Consumer complaint received 2021-03-12
Company: TRUIST FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: FL
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Closing your account
Sub-issue: Company closed your account

Complaint:
In XX/XX/XXXX, I met with XXXX XXXX ( Market Leader XXXX, Vice President ) at BB & T Bank ( now Truist ) to open a business credit card account. He tried to talk me into opening every account possible under the sun but all I wanted was the credit card to use for startup costs for my new business. I was granted a business credit card with a {$10000.00} limit and 0 % interest for the first year. 

After receiving a credit alert that my account had numerous inquiries, I found out that XXXX ran my credit 3 times for 3 different credit products! I now had 3 hard inquiries on my account! ( 1-business bankcard, 2-preferred line of credit, 3-business loan ) I did not know that he would run my credit for all of these. I thought it would be ran once for all three. I had spoken to XXXX about this issue, and he said he would send an email to someone to get this resolved and have the additional 2 inquiries removed. Since then, XXXX left his position, and my account was transitioned to XXXX XXXX ( Sales and Service Leader ). 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I sent XXXX an email asking her to follow up where XXXX left off to have the additional 2 inquiries removed. She responded back saying unless it was a bank error, they would not remove them. I emailed her again telling her that I did NOT approve running my credit 3 times as I was not informed that it would be, and I would NEVER have allowed that! I informed her that XXXX was negligent in his responsibilities to inform me of this and that his negligence WAS an error on the banks part. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I received a response from XXXX saying she sent a request to have one of the inquiries removed but not the other one. As of the writing of this complaint, 2 hard inquiries remain on my account from BB & T Bank. ( picture enclosed ) Early in XXXX when COVID surfaced, I contacted BB & T customer service for help with paying the bill. Thankfully, they granted me a waiver of payments for 4 months, which is apparently their limit. This is standard from what I am told, not new rules they developed to help people through the pandemic. 

Unfortunately, in XX/XX/XXXX, COVID forced me to shut down my new business, exactly one year to the day of opening. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email stating the minimum amount due on my account was {$200.00}. Typically, my payments were much less than that. When I called to ask why the sudden increase, they informed me that my interest free period had ended, and I was being billed for interest. I asked how the payment was calculated & was informed that they take a percentage of the outstanding balance due ( 1 % I think ) AND add the monthly finance charge to that to come up with my minimum payment. Isnt the percentage of the outstanding balance the finance charge? I was and am still very confused and they did not offer any additional information to help me understand how my monthly minimum payment was calculated. 

I advised them that since I closed my business, I would not be able to afford such high payments. I asked if they would lower the interest rate and they said no. The only way they could do that was to put me on a five-year payment plan with an even higher monthly payment! The whole point of asking for help was because I can not afford the payments and they want me to make higher payments?? This made no sense! 

On XX/XX/XXXX I received an email stating the minimum amount due on my account was {$440.00}!!! This was more than double the previous month! 

In XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email stating my minimum monthly payment due was {$160.00}! Now it is down to 1/3 of the previous month. 

In XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email stating my minimum monthly payment due was {$200.00}! What is going on with this account? I would not know because I can not access it to see what is happening! 

I have not had access since XX/XX/XXXX. Whenever I try to log in, I get an invalid credentials message. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I called BB & T and spoke to XXXX XXXX about being locked out of my account. He did some research and responded that he did not see anything in the rules that said I should not be able to access my account online after it was closed. So, he sent me a form to fill out to ask for access. I filled it out and sent it back immediately advising him that I would appreciate a swift response as my bill was due in a few days & that I was concerned about a late fee and negative credit reporting. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I reached out to XXXX again via email since I had not gotten a response back from anyone. This email went ignored. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I emailed XXXX again advising that I have not gotten a response back and now my bill was overdue. Still NO response! 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I called BB & T and spoke with XXXX. After advising her of the above events, she advised me that she was going to file a complaint against XXXX on my behalf. She too confirmed that I am not allowed to access my account and that any time I would like to see my account I would have to go into a branch. I advised her that I do not know why my account was closed and that I did not advise anyone to close my account! 

Within hours of the above conversation & complaint filed from XXXX, I received an email from XXXX as follows : Client care received a response from our business maintenance team that the attached form does not have anyone listed to add. Please complete the enrollment form and return. I have attached a copy if needed. 

It took them a week to tell me my NAME was missing on the form! I filled in my name and immediately sent the form back to XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX XXXX emailed me the following response : I wanted to follow up to let you know that online access will not be an option due to the blocked account status. Both XXXX enrollment and XXXX XXXX XXXX have responded to our requests. Based on our conversation, I understand this may impact your relationship with us. 

I immediately responded back asking why the account can not be unblocked. His response was as follows : The account was permanently block/closed XX/XX/XXXX. This status can not be reversed. The memo on the account indicated a letter was sent explaining the status. 
My response back to XXXX was that I felt like something illegal was going on since they were actively charging me interest on an account that they refuse to allow me to access and that I would be seeking legal counsel. I did not receive a response to this reply. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I emailed XXXX asking for a copy of the signed contract ( not the application ) for this credit card account and I gave him a 48-hour deadline. I did not receive any response from XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I received an email from XXXX XXXX, AVP Client Care Team. Here is the email I received from XXXX : I was looped in on your request this morning from XXXX I have previously submitted for your inquiry to see if it can be handled on our end to send the contracts request to you. Based on the communication below, at this time it does not appear we will meet the deadline to provide the necessary information. Given the transparency you have shared on what the next steps mean & understanding your position on the matter, I will be submitting your concerns/complaint to a Case Mgr. that will review the situation & within the next 5-7 business days you will have a case manager assigned. 
If there is anything that comes through the pipeline that shows we can honor the request I will still do so. Thank you. 

As of this date, XX/XX/XXXX I have not received a copy of my contract. The bill will be due in a few days & I will undoubtedly be charged another late fee and reported to the credit bureau as delinquent. 

Upon seeking legal counsel, I was advised to file this complaint. It amazes both myself and my attorney how many people I have spoken to and gotten the runaround from just to get nowhere! 

In a nutshell, here are the issues : 1. BB & T initially ran my credit 3 times without my permission. As a result, I had 3 hard inquiries on my credit and my credit score dropped.

2. My business credit card account was closed without my knowledge or consent.

3. Access to my business credit card account online has been denied repeatedly.

4. BB & T continues to charge me interest without allowing me access to my account to view transactions. It seems I may be being billed twice for interest each month. I do not understand how they calculate my monthly payments. Each month the payment differs DRASTICALLY as you have read above and will see by the attachments!

5. BB & T emails me a monthly bill with links to an account that I can not access.

6. I do not receive paper statements therefore I am unable to see the activity of my account.

7. Since I am denied access to my account, I am unable to download statements & tax documents for accounting and tax purposes!

8. I have missed 3 calls from BB & T in the last 10 days ( XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX ). They never leave a voicemail. 
9. I have NO idea what my outstanding balance is on this account. To find out any details on this account I must keep calling them or go to a branch.

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 explanation