Consumer complaint received 2019-04-09
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: IL
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Fees or interest
Sub-issue: Charged too much interest

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX XXXX CST, I made a call to Synchrony Bank to ensure I didnt miss my promotional deadlines and to pay off the entire balance. According to my phones call log, the call lasted 14 minutes. I distinctly remember talking to a friendly man with a southern accent who was supposed to process a payment so I would avoid any interest charges. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I noticed I was still getting auto payments debited from my banking account. Confused as I had already paid off my balance, I called the company and was told that I never paid off the balance and that the last call I made to Synchrony was in XX/XX/XXXX. The 2 representatives I spoke to were extremely curt and unprofessional. They said there was no record of that call I made in XX/XX/XXXX, even though there is a record of it on my call log and every call is recorded and monitored, according to the robo-greeting which starts every call. I gave them the time and date of the call, but they said there was nothing to investigate as there was allegedly no record of it on their end. It should also be noted that it usually takes at least 6 tries for me to log into the Synchrony website, even though my phone autofills my password every time I log in and I never change it. Furthermore, many of my monthly statements were never sent. 

Ive already paid off the entire original transaction amounts, but Synchrony expects me to pay over {$5600.00} in interest, even though it was THEIR mistake for not processing the payment in the first place. My XXXX  and XXXX credit scores average to be over 800 as of XX/XX/XXXX, so I am very financially responsible and am not one to fall behind on payments. It is not right that I should be penalized ( and to such an egregious extent ) due to their own mistake of not processing the payment I requested on XX/XX/XXXX. 

Numerous complaints about Synchrony show up online about their unethical practices. Many have commented that they would give Synchrony Bank zero or negative stars if they were able to. Consistent to my own experiences, they complained of unprocessed payments, online glitches ( inability to login ), missing statements, incompetent/unprofessional customer service representatives, and receiving egregious late fees/interest charges in spite of making timely payments. 

I had my attorney issue a dispute letter On XX/XX/XXXX, which Synchrony ignored. On XX/XX/XXXX, I had another letter issued by my attorney, and this time Synchrony responded stating that they could not speak to them as I did not provide written authorization that they could represent me. On XX/XX/XXXX, I called the representative who sent the letter who told me a lot of inconsistent information, alleging I made on XX/XX/XXXX was for a different Synchrony account but later said the representative had explained all the promotional balances to me across all my accounts. She said that she could not share the recording of the call unless Synchrony was subpoenaed the courts, which is suspicious as it would seem they would be HAPPY to share the recording if it backs their case. She conceded that I called to avoid interest charges but could not explain why no notes were written about the account that I currently have issue with. ( I recorded the call. ) She said she would review the XX/XX/XXXX again and call me the next day, but I never heard back from her. 

There is substantial evidence to show that Synchrony is guilty of many unscrupulous practices. Ive made attempts to pay off my balance in a timely fashion, but due to their error they expect me to pay an exorbitant interest charge amounting to over {$5600.00}. I have now paid off the entire cost of the products Ive purchased, and I firmly believe the interest charges should be dropped as it was their own error that caused the outstanding balance.

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