Consumer complaint received 2021-11-04
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: OR
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: Card was charged for something you did not purchase with the card

Complaint:
Hello CFPB, Yesterday I reached out to you regarding Care Credit imposing a 70 % interest on my outstanding balance. My outstanding balance was {$2200.00} as of XX/XX/XXXX, but got charged an interest of {$1500.00} because no one at Care Credit or the provider 's office explained to me anything regarding their " promotional period '' purchase or how " accrued interest '' works. I was simply told I had a 0 % interest. Until yesterday I discovered a large sum of interest being charged to my account without my knowledge. 

After discovering this, unable to fix the issue with Care Credit, being treated unfairly by Care Credit, filing a complaint with CFPB, I decided to quickly pay off everything I can to raise my credit score and be done with Care Credit as soon as possible. Yesterday on XXXX, I made a payment of {$5000.00} towards my outstanding balance, and today on XXXX, I made another payment of {$1500.00} towards my outstanding balance. 

I received an email saying my payments were processed, however, Care Credit 's outstanding balance did not reflect my total {$6500.00} payment, so I chatted with a customer service agent to address this issue. During the conversation, the agent said she just released a payment of {$680.00} to my account. However, I never made any payment of {$680.00}! Prior to this {$5000.00} and {$1500.00} payment, I set up my account in auto-pay to withdraw {$500.00} from my account every month. I was never aware of any payment of {$680.00}, I never authorized Care Credit to withdraw an amount of {$680.00} from my checking account linked to the credit card! 

I panicked and asked what is this {$680.00} because I have XXXX knowledge about this payment, and I did not give consent for Care Credit to withdraw {$680.00} from my bank account. I felt very unsafe about storing my bank account information with Care Credit, because yesterday I just discovered that they charged me an insane amount of interest of {$1500.00}, today I learned that they can take money out of my bank account without my knowledge or consent! Care Credit agent did not explain what the {$680.00} was for or how she came up with that number. Please see attached a full chatting history between me and the agent. 

The agent was unable to explain the unauthorized {$680.00} payment she was clearing from my account and told me to call their customer service number. I called the customer service number multiple times, no one ever picked up the phone. When I demanded the live chatting agent to explain what the {$680.00} was, she disconnected the chat. 

This left me no choice but to file another complaint with your organization against Care Credit. What I have experienced with this company is beyond disappointing. It was a terrible, horrifying experience. I felt scared for my financial information stored at this credit card company, and I'm losing faith in the financial system in general. I believe banks have a responsibility to safeguard people 's assets. On the contrary, Care Credit and their inadequate customer service dismissed customers ' questions, took customers ' money without their knowledge and consent, impose hidden fees and interests, do not fully disclose how their promotion works, and took advantage of customers who don't fully understand financial terms. 

I looked up online and saw this article regarding CFPB 's investigation with Care Credit ( please see article pasted below ). I really hope/ beg you, please pass my information, experience and feedbacks to the highest level of management at Care Credit. I truly believe CFPB is my only hope to get my money back from Care Credit. I also truly believe that CFPB is the only voice we citizens have against these banks that take advantage of people. I really appreciate your help and everything you do for us. 

-- -- - According to the CFPB order, since XX/XX/2009, consumers who signed up for the credit card frequently received an inadequate explanation of the terms. Many consumers, most of whom were enrolled while waiting for health-care treatment, incurred substantial debt because they did not understand how they could have avoided deferred interest, penalties, and fees. The CFPB began investigating CareCredit after receiving hundreds of complaints from consumers. During the course of its investigation, the Bureau found evidence of : Deceptive enrollment processes : The CFPB found that service providers misled some consumers during the enrollment process by not providing adequate guidance clearly laying out the terms of the deferred-interest loan. CareCredits limited involvement during the enrollment process and lack of oversight and monitoring allowed this deception to continue. 
Inadequate disclosures : Many consumers did not receive copies of the actual CareCredit agreements and instead had to rely only on the oral explanations given by the service provider or office staff. Many consumers were enrolled on the belief that it was an interest-free card, and did not understand that they were actually agreeing to a deferred-interest product with a 26.99 percent interest rate. 
Poorly trained staff : Many staff members in the health-care offices, who were responsible for explaining the CareCredit agreement to borrowers, had received little or no training by CareCredit, and relied only on pamphlets. In interviews with CFPB investigators, some providers admitted that they were themselves confused by the deferred-interest card.

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