Consumer complaint received 2022-01-02
Company: Bread Financial Holdings, Inc.
State: FL
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Installment loan
Issue: Charged fees or interest you didn't expect

Complaint:
This is regarding Re : XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX Acct # XXXX. 
When I went to confirm what I expected to be a 0 or less balance yesterday XXXX XXXX, XXXX for the aforementioned account I was completely surprised and disappointed I was assessed a {$1400.00} Finance Charge. 

I had been very conscience in making large monthly payments to ensure the full XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX Acct # XXXX loan was paid off by XXXX XXXX, XXXX. I had every intention to make the final payment for the XXXX XXXX  XXXX Acct # XXXX loan by XXXX XXXX, XXXX however because I was in the middle of a mortgage refinancing ( refi ) for purposes of debt consolidation had extenuating circumstance which caused confusion with the final payment due XXXX XXXX, XXXX. Yesterday I also called the merchant XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX ( no longer dealing with Comenity ) and Comenity and both consumer representatives said they could not do anything to rectify the {$1400.00} Finance Charge which I believe to be unfair and deceptive practices compounded by the extenuating circumstances around my mortgage refi. I have been a long time and active customer and Comenity should be working with me to resolve. 

The extenuating circumstance were : 1. I was in the midst of an approved mortgage refi for debt consolidation purposes and in the attached XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX  loan approval ) on Page 4 the underwriter asked me to provide the latest monthly statement balances for many accounts ( including XXXX # XXXX ) the underwriter would pay off directly upon closing the refi loan. In that same section on Page 4 you can see clearly see the underwriter instructed me to ***Please do not pay these off prior to closing. Doing so will require significant paperwork and time to document the payment. 
2. On the top of the same page 4 of the XX/XX/XXXX email I submitted the latest CCBXXXX # XXXX account balance which was {$960.00} and is attached ( XX/XX/XXXX XXXX ). 
3. In the same attached email trail on XX/XX/XXXX ( XXXX loan approval ) on page 1 after emailing the underwriter my concern that My interest free financing for XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX ( CCB/XXXX # XXXX ) starts accumulating interest XX/XX/XXXX, I intended to payoff however you told me to not pay it off so I made my regulatory scheduled payment {$200.00} today. Please let me know if I can pay off or wait until after we complete refi. The underwriter told me to wait and hold off making the final payoff because the refi was too far in the closing process.

4. Because the loan was taking longer to close when I reviewed the attached XX/XX/XXXX Statement CCB/XXXX # XXXX the underwriter advised me to pay the minimum {$35.00} balance and that I would be able to recoup any overpayment after the loan was closed. At this point the statement had a {$760.00} balance reflecting the XXXX XXXX, XXXX {$200.00} payment and everything looked as I expected. 
5. You can clearly see in items 3 and 4 above I thought the unpaid balance would accrue interest only on the unpaid balance of {$760.00} and that Comenity and I can settle any residual amount. Throughout all my previous interest free loans this has never happened to me, probably because I paid the balance when it was due. The terms of the loan were vague and confusing and I simply assumed I would be paying interest on the unpaid balance. The statements are not 100 % clear about the consequences of not paying off the loan on the final due date and I consider this to be unfair and deceptive consumer practices and have filed with the Consumer Financial protection Bureau ( see attached ). 

Lastly I have a good recent history with Comenity however if this is not resolved I will certainly reconsider keeping these active accounts open. 

XXXX Account # XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Account # XXXX XXXX active XXXX Account XXXX XXXX XXXX active XXXX Account Ending in XXXX paid off

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation