Consumer complaint received 2019-05-03
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: MA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement

Complaint:
I am a customer of PayPal, PayPal MasterCard, and PayPal Credit. Both of these credit lines are thru Synchrony Bank. I have relied on the available credit indicated online to determine which, if any, line of credit I will use. I have many other cards with rewards benefits so that the determination of which to use depends on what PayPal Credit or PayPal MasterCard may offer in the way of inducements. I do not use any of the other features of PayPal, that is, I am not a vendor and do not receive or send money. I use PayPal as a glorified credit card. On XX/XX/XXXX. I placed an order with XXXX XXXX XXXX in the amount of {$180.00}. Since PayPal Credit has an option of no payment for six months if the borrowed amount is over {$99.00}, I elected to use PayPal Credit.  The online up to date status of my PayPal Credit line showed that I could make this purchase. Since XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX does not bill until shipment, I assumed that PayPal Credit would allocate this {$180.00} to XXXX XXXX XXXX and keep it sequestered so that it would no longer be available for other purchases. If PayPal Credit is going to list available credit and if this is to be meaningful, it should represent what the true available credit actually it. That should be obvious, but not the way that PayPal Credit, PayPal, and Synchrony Bank do business. That is the basis of my accusation that they defrauded me. Simply stated, I placed this order in XX/XX/XXXX in good faith with PayPal Credit. I planned to pay it off over 6 months AFTER IT WAS SHIPPED AND RECEIVED. Instead, in late XXXX I opened my online PayPal statement and found a demand that I pay {$180.00} to correct a negative balance. There was no indication of why I had a negative balance. I called PayPal Credit and after being sent to two people I was cut off. I filed a complaint about this with the CFPB listed as XXXX-XXXX. I received a response by US mail today, Friday, XX/XX/XXXX, which did not address the fraud but rather gave me a lecture about how PayPal Credit and PayPal are separate and that PayPal is  simply a payment allocator. The letter basically did not address my issue so I restate it here and direct this complaint to PayPal, PayPal Credit, and Synchrony Bank. The problem is that I was given MISLEADING INFORMATION REGARDING MY CREDIT LINE. If I had realized that I was over my PayPal Credit limit, I would have used another credit card where I could get 5 % back or similar perk. The major perk with PayPal Credit is going 6 mos without having to pay the full balance. For PayPal, PayPal Credit, and Synchrony Bank to approve the transaction in XX/XX/XXXX and then complain that there were not enough funds is disingenuous. PayPal, PayPal Credit, and Synchrony Bank knew of the request from XXXX XXXX XXXX for {$180.00}. I did not cancel the order. Both XXXX XXXX and I had an expectation of honest service from PayPal, PayPal Credit, and Synchrony Bank to do this transaction. It is reckless for PayPal Credit, PayPal, and Synchrony Bank to approve a transaction and then ignore the demand until later and then insist that I am overdrawn. That is bait and switch - a common form of fraud. If I had wanted to pay for the order from my checking account, I would have sent XXXX XXXX a check. Rather, I planned to use a credit card for the rewards or take 6 months to pay. I did not expect to have my checking account commandeered. Fortunately, I had no balance in that account since I have heard many bad stories about the fast and loose way that PayPal and Synchrony Bank do business. This is such an example - boom your checking account is debited for {$180.00} with no explanation! Indeed, one day I am in good standing and the next day there is a demand with no explanation for {$180.00}. This is fraud. Notably, there was no indication online what the problem was. There was no line item justifying the payment of {$180.00}. Just all of sudden there is a demand that I pay {$180.00}. This is real arrogance on the part of PayPal Credit, PayPal, and Synchrony Bank.

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