Consumer complaint received 2022-02-24
Company: TD BANK US HOLDING COMPANY
State: DE
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: Store credit card
Issue: Advertising and marketing, including promotional offers
Sub-issue: Didn't receive advertised or promotional terms

Complaint:
I hold an XXXX XXXX XXXX card which issued by TD Bank , N.A . The card had a feature that included a deferred interest period on purchases. However, unlike other cards with similar deferred interest feature, TD Bank does not provide a clear indication that a promotional payment is due to avoid deferred interest charges.

I have set my payments up to pay the balance due each month. A deferred interest period expired as of XX/XX//2022, and the outstanding balance due was not withdrawn automatically. Instead, the regular monthly payment was withdrawn from my checking account, and deferred interest of {$1100.00} was added to my outstanding account balance. When I called in XXXX after I received the next monthly statement, I was told that the notice of the expiration of the promotional balance was noted on my statement. 

The statement and program is unfair, deceptive and misleading and the expiration of the deferred interest promotion is buried in the statement. On my XXXXXXXX XXXX card, which is issued by XXXXXXXX XXXX, the expiring deferred interest promotion is clearly indicated next to the payment information, in bold red font. This bold red print is the top third of the statement, next to the payment information, so I don't have to read the entire six page statement in order to understand that a promotional period is expiring.

When I called and offered to make the payment, explaining that I thought any amount due would be drawn along with any other amount due, I was told that is not the case. I asked for an abatement in interest if I paid in full, and was denied that opportunity. I was told that my account is set up for payments of {$150.00} per month, which is also not the case. The automatic draw is set up to pay the entire payment due each month. In short, I was told to read my six page statement ( front and back ) and figure it out myself.

This is not the service that I expect from TD Bank, but is more representative of a payday lender. I would appreciate your assistance in order to 1 ) reverse the interest assessed for missing the expiration of the promotional period due to lack of notice/and clear statement messaging, and 2 ) assess the confusing payment system as a mitigating factor. Again, TD argued I set it up to pay {$150.00} per month but I set the auto-pay feature to pay the full amount due each month, which has consistently drawn my account for more than {$150.00}. I fully expected that any monthly draw would include any promotional balance due for the period based on how I set up the payment in THEIR system.

My experience with the TD card rises to the level of deceptive and misleading with respect to the expiration of the promotional period, coupled with the complete lack of transparency in the automated payment system. If anything, these practices are designed to prevent consumers from paying promotional balances, especially compared to industry peer such as XXXX.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation