Consumer complaint received 2017-05-18
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: MI
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: Store credit card
Issue: Advertising and marketing, including promotional offers
Sub-issue: Confusing or misleading advertising about the credit card

Complaint:
In  XXXX  I received an offer to upgrade  my Walmart Card to a Walmart Master Card from Sychrony bank. I called and spoke with them about the offer. They initially   told me that it would replace my current card and nothing except the account number and ability to use it would change. Upon further investigation I discovered that this was not true, that instead it would be a brand new account with a new starting date. I called the automated system and opted out of getting the card and I called them directly and told them I did not want the card. They did not opt me out and instead sent me the card. I have also since then asked them to stop sending me emails to activate the card. I have also spoken with an individual at their corporate headquarters at the phone number given of  XXXX  ext.  XXXX .  XXXX   XXXX  assisted me and said she would get back with me and that I would stop receiving emails. I am still receiving emails and when I attempted to contact her today the phone number no longer works.     I think the practice they are doing is misleading. They call it an upgrade when it actually replaces the account with brand new information reporting to the credit bureau. This is not clearly stated in their communication and thus does not allow a consumer to make a qualified judgement on accepting the offer. An upgrade to this product should have no negative affects for choosing it and if there are then it should be clearly written in the offer itself. If it is hidden in the fine print I have yet to be able to find it. In a matter such as this consumers need protection from the company if they are not making this information clearly identifiable and easy to find. A new account will affect an individuals average age of account and consumers do not need to be tricked into taking something that will have an adverse affect on their credit bureau report. There is nothing preventing Synchrony from simply doing the right thing and making it clear or simply actually upgrading the account and allowing the consumer to retain the history with the credit bureau they have already established.     In speaking with Synchrony about this at their normal customer service phone number for the account I have been given wrong, contradictory information, misleading information and information meant to deceive people from making a qualified decision. They have told me that if it reports wrong then I need to contact the credit bureau to take care of the issue, which can not be done since the information is not technically wrong at the credit bureau and the credit issuer themselves would actually need to do such a thing. They have told me that it would replace the information at the credit bureau, when indeed it does not, it creates a new account and closes the old account. The information reported is current as of the day of being offered the account or acceptance of the new account. They have told me that only the account number would change with the credit bureau, which is not true since a new account opening date would be reported and the other account reported as closed.

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 explanation