Consumer complaint received 2020-03-12
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: KS
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: I do not know
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt is not yours

Complaint:
Synchrony Bank has sent me two letters in the past two months ( XX/XX/20 and XX/XX/20 ) concerning an alleged PayPal account ending in XXXX that I do not have. I have never had accounts of any kind with PayPal or Synchrony Bank, and have never had any other communication of any kind from either company before concerning a credit account. 

The first letter stated " Synchrony Bank has reviewed your request to increase the credit line on your account. A credit line of {$10000.00} has been established, unless you declined the partial increase. We regret we were unable to approve the higher credit line you requested. '' The letter then lists Synchrony Bank 's XXXX if you have any questions. I blew that letter off as a clumsily worded attempt to get me to open an account. 

The XX/XX/20 letter, however, states that " after a review of the account, Synchrony Bank has decided to close your account. The reason ( s ) for our decision are listed below. The number of dishonored payments on this account. Please note that although charging privileges are suspended, you are still required to make payments on your existing account balance under the terms of your account until paid in full. '' The letter then directs questions to the same XXXX. This letter made me angry. 

I called the 844 number and finally got through to a live customer service rep., who could not find any account, or even an account application, tied to the name XXXX XXXX XXXX ( they mispelled my last name which is XXXX ) at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, KS, XXXX. She checked under both name spellings. 

She kept getting back to asking for my social security number to try and find an account, which I refused to give her, and eventually tried to transfer me to PayPal 's customer service, which I knew was just an attempt to get rid of me. I pointed out to her that the fine print at the bottom of each letter states : " Account is owned by SYNCHRONY BANK ''. She couldn't answer why SYNCHRONY 'S data base couldn't find an account under the name yet could also have no trouble generating such letters to me. 

This is either a case of identity theft with a bogus Social Security number, or a new twist on the XXXX XXXX scam of opening accounts in customers names without their knowledge. But in this case, they could be trying to use fear of identity theft to trick customers into giving them a Social Security number to finish opening an account in their name and then offering some kind of free credits on SYNCHRONY for the inconvenience this has caused the caller. 

It should be illegal for any credit line to be opened in anyone 's name without a confirming letter sent to the address of the consumer to validate they are in fact the one 's who opened the account. And if this is just a scaremongering marketing ploy to deceive consumers into opening accounts, that should be illegal too.

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