Consumer complaint received 2017-05-05
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: MT
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem when making payments
Sub-issue: Problem during payment process

Complaint:
I have recently received several written notices from Synchrony Bank about my  Sam 's Club MasterCard account. They were complaining  that they were unable to email me my statement because my email address was n't valid. I checked my email address online at th e Sam 's Club Credit  site that t Synchrony operates and my email address was correct. I called them to verify that they were using the correct address. Their records matched the correct address. The next snail-mail notice from Synchrony included the supposed email address. It was mis sing the " @ '' sign in the address. I called again to correct this. It is possible that manual handling caused the problem.  Synchrony uses a significant amount of cheap overseas lab or.     Then the next shoe dropped. I normally pay all of my bills shortly after the first of the month. For instance, on  XXXX   XXXX ,   XXXX  , I made a payment of {$100.00} on my balance. This was for the payment due date of  XXXX   XXXX ,   XXXX  . No problem.     On  XXXX   XXXX ,   XXXX  , I made a payment on account of {$120.00} for the due date of  XXXX   XXXX . It was arbitrarily, without my knowledge or understanding, applied to the  XXXX   XXXX  payment due date which had already passed and been paid. When  XXXX   XXXX  came around on the calendar I was assessed a late fee ... for the payment that I had made online at their web site o ver three weeks prior.  I did not discover this until I logged on to make my  XXXX   XXXX  payment and discovered that I was delinquent in making a payment that I had made weeks prior.     I calle d Synchrony o n  XXXX   XXXX  and discovered that my call had been routed to " Collections '' in  XXXX . After speaking with the representative, I was assured that the late charge would be credited back to my account. But the big surprise was that they insisted the entire episode was MY FAULT because I had made the payment too early for their system to deal with it. So we have a bank that penalizes a customer for paying his bill too early.     After thinking about it overnight, I became concerned about how their behavior might affect my  Credit Record,  so I called back on  XXXX   XXXX . My call to customer service was routed directly to  XXXX  and someone with a thick accent. After demanding to speak with someone in the US, I was connected to a person in Ohio who was happy to reiterate that it was all my fault for making a payment before THEIR " cycle date. '' When I asked their representative where in all of the consumer disclosures I might have access to could I find a " cycle date '' warning or notice, I was directed to my Statement. The same Statement that I opted out of receiving via snail-mail and could not receive via email because they had mangled my email address until it was invalid.     As for the credit record issue, they claim they are bound to report all negative experience to the credit bureaus ; even when they are the cause of it.     So, they applied the both of the payments, the one made in  XXXX  and the  XXXX  made in  XXXX , to the  XXXX   XXXX  due date. Why did they apply a second payment to a due date that had already been paid? That makes my  XXXX  payment late because I made  it 3 weeks early. I am now in default on the account and Synchrony tells me they can not repair this problem for 5 t o 15 days, if at all. I 'm also expecting to have a negative experience reported to the credit bureau as a result of paying my account too early. I 'm afraid to pay my  XXXX   XXXX  payment because I suspect they might apply it to the " past due ''  XXXX   XXXX  payment. Then I would have to make 2 payments in  XXXX  to " make up '' the payment that I pai d 3 w eeks before it was due in  XXXX  and had it misapplied.     Now i 'm getting collection notices via email ( they find the correct address when they need i t ) . When I try to log in to look at my account, I get account collection screens because -- - due to Synchrony incompetence -- I 'm in default. When I call " customer service  '' at Synchrony, I ' m connected to " Collections '' in  XXXX .     Synchrony Bank is an artifact of the   XXXX   XXXX   .  Slow, incompetent, and disrespectful ; indicates a strong need for a management refresh. I do n't have these problems with other banks I deal with regularly.     I hope the CFPB can help me clear this up quickly.

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