Consumer complaint received 2016-04-04
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: FL
Product: Credit card
Issue: Billing disputes

Complaint:
Synchrony Financial ( formerly GE I believe ) offered me credit when I was in XXXX buying a Computer. I decided sure, why not, just do a monthly payment plan vs. lump sum. I am a well educated consumer and XXXX, so I do not engage in using credit unless I know what the heck I 'm doing and certainly would not agree to pay 29.99 % interest. In this case, I used the offered credit and paid monthly on auto-pay thinking I 'd have it paid off by end of term when interest kicked in. I manage a lot of accounts on auto pay setting everything up in such a way that I know what interest I am paying to service what credit. At any rate, since all my accounts are on auto pay, this account clicked over a 'deferred interest charge ' of {$980.00} and last month I could not figure out how my balance was {$1700.00} on this card having increased not decreased after paying for 12-18 months??? So looking into it found out the term was up on XXXX 2016 but that I did not get any visible notice on this in email or an alert to any effect other than the same email I always get on all my cards. I would have had to log in to see their RED LETTERs saying deadline looming= {$1000.00} penalty if balance is n't paid now. Of course if I was aware of this I would have paid it!! This is a very deceptive practice because consumers who are XXXX would NEVER understand these terms and with me, I am even financial services trained and MISSED the fine print on this one. I immediately paid my principal balance in full leaving only the injust interest charge on the account with 29.99 % interest tacked into it. I called Synchrony to sort out the issue indicating I would be willing to pay some interest in exchange for the credit but not this huge amount -- which in essence made the cost of my apple computer purchase XXXX!! What consumer in their right mind would agree to that?? The practice of " deferred interest '' as was practiced here was that the cumulative amount on principle owed was exponentially applied. I agree that banks need to make dollars thru extending credit, but not in such a way that missing a deadline becomes a {$1000.00} mistake!!! I called and escalated this up to manager level and I was told I signed a contract and no negotiation was possible, and in other words, pay the interest or we will ruin your credit record! That is what this amounts to. There is no dispute or concession option, no negotiating, no customer support other than, pay up or we will mark you as a defaulter and we are covered legally. No matter the " signed paperwork '' ... these partnerships with appliance and large dollar item electronic stores etc. and Care Credit for that matter is a horrible system ... as I said, I would never have agreed to do such a thing with cumulative interest coming due in a lump sum. I paid my full balance in good faith immediately upon seeing this, and the company refused to give any concessions. This company counts on consumers not paying off their balance so they can make the interest. Yes, they attack with 0 % until ... but most of these offers with my credit card company do n't cumulative-defer the interest ... interest on current balance only kicks in once the 0 % term is up. All credit practices should the STANDARDIZED so what people are used to managing do n't require they study contracts because they can all be different!! It is as if the consumer has to become a financial services professional or hire one in order to conduct business. How do I reduce the amount I need to pay for a {$1000.00} mistake? Best Regards, XXXX

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 monetary relief