Consumer complaint received 2022-12-30
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: Store credit card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Credit card company forcing arbitration

Complaint:
Hi, My name is XXXX XXXX and I signed up for a Kohl 's credit card on XX/XX/22 at the local store XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, CA XXXX, after the cashier insisted me to sign-up for Khols credit card to avail more benefits and discounts. I was told by the cashier that I should get the card by mail within 2 weeks. We waited for 2 weeks and called on XX/XX/22 or XX/XX/22 don't remember the exact date to Kohl 's credit card services to find out when the card will be coming so that we don't miss the payment that was made on that newly opened credit card. On the bill, we didn't find a complete credit card number so we asked the agent to share over the phone so that we could pay the bill timely by registering for auto-pay. Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful to get the complete credit card number over the phone and were rather got a lame excuse that the card shipping got delayed because of the holiday season and that we should not worry about the bill until the credit card arrives. The credit card arrived on XX/XX/22 over the mail and we registered immediately for paperless billing and enrolled for auto-pay. We got a confirmation of auto-pay on XX/XX/22 stating it will be effective from the next billing cycle and there was no date mentioned when the billing cycle starts what date the next billing cycle means? I was thinking the next billing cycle is when my statement will come and it can be auto-paid. But that was not the case here! Kohl 's did send me an email on XX/XX/22 stating I have missed the payment and that's when I called them to find the issue. The agents I was talking to were debt collection agents and they said I didn't pay the bill timely so that's why I have to pay the amount with the APR interest rate charged on the card ( {$2.00} ) which is not at all a big amount but reporting to the credit monitoring services and debt collection is the wrong thing to do when a customer had all the intention to pay the bill timely. Then I asked the agent over the phone not to report to the credit services which can affect my credit score and it was unfair to do so as I did all the right thing to pay my bill timely and we paid the entire bill of {$110.00} over the phone through my BofA debit card. The agent refused to do so and after I paid the bill over the phone dropped it off. I tried reaching an agent over their secured Kohl 's portal message services and they too were not helpful. I have pasted the entire conversation which I copied and pasted to the word file and have attached it below. 
I would greatly appreciate CFPB 's help to fix this credit reporting issue and make Kohl 's learn a lesson and not do such wrong practice to anyone who is right in the first place. I work for a government agency in California State and do follow laws/ rules and try to protect the public interest. This is not about the interest charge to me which I don't mind paying if it's legitimate to do so. Also, I have seen online many such complaints against Kohl 's credit services and how they are cheating innocent customers during the holiday season by not sending the card timely and billing them for sending them for collection. This wrong practice should be stopped immediately by Kohl 's as it's against the industry rules. 
Thanks and I will look forward to hearing back from you soon on this. Also, please advise if I should legally challenge them on this and if there's a commission where I can do that to protect consumer rights. 

PS : I am also planning to report to our district congressman and senator whom we know well. Depending on CFPB 's investigation I want this should be publicly broadcasted to make residents aware of such wrong practices adopted by Kohl 's.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief