COMENITY BANK

[Anonymous]

Anybody considering a credit card financed with Comenity Bank, I suggest you think twice.  My experience has resulted in closing all credit cards issued by Comenity Scham Bank.  They steal your money, waiting to pounce to hit you with accured interest because of their creative accounting practices.  Be prepared to make a monthly call to Comenity Scham Bank to allocate where your payments should go or basically nothing will go towards your promotional offer.  Understand you need to take the amount of the promtional financing and divide it by the amount of months you have to pay off the purchase amount.  Comentiy made an error or my account which has created a domino affect on my account. To compound the problem, when supplying the documentation it goes to the dispute center but you have to call the customer care center discuss the issue but they can't access the documention submitted to the dispute center.   I continue to make payment but in the interum I'm turning my monthly statements to my CPA to supply a certified audit on the account and will blow the whistle on what they've done to me.    Run away from Comenity Bank if you don't want to be scammed!   

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Understand you need to take the amount of the promtional financing and divide it by the amount of months you have to pay off the purchase amount.

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Well yeah, how else would one do it?

Me thinks there is more to this story than what is being given. Comenity's liklihood of closing accounts if you have a bunch of them is well known but also very avoidable. Personally I've not yet had a problem with Comenity Bank.

[MyDataMyChoice]

Why account(s) do you have with them?

Comenity Capital Bank or Comenity Bank?

Store Card or Visa/MC?

What was the terms of the promotional offer?   24 Months Equal Pay Payments 0 interest?  OR did you have say a 12 months no interest IF PAID IN FULL within 6 months.    

I see people get confused on Deffered interest offers

Say you charge $1000 to a Pottery Barn Card and get 12 months no interest if paid in full within 12 months 

*They will have a minimum of say $25/mo   but that wont pay it off.... if you don't pay it off by 12 months interest is accrued from DAY 1 and added to your balance.   This is clearly stated on the statements

Now if you are still using your card for Non promo purchased

or Multiple 'offers' that is when it would get tricky..

Best way is to make the MINIMUM Payment and then 

All Payments are Applied to revolving balances first (non-promo). 
Certain banks will allow you to change this method ...(Lowes (sync) is one that comes to mind)  ...but it is stated how payments are applied in the terms and conditons on the card.

Lowes lets you choose... They allow minimum payment goes towards revolving balance (one that is currently getting interest first)... and anything else goes towards oldest balance (the promotional offer)....

You should have seen on your next statement it wasn't applied as you wanted it to be and called up asking it to be applied differently.

[Anonymous]

I also recommend not using the card for regular purchases on top of the promotional financing.  Besides the interest rate being 36% how the funds are applied are not necessarily to your advantage, but to the advantage of Comenity.  I wouuld expect nothing less from any bank.

CPAs are not cheap when conducting an official Audited review of anything.  I would take that money and pay off my promotional account and cut my losses.  Chalk it up to experience...not every creditor is going to be a match for every borrower.  This is why you'll find "YMMV" (your mileage may vary) and "YEMV" (your experience may vary) allover this site.

Sorry for your frustration.

[CountryLivin]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Anybody considering a credit card financed with Comenity Bank, I suggest you think twice.  My experience has resulted in closing all credit cards issued by Comenity Scham Bank.  They steal your money, waiting to pounce to hit you with accured interest because of their creative accounting practices.  Be prepared to make a monthly call to Comenity Scham Bank to allocate where your payments should go or basically nothing will go towards your promotional offer.      Run away from Comenity Bank if you don't want to be scammed!   

I have been dealing with Comenity for almost 5 years, and I guarantee you that Comenity is not going to scam you! I know there is more to this story than meets the eye! They have high interest and yes, they don't really want you to pay off a promotional balance, cause it's to their favor not yours! They are a business afterall, and are in this to make money.

You actually need to take some of the blame.....I have had 18 cards with Comenity....I have closed a few, but most of mine are 4 years old and get a lot of usage......and I can honestly say that I have never had a problem with any of my Comenity cards. The only problems I ever had, were my fault!

[K-in-Boston]

Welcome to the forums.  Comenity's handling of promotional balances is no different than other lenders.  They make it quite clear how payments are applied and when promotional balances expire, at which point retroactive interest will be applied to any promotional offers that were not paid in full by the end of the promotional period.  Payment allocation is fully compliant with The CARD Act which requires that any payment amount above the minimum payment first be applied to higher interest balances, such as new purchases.  I've only had to call Comenity once, and that was just to add an AU to a card prior to that being available on that card's website.

[Anonymous]

Well good for you.  I beg to differ.  They handle promotional financing very differently and when did you last see 2 debits for the same item post in 2 different months relative to accrued interst with no explantion?  What company specifically requires the customer to contact them via telephone to instruct them how to post your payment?  I am 60 years old and manage in excess of 60K of personal credit and have never experienced this level of creative accounting.  AND I DO ACCOUNTING FOR A LIVING!   Perhaps I've been dealing with more reputable financial instutions.  Comentity doesn't offer auto pay, or a link to specify how much to allocate to promotional financing.  That speaks volumes.   It wasn't until they hit me with accrued finance charges did I learn this.  I purchased something for $900 paid $1500 in payments during that time period and got hit with accrued interest.  I WAS SET UP TO FAIL BECAUSE OF THEIR SHADY ACCOUNTING PRACTICES.  Couple that with charging my account for a purchase then issue credit only for a clitch in their system to post it back to my account.  Just to make sure I'm not misunderstanding what my eyes are showing me I'm having a CPA audit and certify my account before taking further action.  Check out how Macy's handles promotional financing or any other retail store that's NOT using Comenity.  Amazon allows you to click a link on (apply all payments to promotional purchase first)  This is the ethical way to run a business opposed to "WE GOT YA" mentality.  I have multiple cards and this is the only Scham of a bank I have encountered.  Well I am less 13 accounts as of yesterday.  I feel more secure in my financial life by ditching the Comenity.  Wake up.

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@K-in-Boston wrote:

Welcome to the forums.  Comenity's handling of promotional balances is no different than other lenders.  They make it quite clear how payments are applied and when promotional balances expire, at which point retroactive interest will be applied to any promotional offers that were not paid in full by the end of the promotional period.  Payment allocation is fully compliant with The CARD Act which requires that any payment amount above the minimum payment first be applied to higher interest balances, such as new purchases.  I've only had to call Comenity once, and that was just to add an AU to a card prior to that being available on that card's website.

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[Anonymous]

Comenity didn't close my accounts.  I closed them.  

[Anonymous]

I wish I had that personality.  Nothing I have done has negatively affected my credit.  Just becuase I have many open accounts doesn't mean they have a balance.  Comenity Bank has stolen $469 of my money and unjustly charged me interest.  Their error costs me in excess of $700.  I just can't walk away.  This error was my first transaction with Wayfair.  I want my money back and them to admit their error.  All that is necessary for triumph of evil is for a good man to do nothing.  Abraham Lincoln

[Anonymous]

Wow 36% ... not on my accounts or should I say my previous Comenity accounts.  No way!