Consumer complaint received 2025-04-04 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Closing your account — Can't close your account
Company: BARCLAYS BANK DELAWARE
State: IA

Complaint narrative:
I noticed a fraudulent purchase on my account from a company called " XXXX ''. I know this was not me, because I am not a XXXX old girl. I went into their online fraud website to report it. The process was onerous and they wanted a police report, I could not provide one ( my town currently didn't have XXXX XXXX XXXX it was a whole thing- anyway... ), so just paid it. I was hit with another charge from the " XXXX '' again later. I called them this time, the representative found an additional earlier charge from them that I had not noticed, so I reported all three transactions as fraudulent, and closed my account on XX/XX/XXXX. I received a new bill from them several months later for the closed account with XXXX " XXXX '' charges and a late fee. I reported them as fraud again on XX/XX/XXXX and re-closed the account I did NOT authorize them to re-open. From XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX, I received XXXX calls from a number that is identified with a XXXX search as " Barclays '' and " Barclays Scam ''. On XX/XX/XXXX, I called Barclays 7 times to find a representative I could speak with. I will not give them the last 4 of my SSN, but am willing to provide other PII ( address, date of birth, full name, and phone number on file ), but this resulted in my being transferred to several different representatives. I was hung up on 3 times, transferred to XXXX dead lines where my calls languished ( the longest was XXXX hours and XXXX minutes ), and finally found a representative who could access my account information without the SSN ( I am no longer their customer, they may not have it, I have spoken ). That representative gave me the direct fraud line, but business hours were over. Every previous representative I have spoken to that has the necessary training to access my account sounded mystified when I asked why my account was reopened. I called the direct line XX/XX/XXXX, was transferred once before finding a representative that could access my account, he told me it's not " technically '' " open '', that Barclay 's Card believes they overpaid me on an account excess after closure. This makes little sense - I called to report fraud on the third transaction. XXXX were paid by me : XXXX because of their impossible online reporting system, and XXXX because I had simply missed it. Considering the purchase dates they have on file are XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, and I closed my account in XXXX, I believe the check the sent was for the XXXX I paid, but were actually fraud. I owe them nothing. The representative said even though it is shown as " XXXX '' on the bill, Barclays didn't re-issue the charge to the vendor, they are re-issuing it to themselves because they think they over credited a closed account, but calling it " XXXX '' rather than themselves, and just sending me bills and late fees hoping it sorts itself out. I asked why not send me a letter or an email, why just re-open my account and slap me with late fee after late fee? He said they are not authorized to email customers and all of their printed materials are standardized, so there is no way to do that. The only way I can figure out what is going on, is if I accidentally find a representative that can tell me anything. He also said that his collections department will continue calling me, because the fraud and collections department are not allowed to communicate.

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