Consumer complaint received 2019-08-21
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: TX
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Advertising and marketing, including promotional offers
Sub-issue: Confusing or misleading advertising about the credit card

Complaint:
I had a credit account with CareCredit since the XX/XX/XXXX. I have been making payments on time, and everything was normal. On the XX/XX/XXXX, I got a new card in the mail from CareCredit. The letter said " Activate Your New Card by XX/XX/XXXX! '' and " it replaces your current CareCredit credit card. '' I noticed that this card had an RFID chip that is becoming the industry standard to change over to. I put the letter in my to-do pile. On the XX/XX/XXXX I got to the task. I simply followed the instructions as I was told to do. I called the number, entered the pin, and destroyed my current card as this card would be replacing it. I have done this with my debit card, and two other credit cards when they sent me new RFID cards to replace my magnet strip only cards. On the XX/XX/XXXX, I received a credit alert that I had a Hard Inquiry, and my score dropped from Excellent to Good. I saw the inquiry was by Care Credit. My heart began to race and I quickly navigated to the CareCredit website and logged into my account. I saw that my original account had been closed, and that I had a new account with them. My heart now dropped. I was devastated. I thought what great mistake have I made, blaming myself. I thought myself to be a fool. I raced over to my file cabinet a retrieved the letter. That's when I noticed it was unlike other new account offer letters I had received in the past. The wordage voiced commands that prompted me to follow instruction. It was Extremely unclear that I would be closing my current account. It was Extremely unclear that this would be opening a new credit account and transferring my balance. I then realized that It was by the choice of wordage by the marketing team at CareCredit that I was led to believe this new card was simply a physical replacement for my existing card. I felt ashamed and embarrassed for falling for a trick. I had been bamboozled into closing a credit account with a {$4900.00} credit limit, only to simultaneously re-open a new credit account with a {$4900.00} credit limit with the very same company and have my balance transferred. One does not need a Bachelors Degree in Economics  to see that this is a bad deal if they are given the information as plainly as this. But the thing is, I do have a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, which is why I felt even further disheartened for falling for such a deceitful trick. I also wondered, if this marketing sham had affected me with my educational background, how many others out there are being financially harmed in the same manner? I called CareCredit, and spoke to XXXX, Manager ID XXXX, he told me that " in the hundreds of times people have called him to complain about this, he has never been able to do anything for them. '' I frantically began to research on what I could do and discovered the existence of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. I felt as if I could breathe once more. I needed to take unscheduled paid time off work the following day as a XXXX XXXX would accurately describe my evening of discovering that I had been duped.

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