Consumer complaint received 2022-08-12
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: MI
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem when making payments
Sub-issue: Problem during payment process

Complaint:
I have a Mastercard through Sam 's Club, I received a statement that indicated my payment of XXXX would be auto debited XX/XX/XXXX. 

I received a letter from Synchrony, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX, dated XX/XX/XXXX that indicated that due to recent activity since my last billing statement, the amount of the upcoming autopayment would be {$710.00}. ( A trip we were planning was cancelled and the hotel and tickets for XXXX event were refunded. ) On XX/XX/XXXX, I spent a considerable amount of time navigating the automated phone system and finally was connected with XXXX as I needed assistance determining what transactions were applicable. She walked me through the transactions to arrive at the {$710.00} amount due. I could clearly see all transaction activity online since my last statement. 

In re-reading the letter, it states the autopay amount could change between the date of this letter and my due date based on additional activity and " I can review my activity and payments by logging into my account anytime ''. 

I don't recall this being reiterated to me - about the additional transactions being taken into consideration which added to further confusion because my understanding from my conversation with XXXX, is that I would be billed the amount on the letter. I questioned, what record would I have when the website was still showing a statement indicating XXXX is due, yet I understood XXXX explain to me the amount in the letter would be due. 

No explanation was really provided as to how I would have documentation to support how the payment was determined, that I recall. It's possible I got sidetracked during the conversation because I found it absurd that this would occur. I have had credit cards for XXXX years and have never encountered this. 

At times a credit was applied after the statement cut off and before the due date and credits were applied to the account balance - but not the additional charges. I understand decreasing the statement balance when a credit posts before the due date, but to include the additional charges, seems unethical. At the very least, this has been very confusing and time consuming and I still don't know what transactions make up the final payment amount. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, my account was debited {$1000.00}. In lieu of spending so much time with the automated phone system, I opted for the Chat option and communicated with XXXX. He indicated he reviewed the transactions and was able to arrive at the XXXX amount due. Unfortunately, the chat session was disconnected before he could explain which transactions those were. 

I logged back in to chat and was connected to XXXX again. I asked him to confirm for me that in the event a credit was made to my account that I needed to monitor the activity in my account to know which transactions would be used to arrive at my payment amount. He indicated when a return occurs, yes, I should monitor my account up to two days prior to know what the payment amount due would be. 

I am not disputing that I owe for the transactions. 

My complaint is : 1 ) not all the transactions ( that were visible when I spoke with XXXX XXXX, are visible online in my account today. Disclosure of payment information should be clear. 2 ) And as noted above, the letter states I can log in and review activity anytime. This is not an accurate statement. 

Because I couldn't view all transaction activity, I then tried to access my statement online - thinking maybe a new one was posted disclosing the actual transactions that made up the payment amount of XXXX but " Due to technical difficulties '' my statement couldn't be retrieved and please try again later was the response. 

Lastly, my autopayment is set up to pay the statement balance in full. As mentioned, I questioned this when I was talking with XXXX. To add to my confusion, the payment that was actually debited to my account is an amount different than what was disclosed on my original statement OR the letter. 

Lastly, I had sufficient funds in my checking account. I suspect not everyone who is expecting a XXXX debit and is debited for over XXXX would have sufficient funds, which could create overdraft fees.

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