Consumer complaint received 2020-03-10
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: PA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Fees or interest
Sub-issue: Charged too much interest

Complaint:
I have a Care Credit Mastercard in which I have an interest free Promotional Balance for 24 months. On occasion I also charge other interest bearing charges to the account, herein referred to as the Regular Balance. Care Credit policy, as has been explained to me many times, is that I must pay the minimum balance on the card monthly, this is the amount that will be allocated toward paying down my Promotional Balance in the allotted time frame. Once the minimum balance obligation is met, their policy, as stated to me is that any payment above or additional is then allocated to the Regular Balance. This is important to me as, in order to avoid interest fees, I pay my credit cards in full each month. Care Credit is not following the policy stated above and as provided to me by Care Credit. I believe they are fraudulently and purposely misallocating payments to charge and/or maximize interest fees. 

Example : On XX/XX/20, I paid my minimum balance of {$150.00} as required and which, at this rate monthly, will pay off my interest free Promotional balance as required with a few months to spare. In the same billing cycle, the next day, I made a payment of {$54.00} to cover additional non-promotional purchases to date. This payment was not applied to my regular balance to cut down on interest fees and per their policy, but rather to my promotional balance. I contacted care credit and, after being given a hard time, they agreed to reallocate the funds to the regular balance. Also in this same billing cycle, on XX/XX/20, I wanted to make a final payment in the cycle to pay off the full regular balance to avoid interest charges. I contacted Care Credit prior to making the additional payment and was assured that, per their policy, the payment would allocate to the regular balance. I was very adamant that I wanted to ensure this payment be allocated to the regular balance. The rep agreed to make a note on the account to ensure this would happen. I hung up with the rep and immediately made the payment of {$190.00}. Today, XX/XX/20, I contacted Care Credit and was informed by the rep that payment was not allocated to the to the regular balance and AGAIN was allocated to the promotional balance, despite my reassurance by the rep, my request to the rep, and the note on the account. I was also again given a hard time regarding reallocation, even though it is per the policy. The second correction will again take 1-2 billing  cycles to complete. Care Credit should be following their policy without me contacting them to insist that they do. 

I have other examples of the same pattern that have happened previously. Based on my experience and the example above, I believe Care Credit Mastercard is  fraudulently and purposely mis-allocating payments to charge and/or maximize interest fees.

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 non-monetary relief