kept reporting it as if it was still active. The letter they sent me states there was " no balance ''. At the same time, they tried to get a collector to collect part of the debt. It is absolutely outrageous that all my major financial problems this decade have been involving this bank and merchants connected to them. I believe no banking institution should be allowed to issue credit without consumer approval including signature and background check. Not just a simple process. If credit is issued without consumer approval, the fraudulent charges should be the banks responsibility. It is the risk they take for issuing unapproved credit. I know for certain I never applied for credit with XXXX XXXX. XXXX will not give a straight answer to any questions relating to why they gave me credit or why they kept giving me credit when they knew there were previous issues. Their only answer to all submittals is that " there is no basis for your claim ''. They are 100 % responsible for the fraud. 
XXXX Complaint - 1. XXXX is not acknowledging a letter uploaded from XXXX XXXX  in XX/XX/XXXX after I disputed with XXXX  XXXX  directly at that time. The letter says there is no balance. Whether this wording was a mistake by the bank or not doesnt matter. Its in writing from them so there should be no balance. Legally, this letter alone should be enough to remove the account or show as closed with {$0.00} balance. 
2. XXXX kept reporting payment status after XX/XX/XXXX when the account was closed. It shows good status up to XXXX and then late in XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX ( 90 days ). My credit report in XX/XX/XXXX shows it was closed but the balance was still there and it is still there now. This is inaccurate information that is being reported, hurts my credit score and will prevent me from getting future credit. I brought this up to XXXX and they have decided not to do anything about it. 
3. XXXX will not acknowledge my official police incident report from the XXXX Police Department in XXXX, AZ at the present time. They said they require : all pages of the identity theft report, including validation that the report was filed with a federal, state, or local law enforcement agency. 
That is all it says, nothing else. That is what I gave them. When I asked what this means and what I need on the report to make it acceptable, they refused to tell me any specifics. I went to the police station and they assured me that was their official report for a case like this one. I called XXXX back and let them know that was it. I have called the Credit Bureau multiple times. Finally, I managed to get one agent who mentioned something. She said that the report has to be written by the police officer, badge number, and signed. Where in the above statement, is it clear that you need those things? I have tried again but I may not  get what XXXX wants. The police are swamped with numerous cases like this and to them, this is not as important as a murder case. The report I submitted classifies the case as Identity Theft, there is police officer information, and pertinent information in their form and letterhead. They copied into the report the details of the case I sent them. Unless they can figure out what happened at some point, what more can the police say? 
4. The XXXX agent admitted during our conversation that they never asked XXXX  XXXX whether I applied for credit with their institution. For a fraudulent case involving Identity Theft, this should be a very important question. All they have done is asked them whether or not the information is accurate. If the information was accurate, I would not be disputing it with XXXX and I would not have disputed the fraudulent charges with XXXX XXXX directly at the end of XXXX.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation