Consumer complaint received 2023-03-13
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: LA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: Store credit card
Issue: Problem when making payments
Sub-issue: Problem during payment process

Complaint:
This complaint involves the misapplication of a payment to a Lowe's/Synchrony Bank account XXXX which resulted in the loss of a promotional interest rate ( 0 % for 24 months ) and interest charges that would not otherwise have been incurred. Below is a time line of relevant events. 

[ XX/XX/XXXX ] - Purchase refrigerator for {$2700.00} with 0 % XXXX mo. terms. 

[ XX/XX/XXXX ] - closing date for XXXX billing statement, which included {$4200.00} in new, non-promotional charges. There was no previous non-promotional balance, as those charges are paid off monthly to avoid interest. Online payment for {$4000.00} submitted. Payment due date is XX/XX/XXXX. 

[ XX/XX/XXXX ] - Online payment of {$400.00} submitted. 

[ XX/XX/XXXX ] - closing date for XXXX billing statement. Rather than credit the {$4400.00} in payments to the outstanding non-promotional balance of {$4200.00}, Synchrony applied the payment first to pay off the promotional interest-free balance of {$2100.00} ( for which the 0 % promotion didn't end until XX/XX/XXXX ) and the balance of {$2200.00} to the non-promotional/regular charges, leaving a regular account balance of {$2000.00} after charging {$45.00} in interest XXXX 24.99 % APR ). 

[ XXXX XXXX XXXX ] - contacted Synchrony/Lowe 's via phone at XXXX to advise the {$4400.00} payment was misapplied and should have paid off the regular non-promotional balance of {$4200.00} and the remaining {$110.00} should have been applied to the promotional balance. Billing representative indicated they understood what happened and would submit the necessary request to correct the misapplied payment. 

[ XX/XX/XXXX ] - closing date for XXXX statement. I had not heard from Synchrony Lowe 's indicating they had made the payment adjustment and didn't consider this unreasonable as only a week or so had passed since I contacted them. This statement includes {$440.00} in new purchases and {$49.00} in interest charges. 

[ XX/XX/XXXX ] - submit online payment for {$450.00} to pay off the new purchase balance. 

[ XX/XX/XXXX ] - closing date for XXXX statement, which includes {$57.00} in new charges and {$46.00} in interest charges. 

[ XXXX ] - initiate online chat with Synchrony Financial to advise my prior request to correct the misapplied payment has not been processed as the promotional balance hasn't been restored and interest continues to accrue on the regular non-promotional balance. The representative understood what happened and indicated he made notes to document everything. 

[ XX/XX/XXXX ] - received letter from Synchrony Financial indicating they were unable to accommodate my request because they " are only able to reallocate payments to and from deferred interest promotions. '' This doesn't make sense, as the problem with the misapplied payment involves a deferred interest promotion that was incorrectly paid off with a payment that should have been applied to the regular non-promotional balance from the XX/XX/XXXX statement. 

All regular non-promotional balances have been paid in full, and no interest should have been charged.

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