Consumer complaint received 2024-04-30
Product: Debt collection — Credit card debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed — Debt was paid
Company: Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (WA)

On XX/XX/XXXX, I received a notice of debt in the mail from XXXX XXXX XXXX. The creditor of the debt in question is XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX. XXXX and the total debt amount owed is {$240.00}. This was the second time that this debt collection has been incorrectly initiated after I had paid off the account in full on XX/XX/XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I purchased merchandise totaling to {$73.00} using the Express Credit Card issued by Comenity Bank ( Please see attachment XXXX. Purchase Receipt ( XXXX ) ) On or around XX/XX/XXXX, I received a phone call from a representative at Comenity Bank informing me XXXX XXXX payment for the card was due. During that phone call, I paid the owed amount of {$73.00} in full. Following the payment I requested the account to be closed permanently. The representative on the phone informed me that the account had been paid in full and would be closed permanently ( Please see attachment XXXX. XXXX XXXX  XXXX ( XXXX - XXXX ) XXXX of XXXX ). 

Following the completed payment, on XX/XX/XXXX, I received a notice from Express informing me that my Express account was closed and charged-off. The letter informed me that the account now totaling {$240.00}, despite being paid off on XX/XX/XXXX, was sold to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX. XXXX, XXXX ( Please attachment XXXX. Comenity Bank_ Express Credit Card XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX - Intial Notice of Debt ( XXXX ) ) On XX/XX/XXXX, I received a notice from Alpha XXXX XXXX that XXXX were XXXX to collect the outstanding debt that I had already paid off the year prior. ( Please see attachment XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX LLC - XXXX XXXX XXXX - XXXX Notice of Debt ( XXXX ) ) On XX/XX/XXXX, I received a notice from XXXX XXXX XXXX that they were seeking to collect the outstanding debt that I had already paid off nearly XXXX years prior. ( Please see attachment XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX - XXXX XXXX XXXX - XXXX Notice of Debt ( XXXX ) ) On XX/XX/XXXX, I filed a dispute through XXXX concerning the debt. I submitted my XXXX bank account statement as proof of payment and on the same day, the dispute was resolved and removed from my credit account ( Please see attachment XXXXXXXX XXXX Resolved Dispute of XXXX XXXX - Report # XXXX ( XXXX ) ). 

Despite being paid in full and the resolution through XXXX, the debt returned to my credit report again. On XX/XX/XXXX, I have received a notice from XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX  that they were seeking to collect the debt ( Please see attachment XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX - XXXX XXXX XXXX  - XXXX Notice of Debt ( XXXX ) ). 

I sent an email on XX/XX/XXXX disputing the claim immediately and XXXX XXXX XXXX responded by sending a physical packet detailing the history and origin of the debt. ( Please see attachment XXXX. History of Debt Packet ( XXXX ) ) Within the packet, on page # XXXX, the " Summary of Account Activity '' indicates that my payment on XX/XX/XXXX was contributed to an outstanding balance of {$130.00}. In the " Details of your transactions '' toward the bottom of the page, there were XXXX " late fee credit '' transactions and XXXX " financial charge credit '' transactions that all together totaled {$61.00}. This left a remaining balance of {$4.00}. 

I responded again on XX/XX/XXXX to XXXX XXXX XXXX by detailing the original phone call that I had with the representative from Comenity Bank. I explained that during that phone call, the representative informed me that I needed to make my original payment of {$73.00}. She did not inform me of the remaining {$65.00} and made no indication about adding any credits to offset the balance. I detailed in my response to XXXX XXXX XXXX that I would be willing to pay the {$4.00} now because at the time of the original phone call, had I know about the remaining balance I would have been more than happy to pay it and settle the balance. I also explained that if that was not enough I would be willing to pay the {$65.00}, because I would also have paid it had I know about it over the phone. 

Following that second email, I never received a response.