Consumer complaint received 2022-01-25
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Closing your account — Can't close your account
Company: BANK OF THE WEST (CA)

Hello, On XX/XX/2022, I opened a credit card with Bank of the West ( XXXX ). After setting up my online account, I found that the website did not allow for even the most basic account management or support services ( examples below ). My chief complaint is that it is virtually impossible to find any information on closing the account or to reach customer service for that purpose, despite spending hours on hold and online attempting to do so. 

Issue # 1 : Setting up Autopay- only two options for autopay : pay the full balance amount or the minimum balance. Setting up recurring payments for any alternative amount is " unavailable '' and can only be found on a separate section of the website ( Scheduled payments, not Auto-pay ) which makes it unclear if additional payments must be made to avoid penalties for non-payment of the minimum balance due. This seems like a deliberate ( and illogical ) way to set up the website, allowing them to disable the section for " choose your own recurring payment '' and forcing customers to choose between paying the entire balance or the minimum ( resulting in maximum interest accrual ). As a result, most consumers would be forced to forgo auto-pay completely and risk steep penalties for missing or late payments more likely to be incurred.

Issue # 2 : Automated phone service using the 24-hour Customer Service line requires you to manually enter all of your information including all credit card information including security code, birthdate, and full 9-digit social security number. This is excessive, unnecessary, and not a secure way of confirming a customer 's account. Hold time for each call was well over 1 hour each time I called with no option to request a callback. The online chat support is a dead link that reads " unavailable. '' There is no option to receive account support by email or online chat. You must call the number and be subjected to excessive hold times of over one hour. I never got through to a representative, so I have no idea how many hours it would take to actually reach someone. Based on reddit, this is a common occurrence. 

Issue # XXXX XXXX services unavailable : In addition to " recurring payments '' and " online chat '' being unavailable, the balance transfer feature on the website is also unavailable. The card was advertised as offering a low rate for balance transfers, so presumably this a primary purpose for signing up. I am now grateful that I was unable to transfer a balance to the card and still have a XXXX balance. 

Issue # XXXX : Can not close account. After hours of scouring the BOW website and XXXX, there is virtually no information on how to close a XXXX credit card account. You can find sparse information on closing a BOW bank account, but nothing for credit cards. Again, since there are no available resources online including chat or email support, I was on hold for hours with no human contact at any point. There is no automated menu option for " close account. '' I tried calling every customer support and BOW credit card related phone number I could find with the same results. I called back the number used to activate the credit card and reached a live agent who adamantly insisted that he could not assist me with closing the account, using the card, or transferring me to another department or XXXX who could assist me. He repeatedly shouted over me that he can only activate the cards and hung up on me after only a few minutes. 

I called XXXX BOW bank branches- XXXX in XXXX XXXX who told me they could not assist with credit cards and to call the customer service number, even after I explained my previous efforts. I called the XXXX XXXX bank branch who swiftly transferred me to a representative who was ( finally ) able to close my account. However, she refused to provide me with any type of reference number or information regarding the call to actually confirm that my account had been closed. She refused to email or text me anything in writing showing that the account had been closed. She claimed that a confirmation letter would be mailed to my home address in XXXX business days. I asked what to do if I did not receive a letter and she told me to call the customer service number. After a few hours, I logged back into BOW and can see that there are virtually no changes to my account, meaning my credit card has not been closed. 

This seems like a deliberate scheme to give customers the run-around and make it virtually impossible to close their account. Further, since the online services are " unavailable, '' the cards themself can not be used or managed as advertised or as reasonably expected. The payment options appear to be a deliberate effort to mislead and penalize customers for missing payment requirements or providing unreasonable/undesirable payment amount options. The lack of website functionality and unreachable customer support appears to be a deliberate scheme to entrap unsuspecting customers with no recourse. BOW is a predatory company that needs to be stopped and held accountable.