Consumer complaint received 2018-03-05
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: CT
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with a credit reporting company's investigation into an existing problem
Sub-issue: Problem with personal statement of dispute

Complaint:
XXXX XXXX XXXX : Synchrony Financial XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, CT XXXX Account Holder : XXXX Account Number : last 4 digits : Good morning, please use this as a formal complaint regarding what we believe are unethical and deceptive billing practices to consumers and negatively impacting credit scores for their active account customers. XXXX XXXX has an established practice of creating late fees and reporting to the credit bureau agencies if payments are not received on the due date. Which is not information that is made clear to their account holders. From XX/XX/XXXX-XX/XX/XXXX, my husband has been reported to the credit bureau agencies 7 times to note what they have labeled as No payments and late payments in an effort to make money through late fees and manipulating the payment posting dates to the subsequent months to protect their unethical practice. 

After speaking to XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX ( XXXX ) ( supervisor, agent # XXXX ), I was explained today that XXXX XXXX has a 23 day grace billing period and the due date for the statement is on the XX/XX/XXXX of each month. As I am writing to you, we have not received the statement and we are well into their 23 day grace billing period, which should be the time frame that is actually provided to consumers to pay their account on time. She explained that the bank gives itself a 7-10 business day grace period to send statements out to consumers. 

Nowhere in their credit line customer information is posted that they have this practice and the negative impact this has for their account holders. Within their unethical practices, XXXX XXXX deliberately applies payments towards subsequent months with the intent of showing a no history payment and creating room for them to apply late fees to accounts. For our purposes we do all our payments through electronic payments from our XXXX XXXX account. 

When we spoke to XXXX we asked to have our call recorded and made the formal request to file a formal complaint towards this practice. When she was asked about timeframe to receive a letter addressing this concern, she estimated at least a month or more and that if we wanted updates, we will need to call them back. We are looking to rectify the reports made to the three credit bureau agencies, but more important to be a consumer advocate and report this unethical practice to account holders that genuinely want to do the right thing to build a solid credit score and challenge these big financial entities to take advantage of their cardholders to create loops and unethical practices to benefit their bottom line. We look forward to hearing from you. 

I would like to ask XXXX XXXX to remove the reports made to my credit history to all three credit bureau agencies and to readjust my credit line to what I was originally approved. 

Based on our bank records from ( electronic payment history ) XXXX XXXX, during the XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX calendar year this is how the payments have registered against our account and this is how this entity has decided to reflect payments on the account and report to the credit agencies : XX/XX/XXXX Due date XX/XX/XXXX of each month Month/Year Payment Amount Payment Sent On Payment Delivered On Posted Date/or Applied Date by XXXX XXXX Comments XX/XX/XXXX {$250.00} XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Payment cashed onXX/XX/XXXX, noted by Synchrony as NO payment Synchrony applied payment to XXXX and reported to 3 credit agencies XXXX {$250.00} XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Payment cashed onXX/XX/XXXX,  Synchrony posted payment for {$500.00} for the month of XXXX, however both payments were cashed on two separate dates XXXX Due date XX/XX/XXXX of each month Month/Year Payment Amount Payment Sent On Payment Delivered On Posted Date/ or Applied Date by XXXX XXXX Comments XXXX {$150.00} XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Payment cashed on XX/XX/XXXX according to XXXX XXXX Payment NOT labeled as late . Why is this different from previous payments? 

XXXX {$100.00} XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Payment cashed on XX/XX/XXXX- noted by Synchrony as NO payment Synchrony applied payment to XXXX. Why? 

XXXX {$190.00}XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Synchrony applied late fee, payment cashed XX/XX/XXXX Reported to credit agencies, and noted payment for {$290.00} moving XX/XX/XXXX payment to XX/XX/XXXX. Why? Reported to all 3 credit agencies XXXX {$90.00} XX/XX/XXXXXX/XX/XXXX Payment cashed XX/XX/XXXX Reported to credit agencies. Why? Reported to all 3 credit agencies XXXX {$100.00} XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Payment cashed XX/XX/XXXX Payment NOT labeled as late. Why is this different from previous payments? 

XXXX {$170.00} XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Payment cashed XX/XX/XXXX Payment NOT labeled as late. Why is this different from previous payments? 

XXXX {$170.00} XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXXPayment cashed 7/25/17 Payment NOT labeled as late. Why is this different from previous payments? 

XXXX {$100.00} XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Payment cashed XX/XX/XXXX-noted by Synchrony as NO payment Synchrony applied payment to XX/XX/XXXX. Why? Reported to all 3 credit agencies XXXX {$150.00} XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Payment cashed XX/XX/XXXX. Synchrony rolled XX/XX/XXXX and posted payment for $ XXXX Payment NOT labeled as late XX/XX/XXXX Payment Missed, sent on XX/XX/XXXX Synchrony added late fee Synchrony is correct by noting NO payment and late fee XXXX {$100.00} XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Payment cashed on XX/XX/XXXX Synchrony reported to 3 credit agencies for prior months late fees when payments were made on time for this month XXXX {$70.00} XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Payment cashed on XX/XX/XXXX,  Synchrony applied late fees Synchrony reported to 3 credit agencies when payments were made on time XX/XX/XXXX {$50.00} XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Payment cashed on XX/XX/XXXX. Reported to 3 credit agencies Synchrony reported to 3 credit agencies when payments were made on time Sincerely, XXXX & XXXX

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 monetary relief