Consumer complaint received 2020-12-03
Company: Synovus Bank
State: CA
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:
Incomplete application unable to cancel with the company Over the last weekend of XXXX I made an attempt to see if I could qualify for one of their secured credit cards. They claim that your credit will not be hit with a hard hit. What they fail to tell you is that there is an additional application fee of $ XXXX {$50.00} just to see if you qualify prior to being able to submit the app! They don't say it's refundable if you don't qualify! I went through the entire online app process only to get to the end to be told " ok now pay us to process your app ''! No where on their web site as they lied about is this disclosed. Their site also shows no phone number to call if you have questions or issues. I had to do a massive search just to find a number to call. I declined to finalize the app because I was not giving them my credit card info, refused to pay a fee to get an approval with them, felt like it was a total bait & switch for which they claim it's not just like they " claim '' it's on their web site. I'd like them to tell me where it is & did ask the rep to tell me where it was. The rep was unable to do that. I received an email from some person calling herself XXXX XXXX a Customer Advocate that also has no phone number to call. I responded telling her to cancel the app & was very explicit as to why. No response, a day or so later I got yet another generic email from the same fake person! That's when I decided to try to find a number to call. The 2 reps who answered seemed confused by my call. They had no idea how to handle it. I told both I wanted an app canceled that I'd never completed & wanted the emails to stop. The 2nd rep claimed she would get my concerns to the right dept. & that they had no way to send me a confirmation that the app was canceled. I don't buy that but definitely call this the sloppiest customer service I've ever seen. Why in the world would I want to subject myself to this?! Wow! Total incompetence. The worst is not having a phone number to call with questions/concerns. Who does that? No legitimate company I'm aware of. Yet this company is touted by all of the credit bureaus as a top notch place to get a secured card from. I couldn't disagree more. The credit bureaus themselves are completely inept, why should anyone trust their opinion? They can't even keep info on your reports accurate nor dispute them problems properly. I warned the last rep I spoke to that if I got any more communication from them other than a confirmation that this was canceled I would file complaints with the XX/XX/XXXX, CFPB, FTC & the Comptroller of the Currency. Today they sent me a text message from a XXXX number for which I never gave them permission to text me now or ever, that says " Your First Progress app is almost complete! Return to make your security deposit and receive your card. https : XXXX ''. This company seems fraudulent. If they're not then they sure seem very anxious to get my money. I'm not comfortable doing business with companies that are the poorly managed & their only incentive is to get people 's money but provide the worst customer service ever. Like I said any company that doesn't put a phone number on their web site nor properly disclose all fees & charges upfront definitely has something to hide & integrity is not part of their game. Fully explains the number of complaints filed & the lack of a good rating. If they were so great per the credit bureaus then why is the rating so low, in addition the number of complaints filed including the one I'm filing with you? Why?

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation