Consumer complaint received 2016-12-30
Company: Army and Air Force Exchange Service
State: MD
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card
Issue: Disclosure verification of debt
Sub-issue: Right to dispute notice not received

Complaint:
It appears that it is AAFES practice to make it difficult for consumers to make payments to their credit card account because it is easy for them to do a Treasury Offset even if the consumer the customer was not properly notified. I say this because my account was placed under AAFES Voluntary Payment Plan ( VPP ) program initially in XXXX because AAFES placed my account in collections after they increased my monthly payments without notification then locked me out of accessing my account because I was no longer in the Military. I got out the military in XXXX XXXX and had my account on auto-pay for AAFES to withdraw {$120.00} per month ( my minimum payment each month was about {$80.00} ). I later found out that my account was over 90 days past due because AAFES had increased my payments without notifying me to {$180.00} per month ; so although my direct payments of {$120.00} was received on time every month it was still in default because of a {$60.00} shortage. No notification was received from AAFES to inform me of my new monthly payment amount, nor did AAFES ever send me any notification that my account was past due. I found out of the delinquent account after trying to obtain credit and the creditor informed me that I had a past due account. Once I found out, I attempted to access my AAFES account online and realized that I no longer had access. I called AAFES and was told that since I was no longer in the Military my access was revoked. I explained to the representative that my access was limited after I got out the Military but I was given access to view my statements and pay on my account online. The representative told me that AAFES had revised that policy and so the only way I could access my account was by paper statements. I informed the representative that I had not received any paper statements and she told me that they would send XXXX out. I then asked how could I pay my account and I was told that the only way to correct it is to pay the full balance or settle through the Voluntary Payment Plan ( VPP ) program. This program required that I call every month to pay my bills. I complied with the rules of this program every month for the past 3.5 years. When I called to pay my bill in XXXX XXXX, AAFES notified me that they were making it easier for consumers to pay their debt so I could set up auto-pay which would relieve me of calling monthly. I requested to have my account set up on auto-payments thinking that AAFES had finally gotten better. Now I 'm finding out that this was a plight to defraud me and keep me in debt once again. 

I requested to have my account set up on auto-payments where payments of {$180.00} would be debited from my bank account on the XXXX of every month. My XXXX XXXX statement showed that the money was debited as requested on the XXXX XXXX and my next withdrawal was set up for XXXX XXXX. On XXXX XXXX after returning from a 10 day vacation out of State, I received a statement from AAFES which was postmarked XXXX XXXX, XXXX. That statement showed that my account was 30 days past due in the amount of {$180.00} ; a fee of {$25.00} was added for NSF and my XXXX XXXX payment was reversed. I immediately checked my bank statement to see what was going on and verified that there was more than enough money in my account for AAFES to electronically pull the {$180.00} payment which they reported as NSF and charged me a {$25.00} NSF fee. I immediately called AAFES to find out why they charged me a NSF fee and reversed my payment if there was more than enough funds in my account. The representative placed me on hold then came back to ask me what is my bank account number. I verified my account number with her and she told me that they had the wrong account number on file. I refuted that if the wrong account number was recorded on file, it was not my fault because I know I provided the correct account information. The representative XXXX

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