Consumer complaint received 2016-07-26
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: UT
Product: Credit card
Issue: Billing disputes

Complaint:
In early XXXX, I noticed a charge that I was n't familiar with on my Sam 's Club MasterCard Account Statement from Synchrony Bank. The charge for ~ {$200.00} was made on XXXX XXXX in XXXX, FL and I live in UT. Synchrony Bank has a very archaic inquiry process which required me to complete a manual form and fax or send my inquiry in for processing. A response to my inquiry was finally sent on XXXX XXXX. The information provided by the Bank indicates that there were XXXX separate MasterCards used to pay for XXXX transaction. Each of the XXXX cards were charged the same amount and were signed by the same person. In addition to a Receipt of Charge for my account that I did not personally sign, the Bank also provided a copy of the driver 's license for what appears to be the individual who signed each of the XXXX Receipts of Charge. The letter from Synchrony Bank that accompanied this detail advised me that the transaction is valid and that the amount in question is now subject to interest charges and will be used to determine my minimum payment due. It does n't take a rocket scientist to realize that I did not sign for the transaction and that the identification provided ( driver 's license ) by the individual initiating the transaction does n't match my account. From my perspective, the transaction is clearly fraud, my card number has been compromised, and the length of time and the process required for me to identify and subsequently reach out to the Bank a second time to address the issue is clearly unacceptable. The Bank should have fraud detection processes in place to proactively identify and review charges that are potentially fraudulent. My transaction should have tripped the Bank 's fraud detection filters. The customer service reps whom I spoke to regarding the fraudulent transaction did n't give me a great deal of confidence that the matter would be handled appropriately. I 'm also concerned that the Bank provided me with a copy of another person 's driver 's license complete with name, address, date of birth, etc. ( PII ) without the individual 's permission. At this point, I 'm waiting for the charge to be deemed fraudulent, removed from my account, and to have my current card replaced with a new account number. I 'm also concerned that there are XXXX additional cardholders who received the same charge that I received on XXXX XXXX ( per support that I received from the Bank ) who potentially did n't or have n't yet identified the same fraudulent transaction in their accounts. The customer service rep initially advised me that these cardholders would need to dispute their own transactions but after additional pushing on my part said that they would attempt to alert the other cardholders of the potentially fraudulent transactions. I do n't find my experience, brought about by very poor operational and risk management processes, to be acceptable for any financial institution let alone one that is supporting such a large partner as Sam 's Club/Walmart.

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