Consumer complaint received 2015-08-17
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: MA
Product: Credit card
Issue: Payoff process

Complaint:
I recently opened a credit account with Care Credit at a veterinary hospital. I currently have a {$400.00} balance that must be paid off by XXXX in order to avoid an exorbitant interest rate, plus another {$2400.00} balance that I have more time to pay off. 
At the time I opened the account, I was told that all transactions would be at a promotional interest rate that would last two years. When I made the {$400.00} transaction, I was told that that transaction would be subject to a different, incredibly high, interest rate I had not been told anything about, which would expire in XX/XX/XXXX. I asked, repeatedly, whether I could apply 100 % of my payments to the {$400.00} balance so it would be paid off first. I made it clear, repeatedly, that I was not willing to open the make the transaction unless I could do this. I had multiple conversations in person with representatives in which I was repeatedly assured that yes, I could do that ; all I had to do was call. 
I called last night and again today to speak to customer service and was told that the sales representatives had given me false information in convincing me to open the account and make those charges and that Care Credit had no intention of doing anything to rectify this. Not only could the phone representatives not apply my payment the way I was promised they would, but Care Credit 's entire system was set up in such a way that that would never have been possible. It was not explained to me how or why the representatives at the veterinary hospital received the impression that Care Credit 's system could do something that ( I am now told ) it is entirely incapable of doing. I was told repeatedly that there is no one in the entire organization who can apply my payment as I was promised. ( I have also been told that there is no one who can send confirmation emails or even write information down with a pen and paper and send me a written confirmation, so I take this with a grain of salt. ) In my efforts to resolve this, I 've been repeatedly hung up on ; transferred to collections when I asked for a customer service supervisor ; told I ca n't be transferred back out but must hang up and start all over ; given the phone number to a line that simply recites advertisements and never provides any service ; and generally deliberately stonewalled to a degree that is, frankly, jaw-dropping, especially in a company that has already been caught and punished once for this predatory, deceptive practice. 
I know that Care Credit / Synchrony has already been issued orders by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ( Consent Order XXXX-CFPB-XXXX ) with regard to exactly this problem : customers being given false information at the healthcare provider 's office regarding interest rates and payment terms, in violation of federal law. In that instance, I believe Care Credit blamed the offices ' personnel for providing incorrect information, just as it is doing now in my case. The company was ordered to provide sufficient training to representatives to prevent this from happening again, but it clearly is still happening. 
At this point I plan to do everything I can simply to pay off the entire {$2800.00} balance before any interest increases occur ( though frankly I do n't know how I 'll manage that ) or try to reach some other resolution directly with the veterinary hospital. But this company has a history of deceiving consumers at a very vulnerable time, and clearly the last {$XXXX} XXXX order against them was not enough to teach them to stop. I would very much like an investigation by the CFPB to ensure that they do n't take advantage of any other consumers in the way that they took advantage of me ( and apparently more than {$XXXX} XXXX worth of other consumers ). If you can recover any damages from them for whatever costs I incur trying to pay back this {$2800.00}, obviously that would be ideal.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation