Consumer complaint received 2021-06-04
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: TX
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt was paid

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I received a letter from XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX stating they had purchased debt owed by me to Synchrony Bank Wal-Mart. According to their records the debt was purchased on XX/XX/XXXX. I did not immediately respond believing the account had been settled. On XX/XX/XXXX I spoke with a XXXX XXXX and stated I believed this was a mistake and disputed it verbally. She advised me to log into the collection account and dispute the validity of the debt and I did as instructed. I received a follow up call from a XXXX XXXX (? ) and I informed her I had filed a dispute with them online. She told me she would update my file and I have not been contacted by phone since. In XXXX of XXXX I received a letter telling me my dispute had been rejected and I owed on the account. 

I then contacted XXXX XXXX XXXX who had handled my debt resolution between the dates of XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX. I was provided a copy of a cancelled check as proof of payment which I then provided to XXXX and disputed the debt again.Once again my dispute was rejected. Aggravated, I chose to do nothing further until after the holidays.Due to a series of life and health event, I did not start to address this issue again until XXXX of XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I again disputed the account and provided a copy of a settlement agreement provided by XXXX and a copy of funds dispersement ledger. I did not provide a second copy of the cancelled check since they were already provided XXXX. XXXX XXXX I received a letter informing me, yet again, my dispute had once again been rejected. I was provided a copy of a letter that was supposedly from Synchrony Bank validating the debt. I question the validity of this letter for several reasons. First, it is absent of any form of letter head that anyone would expect from financial institution the size of Synchrony Bank.Two, how or why would they provide a letter of validity with an incorrect account number? How were they able to verify anything without making the correction to the incorrect account number XXXX provided? Finally, the page layout, font and QR codes in the upper corners of the document give me reason to question its validity.

I have also filed disputes with the 3 credit bureaus in XXXX of XXXX and again in XX/XX/XXXX. They have done nothing other than update the information provided to them from XXXX. 

All that being said, there is a simple explanation to the problem but XXXX nor the credit bureaus have done their due diligence. As a matter of public record, Wal-Mart parted ways with Synchrony Bank and was replaced by XXXX XXXX. XXXX  XXXX then acquired Wal-Marts existing credit cards receivables portfolio which included current and delinquent accounts. When XXXX negotiated my Wal-Mart settlement, funds were dispersed to XXXX XXXX at the agreed upon dollar amount and deposited/cleared on XX/XX/XXXX. Synchrony sold this account on XX/XX/XXXX, nine days after it was settled with XXXX XXXX. I can not owe both.I am stuck in the middle.

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