Consumer complaint received 2020-05-29
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: MD
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: Store credit card
Issue: Closing your account
Sub-issue: Company closed your account

Complaint:
Dear CFPB, I was diagnosed with XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. I immediately contacted Synchrony Bank to inform them that it is a possibility that I may fall behind on my bills until I could get my FMLA and XXXX insurance funds. I was unsure of when I would get funds so I did not request a payment plan. I have always paid my bills on time. I did not want to make false commitments I accepted whatever interest payments would be added onto my forthcoming bills. Payments were missed for XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. For the record my bills are due on the XXXX of each month. On XX/XX/XXXX, I called Synchrony bank to make a payment as my XX/XX/XXXX bill stated I owed {$690.00}. I paid {$700.00} to get my account up to date. Moving forward I began to pay my bill on time. 
In XX/XX/XXXX I noticed that a charge of {$180.00} each month has been taken from my account since XX/XX/XXXX. This means they withdrew three extra payments of {$180.00} in addition to the {$700.00} I had already paid and I was making my monthly payment as well. This alarmed me tremendously. I immediately called Synchrony Bank. I was told that there was no information on my account at that time and I had to call back. I called back the next day to see if they have updated their system to see if we can discuss these unauthorized payments that have been coming out of my account. I was then informed that I had agreed to a payment plan. This was not true. I couldnt have possibly made a payment plan, as previously mentioned I did not even know when my insurance funds would be dispersed. And with COVID 19 happening I was unsure of my work situation. Furthermore, I was making my monthly payments during the months that they were withdrawing the unauthorized funds. If I made a payment arrangement then why would I pay additional monies to satisfy my monthly bills? If a payment arrangement was made then why did they not send the monthly bills that reflected the bill due of {$180.00}? After my conversation with Synchrony Bank I then contacted my bank, XXXX XXXX, to explain the situation. XXXX XXXX   agreed that this situation was egregious. On XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX concluded their investigation and put a stop payment for Synchrony Bank and returned all unauthorized payments to my account. Additionally, Synchrony Bank also acknowledged their error and they removed the three {$180.00} debts from my file. 
During the month of XX/XX/XXXX, I decided to make additional payments so that I could pay my bill up much sooner to try to avoid additional fees that would be occurred by the deferred promotional interest. I made a payment of {$150.00} and {$130.00}. I realized that I had not canceled the stop payment and immediately called Synchrony Bank to correct that mistake. Synchrony Bank notified me that those payments were returned. I then made a payment of {$260.00} with the representative and that payment was successful. 
Finally, after enduring so much adversity in dealing with this situation, I received a notice from Synchrony Bank stating that they have decided to close my account due to dishonored payments on my account. This would mean that my account is going to be charged off. All of this started because they started taking out unauthorized payments and did not want to discuss when I called. I am suffering from XXXX, trying to avoid Covid during my recovery. This is has been very distressing. This has and will continue to tarnish my credit history. This will potentially limit my purchasing power and may cause grave financial hardships. I have had exceptional payment history with all my accounts up until this point. I am requesting CFPB to investigate further into the following incidents : Unauthorized withdrawals from my personal bank account, and The unfair closing of my credit file P.S. I am waiting for my bank to mail me additional statements when I get them I will also upload into system. ( Synchrony Bank/ Care Credit ) is the financial institution this complaint is about. 
I greatly appreciate any assistance you may provide in these matters.

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