Consumer complaint received 2019-08-20
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: AR
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Unauthorized transactions or other transaction problem

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I made a purchase on XXXX  using my PayPal credit account.  They were having an "XXXX XXXX" promotion for purchases over $600 on XXXX.  My purchase was for $XXXX, including headsets for $XXXX and an extended warranty for $XXXX.  Each payment for 24 months should be $XXXX per month.My next payment, which would have been the first billing cycle for this promotion, was nearly all allocated to the 24 XXXX XXXX promotion instead of the monthly payment of $XXXX, ignoring deferred interest balances due in XX/XX/XXXX.  So, they paid off the $XXXX, and left a balance of $XXXX on the XXXX XXXX balance, completely ignoring the deferred interest balances.  My entire $XXXX payment was put towards something not due until XX/XX/XXXX, but nothing towards balances due in XX/XX/XXXX.  I thought it was simply a mistake, so I called on XX/XX/XXXX, and spoke with XXXX - confirmation #XXXX.  She was very helpful, and reallocated my payment correctly, leaving a balance on my XXXX XXXX of $XXXX.  I agreed to leave the $XXXX payoff alone, even though it was not due until XX/XX/XXXX.  I also had a PayPal balance of $XXXX that I wanted to transfer to the credit account, and wanted to make sure it was allocated completely to the top deferred balances. XXXX assured me this was done, and I would be able to see it on my next statement.On XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email from Paypal saying that they had allocated the entire $XXXX   to my 24 XXXX XXXX balance AGAIN, leaving a balance on that promotion of $XXXXI called again, and spoke with XXXX, who SAID she reallocated the payment from the 24 XXXX XXXX promotion to the balances due in XX/XX/XXXX.  She then told me that I would have to call EVERY month when I make a payment to make sure they don't allocate the payment to the 24 XXXX XXXX balance first?!  So, I am supposed to call every month for the next 22 months to make sure my payments are not totally going towards a promotion that is called 24 XXXX XXXX for the express purpose of making a large purchase and breaking it down into low monthly payments.  The payment should be the same every month, thus the "24 XXXX XXXX".  I asked to speak with her supervisor, XXXX, who refused to come to the phone.  XXXX   again repeated that it was my responsibility to call every month to tell them where to allocate my payment.I feel that this is an effort by PayPal Credit to ripoff customers by pre-paying promotional balances not due, and ignoring deferred interest balances, so that they can collect interest on those balances.  If I make a large payment to cover deferred interest balances and that money goes towards a promotion that is not due until XX/XX/XXXX, then I will have to make another large payment to cover promotional balances that I thought were being paid down to avoid interest charges.  If a customer was not paying close attention each month, and not calling, they would be charged accrued interest on balances that should have been paid first.I have spent more than 2 hours on the phone with both XXXX and XXXX on two occasions to correct this problem, only to be told on XX/XX/XXXX that it is the system, and cannot be fixed.I have attached the XXXX XXXXtatement when the 24 XXXX XXXX promo started, the XXXX statement after they allocated the entire payment to that promo, and a screenshot of my account balances today, showing that the remaining balance on my promo is $XXXX, when it should be $XXXX, and you can also see that many of the XX/XX/XXXX balances have not been paid.

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