Consumer complaint received 2022-11-22
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: IL
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: CD (Certificate of Deposit)
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits or withdrawals

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2022, both XXXX ( my wife ) and I called Synchrony Bank to request that our CDs be closed and the funds wired to another bank. On XX/XX/XXXX, the funds were still not wired, so we both sent a secure message regarding our concerns ( which I have attached. The first concern was the reason we were closing the account and the second concern was asking why the wires were not completed ). We both received the same form response that did not address our concerns at all. So, we called Synchrony to express our concerns, and were told that our concerns would be relayed to management. When we did not hear anything back from management by XX/XX/XXXX, we submitted a complaint to the Federal Reserve Consumer Help. We receive a letter stating that we need to submit the complaint to you, which is as follows. 
My wife XXXX XXXX ) and I opened XXXX bump up CDs with Synchrony. We have had bump up CDs at other institutions in the past. However, we still clicked on Learn More before opening the CDs. We printed a 6-page document ( which I have attached ). With all of our previous bump up CDs, we were able to bump up the CD to the new rate for that term. For example, if we opened a XXXX bump up CD, we were able to bump up that CD to the XXXX CD rate. However, this is NOT how the bump up CD works with Synchrony. With Synchrony, you bump up the CD to the XXXX bump up CD rate ( which is much lower than the XXXX CD rate ), NOT the XXXX CD rate. If Synchrony is going to use a term with a different meaning than the industry standard, Synchrony should openly disclose this. It was NOT disclosed in the 6-page learn more document. 
When we opened the CDs, we tried to read all the documents. However, we timed out of the application when trying to do this. So, we printed the documents to read later. Buried in the middle of a 16-page documents that is only available during the application process, Synchrony does state you bump up the CD to the bump up CD rate. However, as I mentioned, you can not read this document during the application process without timing out. Since Synchrony is using this term ( bump up CD ) with a different meaning than the industry standard definition, it should have openly disclosed this in the 6- page Learn More document that you can read BEFORE opening the CD, and NOT bury it in a document you can only read AFTER opening the CD.

When one opens a bump up CD, one accepts a lower initial rate of return in exchange for the option to bump it up to a higher rate. One is NOT penalized twice ( accepting a lower rate of return when the CD is open AND a second time when you bump it up by having to again accept a lower rate of return instead of the prevailing rate for that term ). 
Feeling deceived, we tried to wire the funds out of Synchrony. However, as I mentioned above, Synchrony refused to wire the funds, claiming that the bank where we are trying to wire the funds would not verified that our names are on our accounts. Synchrony has previously wired funds to the identical account we are requesting that the funds be wired. Why was Synchrony able to wire the funds earlier this year, but not able to wire them for this requested?

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