Consumer complaint received 2023-07-11
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: NE
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: Store credit card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Other problem

Complaint:
Good day. In XXXX of XXXX, my husband and I ( we, us ) gave authorization to XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX, to settle our unsecured debts on our behalf. The written agreement between us and XXXX displayed a listing of all our unsecured debts, which included an account for a PayPal credit card ending in # XXXX. My records show the amount I owed on the referenced PayPal credit card at that time was approximately {$1500.00}. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX came to an agreement with PayPal to settle the PayPal account ending in # XXXX for the amount of {$780.00}, payable in six monthly payments of {$130.00}, which were satisfied as follows : 1 XX/XX/XXXX - {$130.00} ; 2 XX/XX/XXXX - {$130.00} ; 3 XX/XX/XXXX - {$130.00} ; 4 XX/XX/XXXX - {$130.00} ; 5 XX/XX/XXXX - {$130.00} ; 6 XX/XX/XXXX - {$130.00}. 

Total - {$780.00}. 

Thus, XXXX notified me that, as of XX/XX/XXXX, the referenced PayPal account was settled in full. Enclosed please find a copy of the ACH Confirmation for the payment made in XX/XX/XXXX to settle the PayPal account ending in # XXXX, which shows an effective settlement date of XX/XX/XXXX. 

Unfortunately, without my knowledge, about one year later, a collection agency named XXXX XXXX XXXX claimed I owed {$780.00} to PayPal for a PayPal account ending in # XXXX. I never received any notification, by phone, mail, email, or by any other means, of such an account. This was a fake account, and therefore it was not included in the listing of unsecured debts on the written agreement between us and XXXX. Additionally, please note that XXXX XXXX XXXX claimed I owed {$780.00} for the PayPal account ending in # XXXX, which, suspiciously, matches exactly the amount the PayPal account ending in # XXXX was settled for. 

However, XXXX believed the PayPal account ending in # XXXX was valid and as such, on XX/XX/XXXX, without my knowledge, they came to an agreement with XXXX XXXX XXXX to settle the debt of {$780.00} for {$380.00}. On that same date, XX/XX/XXXX, a payment of {$380.00} was paid to XXXX XXXX XXXX, utilizing the funds that my husband and I had paid to utilize for the settlement of our unsecured debts. XXXX has always been fair to us and I am convinced when they settled the disputed debt, they acted in good faith, believing it was valid. 

Because we had many unsecured debts and they were handled by a variety of collection agencies and attorney firms, it was difficult to figure out who handled each one of the debts. Furthermore, I experienced difficulty sorting out the settlement records, as the majority of them only provided the name of the collection agency or attorney firm and the settlement amount, without mentioning who the original creditor was or the amount of the original debt owed. 

Also, at the time I was working extended hours and couldnt dedicate as much time as I wished to reviewing the settlement records. As a result, it took me a while to figure out which debt was which, when it was settled, etc. Eventually, I was able to sort it all out, and thats when I noticed that there was a debt listed in the settlement records i.e., the debt claimed by XXXX XXXX XXXX, that didnt match any of our unsecured debts. 

Thus, I contacted XXXX and, after a review of their records, XXXX told me the amount of {$380.00} paid to XXXX XXXX XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX was for a PayPal account ending in # XXXX allegedly owed by me. I explained to XXXX that I only had one PayPal account i.e., the PayPal account ending in # XXXX, which was settled in full in XXXX of XXXX. XXXX investigated the matter and eventually, they tried to fix the problem by sending a request for validation of debt to XXXX XXXX XXXX on my behalf, which they did, in XX/XX/XXXX. However, neither myself nor XXXX ever received any validation of debt from XXXX XXXX XXXX. Therefore, I contacted XXXX XXXX XXXX directly by sending them a letter explaining the matter. A few weeks later, I received a call from XXXX XXXX XXXX. They told me the PayPal account ending in # XXXX was a Synchrony Bank account and therefore, I must contact Synchrony Bank for any inquiries or disputes concerning that debt. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I sent a letter to Synchrony Bank providing a detailed explanation of the situation and demanding a refund of the {$380.00} paid by XXXX  on my behalf on XX/XX/XXXX, since, as explained above, the PayPal account ending in # XXXX was not a valid account. In my letter to Synchrony Bank, I requested that, if they were unwilling to refund the {$380.00} paid on XX/XX/XXXX, for the PayPal account ending in # XXXX, they must provide validation of debt for such account, as established by the FDCPA and the FCRA. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I received the attached response from Synchrony Bank. In it, they state they will not change the credit reporting for the account ending in # XXXX. However, my letter to Synchrony Bank was not a credit dispute. In fact, I didnt even mention anything about credit reporting of this account or any other accounts. As explained above, my letter to Synchrony Bank was just a request to receive either a refund of the amount paid for the inexistent account, or proper validation of debt. In their response, which appears to be a form letter, Synchrony Bank : 1 Did not address any of the concerns raised in my letter to them. 
2 Falsely state that I have indicated I believe they reported inaccurate information about my account to a credit reporting agency when, in fact, I did not mention anything about credit reporting in my letter. 
3 Do not provide validation of debt which they can not do, because it was an inexistent account. 

As Synchrony Bank has not provided an appropriate response to my complaint, I appeal to you to assist me in getting it resolved.

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