Consumer complaint received 2022-04-08
Company: BARCLAYS BANK DELAWARE
State: GA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem when making payments
Sub-issue: Problem during payment process

Complaint:
I have had a Barclays card since XXXX. I received a promotional offer for 0 % interest on all purchases through XX/XX/XXXX. I have the account set up on auto draft every month for {$300.00}, which is more than the minimum amount due. On XX/XX/XXXX they drafted {$7600.00} out of my account instead of the authorized amount of {$300.00}. I discovered this on XX/XX/XXXX and immediately contacted the company. The first representative I spoke with acknowledged that there was an issue on their end. She discovered that the promotional rate was not being applied properly and that I was being charged interest and then credited the payments back every month and that this issue also somehow effected the withdrawal amount. She wrote up a case to fix the interest rate and transferred me to the dispute department to get the payment corrected. The second and third representatives were very rude and told me I had an issue with my bank and it was their fault. I explained to them that the auto draft is not done through my bank and that it was initiated from them and presented to the bank and that if I disputed the payment, as they were instructing me to, it would put me in default of the payment terms for the promotional interest rate. After XXXX hours, a fourth representative finally admitted that the error was on their side and the computer increased the minimum amount due because they did not properly apply the promotional interest rate and incorrectly stated that " by agreeing to auto payments that the consumer agrees that they are allowed to take out any amount they want if they feel like account balance is too high and the consumer may be in danger of default. '' I explained to her that was not correct information, that the minimum amount due on the account was approximately {$150.00} and that I am a collections attorney and that the statements she made were factually incorrect. I was then informed the money would be returned to my account and that it would " take XXXX billing cycles, but there is no need for me to wait that long. '' I was unable to get a clear answer as to what that meant. I was never contacted by a representative so I contacted them again on XX/XX/XXXX and was told that the case was resolved and I would receive the money refunded within 10 days of XX/XX/XXXX and then I would need to supplement the payment of {$300.00} that I had originally scheduled. I never received the refund nor was I contacted by anyone. I called again on XX/XX/XXXX and was told that the case had been resolved and the money was going to be refunded, but that it had not been assigned to someone yet to actually process the refund. I asked to speak with someone else to escalate the issue and was placed on hold and then ultimately told that no one was available. I clearly informed them that I was trying to resolve the situation amicably, that I was not asking for them to do anything other than refund the money beyond which they were allowed to withdrawal and that I would be filing a CFPB complaint if I was not contacted by someone or had the money returned to me by XX/XX/XXXX. No one ever contacted me nor refunded any money. I contacted them again on XX/XX/XXXX and was told that it is still being investigated and that it will take XXXX billing cycles for the dispute to be handled. I explained that the the prior representatives on both XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX both expressed the case had been resolved and we were simply waiting for the money to be returned and that this is inconsistent information. The representative again stated the time frame as XXXX billing cycles, but offered to escalate the case to be resolved in XXXX hours. I have confirmed that the promotional interest rate is still being credited back to my account, which indicates that they have not fixed that problem. They have not only grossly misrepresented a promotional XXXX in order to entice usage, they then took out a payment sum SUBSTANTIALLY larger than what was scheduled and they are essentially holding my money XXXX during the promotional XXXX period. I have not been treated well as a consumer during this process. There has been little care or concern for any consequences to me from them making these mistakes and every apology made to me has had to be forced from them. I am extremely disappointed in the unprofessional manner this very simple issue has been handled.

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 monetary relief