Consumer complaint received 2015-03-26
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: TX
Product: Credit card
Issue: Payoff process

Complaint:
I was n't informed of a 7-10 business day hold on credit restoration when a payment of XXXX or more is made to my credit card. On XX/XX/XXXX I went to a tire company for new tires in the amount of XXXX. I handed the sales representative my CarCare One card which is managed by Synchrony Bank and my card was declined. The sales representative asked permission to contact the card company to verify the card was still active. He contacted the company and was told my available balance was XXXX. I was stunned because the balance was paid in full XX/XX/XXXX which means I would have a XXXX line of credit. I called my husband and asked him to go online and check the account to verify it was paid in full and it was. Because the repair was more than the available credit I had to pay out of pocket. On XX/XX/XXXX I contacted Synchrony with the number the tire company provided me at XXXX and spoke with a rep by the name of XXXX to inquire about my line of credit considering the card was paid in full. He informed me my available credit was XXXX and that they do show the payment I made on XXXX and I have a current balance due of XXXX. I asked him why was my entire line of XXXX available, he told me there is a 7-10 business hold on payments XXXX or more for security reasons. I told him I know they received the payment because they received it within 48 hours of me making it online and if it was going to be returned it would have been returned already. I then asked where in my statements or even on their website does it notify me the customer/consumer there will be a hold on my line of credit because I made a XXXX or more credit. He told me to hold for a 1 or 2 minutes and then the phone hung up. I called back again but at the number on my statement XXXX and spoke to another gentlemen ( XXXX I think ). I told him I just spoke to a guy named XXXX about the issue regarding my line of credit and told him the issue. He said the same thing about the 7-10 business day hold on payments of XXXX or more and it was for security purposes. I told him I did n't care about the security reason, I 'm calling to inquire about the lack of notification regarding the hold on my line of credit. He kept telling me for security reasons it will take 7-10 business days and if I wait to Friday I can use the full credit amount. I told him, he was n't listening to my question, my question was not about security but about notification and why was I not notified as the customer/consumer about this hold. He told me the 7-10 business day thing again and I told him I know he was reading from a script and I do n't care about the script but the fact I did n't know about the hold and I had to come out of pocket for something I did n't want to come out of pocket for and they inconvenienced me by not notifying me of the hold. I told him I need to speak to someone higher up and he said he can transfer me to his supervisor but they are going to tell me the exact same thing, I told him I know he was and that 's why I am going to go a different route. I filed a complaint with the XXXX and the case number is XXXX. The company stated the notification was in my terms and conditions disclosure. I have reviewed the disclosure and still find there is lack of disclosure pertaining credit availability. Synchrony states they " may '' delay making credit available but still does not inform the consumer the " may '' could result in a 7-10 day business day hold. Also, there is nothing in the disclosure that states additional steps must be taken for me to " restore '' my available credit " prior to the normal time frame. '' This statement by Synchrony is absurd considering I was not made aware of the " normal time frame. '' It is these type of inconsistencies that leave the consumer vulnerable to these cloaked and deceptive practices.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation