Consumer complaint received 2024-04-22
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Struggling to pay your bill — Credit card company won't work with you while you're going through financial hardship
Company: U.S. BANCORP (NY)

On XX/XX/24 I signed into my credit card account. While doing so, the login landing page informed me that certain functions would be unavailable and that the system was being updated. I continued to sign in and stopped an automatic payment to my credit line. I terminated any further automatic payments. I tried to call to verify but could not get through. 
On the morning of XX/XX/24, an automatic payment to my credit line showed as pending in my bank account. I called ELAN, they stated they could do nothing to stop it even though auto-payments had been terminated.

Elan Financial Services charged me {$30.00} as a returned payment fee. I then called Elan to discuss entering a hardship program, the auto-payment computer error, and the resulting fee. I was informed that there is nothing a representative can do to reverse the charge.

I was also informed that my payment was not late but merely reversed in the computer system at ELAN.

I could not pursue hardship since I was not late and had to wait until XX/XX/XXXX, when I would be considered XXXX late on my payment. I asked if I could contact the XXXX department that offers hardship agreements, I did not want to work with a third party since they charge a monthly fee. I had already looked into that. I was instructed to call XXXX at that time. ( This number is NOT ELAN. ) I was told I could not be connected to the collections department. When I asked for their phone number, I was given the phone number of aother third party and not the department that handles hardship. I was told it was the hardship department number for ELAN in no uncertain terms. 
After repeated phone calls, hours of transfers, and hold time on multiple days, was not eligible for their hardship program until much later. 
I attempted to resolve a debt and promptly enter into an agreement. I have been given a run-around and view this as a direct attempt by US Bancorp to increase my debt and prolong my indebtedness. On XX/XX/24, I was informed that the only option available was to pay the debt in full within 20 days, a sum of $ XXXX dollars. This caused me great distress. I became physically ill. I have since been offered a hardship program by ELAN. The amount due has increased since the acceptance letter by ELAN arrived at my address. A letter with a basic overview of the hardship agreement arrived at my home on XX/XX/24, stating that I owe {$20000.00}. When I contacted ELAN to enter a hardship program, I owed less. I consider this to be a bad-faith action and deceptive lending. This will increase interest charges and additional payments will be owed. The letter also states that any further charges will raise the principal balance and will extend the period of indebtedness and the number of payments owed, so, the reversals will create more payments. I do not know what the actual balance is at the time of this statement due to the prohibitive nature of ELAN 's systems. Because ELAN insisted on communicating by phone, and the phone representatives insisted I must pay online initially ( I said my bank would reverse it, rep. insisted the bank would not. It was reversed. ) and then by phone ( I said my bank would reverse it, rep. insisted bank would not. It was reversed. ), I have had three reversals. There is now a blemish on my credit score. I have spent over 80 hours. My payments continue to increase, as does the length of time of my indebtedness ( per the clause in the hardship agreement that I was allowed to view ONLY after entering into it by phone ). I have suffered. I was not attempting to avoid a debt, only to do my best to resolve it.