Consumer complaint received 2021-01-05
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: MI
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Personal line of credit
Issue: Problem when making payments

Complaint:
On or about XX/XX/XXXX, I applied for a line of credit over the phone from Care Credit. I was approved for {$10000.00}. I was told to print out the terms and conditions for my phone application prior to applying, which I did. I read the terms and conditions. I then made a purchase on XX/XX/XXXX for {$7000.00}. The purchase was made using the 0 % interest-free program where no interest is charged if paid off within 6 months ( per the program offered by my provider, with whom I made the {$7000.00} payment ).

Approximately ten days later, I received a billing statement for the first payment due on XX/XX/XXXX for {$1100.00}. I was shocked to receive a bill so soon after making this large payment. I did not expect to receive a bill this soon. I figured I would receive a bill approximately 30 days after making my first payment. That was a large bill for me to pay so soon after making this large payment. I immediately called Customer Service and was told their entire portfolio/all customers have the same billing cycle - all billing cycles end on the " 3rd or 4th '' of each month. I asked where is this disclosed to me, and I was told on page three of my terms and conditions of the credit application. I did not find this information there. The representative then said she would mail me some information explaining this. I then inquired about a due date change. The representative told me if I requested a due date change prior to XX/XX/XXXX, they could process that for me free of charge, and the latest I could push out my XX/XX/XXXX due date would be XX/XX/XXXX ( but they could not change the XX/XX/XXXX payment date ). The representative also informed me upon doing a due date change, the 6 month promotional period would extend along with it. 

I then paid the full {$1100.00} on XX/XX/XXXX. 

I received the letter from the representative on XX/XX/XXXX which stated Care Credit could not find a copy of my credit application on file. It did not state anything about their billing cycle end date. On XX/XX/XXXX, I called Customer Service again, and the representative could not have cared less about my situation. I repeated myself several times. In the 36 minutes I was on the call, the representative must have apologized 17 times, however did not show any empathy or genuine concern for my problem. She explained to me that after I apply for the line of credit and am approved, the " system '' automatically generates a billing cycle end date. In my case, it is the 4th of the month. Upon requesting a due date change, I had to ask 4 or 5 times to push out my XX/XX/XXXX due date as far out as possible. She provided different dates each time I asked. She finally processed it and my next due date is XX/XX/XXXX. I then expressed my dissatisfaction with two issues : 1 ) I was provided two pieces of misinformation by the first representative, and 2 ) I didn't even get a 30 day billing cycle on my account. I specifically asked the representative what she could do for me, given my extremely poor experience as a brand new customer. She used the bare minimum amount of words to say " there is nothing we can do. I apologize. '' It is an unfair business practice that I could not make an educated decision and hold off on my {$7000.00} purchase on XX/XX/XXXX, and instead pay it on XX/XX/XXXX or later, so that I instead could have had my first payment due on XX/XX/XXXX. I specifically asked the second representative, if there was any way I could have known about my billing cycle end date? She said no. That is my complaint - as a consumer, I did not have the option or resources to know and understand the " first '' billing cycle was not 30 days.

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