Consumer complaint received 2019-11-24
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: NY
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Getting a credit card
Sub-issue: Card opened as result of identity theft or fraud

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2019, I pulled my credit report while applying for a mortgage and first learned of a fraudulent account apparently opened under my name and social security number. The account had an over {$5000.00} balance and apparently had been charged off and reported to the credit bureaus. As soon as I learned about the fraudluent account, I immediately reported the issue to the credit card company, Synchrony Bank. I advised Synchrony Bank that I never opened the account in question, never made any of the purported purchases and never received any statements of the account indicating a balance due. I requested that Synchrony Bank immediately open a fraud investigation. I also contacted each of the three major credit bureaus and reported the fraudulent account and placed a fraud hold on my credit report. Nobody from Synchrony Bank ever contacted me or requested my cooperation with the investigation, other than asking me to fill out a fraud investigation form, which I promptly and fully completed and faxed to Synchrony Bank on XX/XX/2019. I never heard from Synchrony Bank until XX/XX/2019, when they sent a letter saying they concluded their investigation and refused to approve my claim for 3 alleged reasons : 1. " customer failed to cooperate with reasonable investigation '' ; 2. " customer released account information to a third-party '' ; and 3. " customer accepts responsibility for the charges. '' Each of these 3 reasons is patently false and bogus - I fully cooperated with Synchrony Bank ( they never contacted me or requested any additional information ), never disclosed any purported account to a third party and absolutely never accepted responsibility for the fraudulent charges. I never opened this account and never made any of the alleged charges! I immediately contacted Synchrony Bank upon receipt of their XX/XX/2019 letter and demanded that they re-open their investigation and send me documentary proof, including the alleged credit card application, proof of mailing and delivery of account statements and identifying information of how/when payments were allegedly made on the purported account. Synchrony Bank is refusing to provide me any of the above documentary proof that I demanded. Synchrony Bank is also refusing to provide any proof whatsoever that I ever opened this account and made any purchases on it. They are also refusing to contact the merchants involved in the alleged credit card transactions and investigate any of the alleged purchases. Their fraud investigation is a total sham, violates due process, is absolutely fictitious and is the epitome of unfair credit-card practices. I am clearly a fraud victim here, and Synchrony Bank refuses to do any due diligence or fairly investigation my claim. As a result, my credit is adversely affected, and I am someone who would otherwise have an 800 credit score. It is also adversely affecting my ability to qualify for a home mortgage, and Synchrony Bank couldn't care less.

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