Consumer complaint received 2021-06-08
Company: Bread Financial Holdings, Inc.
State: CA
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card debt
Issue: Written notification about debt
Sub-issue: Didn't receive notice of right to dispute

Complaint:
We received your complaint. Thank you. 

We will review your complaint. Depending on what we find, we will typically : Send your complaint to the company for a response ; or Send your complaint to another state or federal agency, or help you get in touch with your state or local consumer protection office ; or Let you know if we need more information to continue our work. 

YOUR COMPLAINT On XX/XX/XXXXI received a credit score notification stating my card had been charged off and my credit score decreased. I had spoken to COMENITY bank regarding my account for Victoria 's Secret and XXXX stating that I was out of work due to COVID, and they gave me time off from payments back in XXXX of XXXX I was working with XXXX  XXXX  at the time, and Comenity said they would give me a deferment, but they charged off my accounts before that deferment had passed. Ever since then, I have been receiving calls everyday, sometimes up to five times, asking for more money. 

This month they expect me to pay twice, and are threatening legal action, but I told XXXX XXXX that I am out of work. Now I am receiving threatening calls stating that my account will be escalated, but they won't tell me what that means. I know XXXX did state I would be taken to court. Another representativce whom i spoke to in XXXX of XXXX stated he would seize assests belonging to my parents. And he attempted to coerce me into making payments which he knew I could not afford. I told him he did not have the right to threaten my family over a XXXX credit balance. {$20.00}. Over XXXX I have my credit messed with No, No I don't think so. 

I have told them repeatedly that I haven't found a job yet but XXXX XXXX, the person " assigned " to me, won't leave me alone. She tried to tell me I had to make automatic payments, that that is the only method of payment they will accept, but I never gave her my account information. I know that as a consumer I have the right to determine how I make my payments. And I told her that I prefer to pay with check so that I have a paper trail. She stated that I had to make the payments her way, and I know this isn't true, because I have an account with another lending agency and they let me pay however I need to. And that lending agency provides me updates statuses. Comenity and Victoria Secret never provided me with copies of my payments, or receipts, since starting on my payment plan with XXXX. Even when I requested it on numerous occasions, And so today, XX/XX/XXXX, I see a pending charge from them for XXXX. I agreed to pay off but I am going broke and I have tried repeatedly to get them to just wait and they won't. 


Heres ' the thing. I know my rights and I read the CARES ACT. It states, direct from the website : " If your account is current and you make an agreement to make a partial payment, skip a payment, or other accommodation, then the creditor is to report to credit reporting companies that you are current on your loan or account. '' " If your account is already delinquent and you make an agreement, then the creditor can not report you as more delinquent ( such as reporting you as 60 days delinquent when you started out 30 days delinquent ) during the period of the agreement. '' I was current on each account when I made the agreement for the partial payments. I asked for the assistance in XXXX of XXXX, when the pandemic began. I even requested a paper copy of this arrangement with XXXX XXXX and Victoria Secret accounts. in addition, because my account was current, there is no legal basis for them to charge off my account and provide a decrease in my credit score. 

I never received any acknowledgements for my extension and for the ending of the extension I went to each companies respective website, and I requested an electronic account, and did not get access to my own account. Even after I contacted customer service. So basically, they didn't want me to have access to updated statuses of my account. 

Per the CARES ACT XXXX, all consumers are entitled to receive a paper notification statiung the terms of the agreement. Again, COMENITY refused to provide any such notices for my record keeping. At the end of the three month extension, I did attempt to contact them to let them know of my persistent jobless status. I still did not receive any confirmation for the three month extension, nor did I receive a notice for the ending of that period. 


I also saw this stated on the Cares ACT webpage : " Your lender may offer you or you can request that the lender place a special comment on your account noting that the account was affected by a national emergency as a result of the pandemic. The comment will not affect your credit scores, and your loan will still be recorded as delinquent. But a prospective landlord, employer, or lender may take it into account when considering you for a loan, a job, or housing. The special comment may help a lender or other report user understand that you ordinarily make your payments but could not make payments for a period of time due to the pandemic. In addition, the special comment is temporary and may only show on your account for a period of time, such as during the time of a declared national emergency. When the lender stops furnishing the special comment information, it disappears permanently and entirely from your credit report. There will be no record that there was ever a special comment placed on your credit report. 

" You can also add a permanent comment to your credit file saying that you have been negatively affected by the pandemic. This comment will not affect your credit score, and your delinquent loan will still be reflected in your credit score. However, the comment will remain in your file even after the national emergency is over, and a prospective landlord, employer, or lender may take it into account. '' Comenity did not provide me this option whatsoever. 
Here is what I want : I want them to report my accounts as current, due to all the above mentioned reasons, it was out of my control, not having a job thanks to the pandemic. I want the above mentioned personal comment added to my credit agencies : mainly that, due to a personal disaster, I couldn't make the payments. I want the charge off to be reversed. 

In addition, I want them to reach out to the credit agencies on my behalf, letting them know that to remove the errors, mainly the error that my accounts are delinquent.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation