Consumer complaint received 2015-08-03
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: AZ
Product: Credit card
Issue: Late fee

Complaint:
**Facts**1. On XX/XX/XXXX, I made a purchase of a dining room furniture from XXXX, in XXXX AZ for the amount of {$3000.00}. 

2. The purchase was made using a 12-month interest-free same-as-cash credit account ( a/c number noted above ) through GE Money Bank ( hereafter referred to as " Company '' ). 

3. According to the terms of the credit, I was to make a certain minimum monthly payment. If the entire amount of {$3000.00} was paid off by XX/XX/XXXX ( " Expiration Date '' ), no interest would be charged to the purchase amount. 

4. The furniture did not get delivered as promised. In fact, the furniture which was to be delivered within 2 weeks the original purchase date, was n't fully delivered till after XX/XX/XXXX - more than 7 months late! 

5. However, the bank was prompt in sending the statements for the furniture that I still had n't received. 

6. As I had just moved to the new house, for which this furniture was purchased, I was behind in attending to my mail and did n't make any payment when I received the initial statement, whose payment due date was around XX/XX/XXXX. 

7. When I finally caught up over the next few days, I set-up automatic payments on the Bill Pay system of my XXXX XXXX bank account for XXXX equal payments of {$250.00} ( to total {$3000.00} ) payable around the XXXX of each month, with the last ( XXXX ) payment to be made before XX/XX/XXXX expiration date to ensure there would be no interest charges on the purchase amount. 
8. The first payment was made on XX/XX/XXXX. Listed below are the payments made to this account through this bill pay mechanism : XXXX Pay Date AmountGE Money Bank XX/XX/XXXX $ XXXXGE Money Bank XX/XX/XXXX $ XXXXGE Money Bank XX/XX/XXXX $ XXXXGE Money Bank XX/XX/XXXX $ XXXXGE Money Bank XX/XX/XXXX $ XXXXGE Money Bank XX/XX/XXXX $ XXXXGE Money Bank XX/XX/XXXX $ XXXXGE Money Bank XX/XX/XXXX $ XXXXGE Money Bank XX/XX/XXXX $ XXXXGE Money Bank XX/XX/XXXX $ XXXXGE XXXX Bank XX/XX/XXXX $ XXXXGE Money Bank XX/XX/XXXX $ XXXX {$30000.00}. The Company however, kept posting each of my payments as " late '' and to the previous billing statement than the XXXX it should have applied to and kept assessing late fees and interest charges, each month. 

10. In XX/XX/XXXX statement, in addition to all these supposed " late fees '' and interest, they also added the deferred interest on my original purchase for the amount of {$730.00}, showing that I owed them {$110000.00}, despite the fact that I had paid them the entire {$3000.00} amount before the Expiration Date of XX/XX/XXXX. 

11. After my multiple calls to the Company, they removed this deferred interest and some of the late fees but still insist on me paying {$420.00} in late fees to them. 

I believe that these late fees are not justified as I made monthly payments exceeding their minimum payment each month AND paid the entire purchase amount in full before the Expiration Date of the offer. As a gesture of reasonableness, I offered to the company that I would be willing to pay the late fee ( {$35.00} ) for the very first missed payment. My offer was declined and the Company has insisted on charging me these inappropriate late fees. This has also been reported to Credit Bureaus and has negatively impacted my credit, and my ability to refinance my house. If the interest rates were to go up, as they are expected to in the next few months, I will suffer significant financial loss due to this wrong practices by the Company. This matter has been going on for over 6 months now, and I request you to resolve this urgently so I do n't suffer any more losses.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief