Consumer complaint received 2017-06-14
Company: Continental Finance Company, LLC
State: CA
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:
For two months in a row Continental Finance,   XXXX   XXXX  , has charged me a late fee. In both   XXXX   and   XXXX   I attempted to make a payment online using their website and both times the site would not accept my login information and locked out my account. In both cases I was using the same ... ID/Password that had previously been setup and used successfully. I attempted to call the number on the back of the card but their hours are EST and I live in PST so they are typically closed when I try to call to make a phone payment. Each time I have talked with a customer support rep, on both  XX/XX/XXXX /16 @  XXXX  PST and  XX/XX/XXXX /16 @  XXXX  PST, and both times I was told by two separate people that they were having issues with their website due to an update and others were reporting the same issue. In the case of the  XXXX  late fee, I was told because I did n't call before they closed on my due date that they were unable to refund my late fee. In   XXXX   I did n't call because I was waiting for the website to unlock my account and let me back in to pay my bill. In   XXXX   I was forced to reset my password and when I attempted to use the password I had been trying unsuccessfully, the website said the password was already used. This proved the website was not working properly and was n't accepting my credentials. Once again, on  XX/XX/XXXX , 2016, I went online attempting to make my payment that was due that day. Once again the website would n't allow me in using the password I was forced to set back on  XX/XX/XXXX . This was at  XXXX  PST. The website said my account was locked for two hours. I went back on at  XXXX , four hours later, and was told the account was still locked out. I called the number on the back of my card, as instructed in  XXXX , and they were closed. When calling on the  XX/XX/XXXX  they once again refused to refund the late fee while acknowledging their website was to blame.
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I have received records from both my phone company and my internet history that provides proof positive in support of my claims in the matter of the   XXXX   and  XXXX  late fees. My internet history shows positive proof that I attempted to login to my account and make payment but the website rejected my. My phone records show proof positive that I contacted the customer service phone number prior to the end of the day on my payment due date as well. I 've tried endlessly to work with your company over the phone, even speaking with a " supervisor '' but each time I 'm given the excuse that I was already given a " courtesy waiver '' in the last 12 months. This excuse is immaterial to this issue. That late fee was waived at my request when I called in and freely admitted I forgot to pay my bill on time and requested the waiver. These two latest fees have nothing to do with that situation. Since I can prove positively through written records of my attempts to access your website and call your customer service, this time the late fees are the result of your company, not me. I 'm a very honest person and would have no issue accepting these fees had I been at fault. I stand my ground because I know I made every effort to make payment on time and was still not able to and then penalized due to no fault of my own.

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