Consumer complaint received 2019-04-20
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:
On Friday, XX/XX/2019, when I signed into my PayPal account I found they demanded that I pay {$180.00} into the account since I was overdrawn. 

There was no indication why this was the case. I have both a PayPal Mastercard where I have available credit of {$86.00} and a PayPal line of credit where I have available credit of {$47.00}. 

Thus, it is not obvious why I should owe money to PayPal. 

I called and spoke to XXXX who told me that the reason for the overdraw is that PayPal made a payment to XXXX XXXX for material shipped in XXXX and the total for the two ( 2 ) charges was {$180.00}. 

I objected since I always pay for XXXX XXXX merchandise thru PayPal Credit where there is no full payment due for 6 months if the charge is over {$99.00}. In this case the order was over {$180.00} and should have been programmed to be paid over 6 months. 

When I placed the order ( probably in XX/XX/2019 ) the policy of XXXX XXXX, is not to bill until shipment. At that time, I had plenty of credit with PayPal Credit. I assumed that since I placed the order, PayPal would list this as a pending charge and deduct this from my available credit. 

Apparently PayPal did not deduct this from my available credit even tho the order went thru. The material was received in early XXXX and PayPal apparently paid XXXX XXXX, in full, tho that is not shown anywhere on the record of the website. I learned this from XXXX. 

PayPal apparently tried to draw the funds from the bank account associated with my PayPal account but since it had no funds, they got no money. 

I tried to settle this with PayPal and after I spoke to XXXX, he transferred to XXXX with whom I spoke and explained the above. She told me that since I disputed the transaction, she would transfer me to someone else. After waiting for 4 minutes, I was cut off. PayPal knew my phone number since both XXXX and XXXX asked me to give it to them. PayPal never returned the call despite knowing my number. I think PayPal wants to duck the issue, hence this complaint. 

I think PayPal engages routinely in fraudulent transactions and tries to milk money illegally from its clients. I did not intend to pay for the full {$180.00} order but rather over 6 months. That is why I use PayPal credit. 

When PayPal tells me I have available credit, I rely on them to make transactions. For them to suddenly turn around and tell me that I owe them money without any explanation is fraud. 

The best solution is to add the {$180.00} to my balance at PayPal Credit. I will pay this off over time using the 6 month grace period as is the policy. 

I have always paid my bills with PayPal and as noted I have available credit in both my PayPal Credit and PayPal Mastercard accounts. 

If PayPal had a problem with the {$180.00} charge, they should have let me know and I would have used another credit source. 

PayPal plays fast and loose with money and accounting. They also have poor customer service as noted above.

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