Consumer complaint received 2020-12-12
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: TX
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: Store credit card
Issue: Improper use of your report
Sub-issue: Reporting company used your report improperly

Complaint:
I flooded in Hurricane Harvey without flood insurance. I lost everything. I replaced mattresses for my family by setting up an account offering interest free financing for 60 months with Mattress Firm. This account is serviced by Synchrony Bank. I have been paying on this account since XX/XX/XXXX. I have never made a late payment on this or any other account with them or any other credit company for a very long time. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, without realizing it, I paid my account before the statement cycle ended. ( I also have a Care Credit Account serviced by Synchrony that I paid the same day, as I always pay both accounts at the same time - when I pay one account, I pay the other. ) Without me realizing it, Synchrony applied what I intended to be my XXXX payment on the Mattress Firm account as a second payment in XXXX instead of applying it to XXXX. They did not call me. They did not send me a late notice. They just applied the payment as a second payment in one cycle. 

I subscribe to credit monitoring and I received an alert that based upon activity on my credit file my credit score was lowered by 24 points. Further description indicated Synchrony Bank substantially lowered my credit limit on the Mattress Firm account. 

I contacted Synchrony Bank about XX/XX/XXXX. The first person I spoke to I believe was XXXX and she researched the issue, resolved the mistake, refunded the late fee and explained that I needed to wait for the billing cycle to end before making another payment in the future. I asked that my credit limit be restored because I very strongly felt that I had not earned the lowering of my credit limit as I have always made my payments on time from the inception of the loan until current day. She transferred me to a Manager who was exceedingly rude. She basically told me that my credit limit was lowered because I had bad credit. This is a complete lie. The only accounts that I have balances on are those with Synchrony Bank and I have never been late on any payment to them on either account and I told her that. She told me that it was other accounts reflected on my credit report. I explained to her that it is not possible that this is true because I have no late payments on any other accounts - all other accounts are paid off. I asserted the claim that the reason they lowered my credit limit was because they felt I was late on the XXXX payment and I was not - she acknowledged she knew that and saw that issue had been resolved, late fee refunded, she could see that but maintained that I had bad credit on other accounts. I asked to speak to her manager and she informed me that no manager was available, she input a message to call me and told me that it would be 30 days for me to hear from someone. I told her that was unbelievable and ridiculous. 

Subsequent to this, I received a letter in the mail from them dated XX/XX/XXXX and every single reason they provide on the letter as to why they lowered my credit limit is a lie. " The Current Ratio of Balance to Credit Limit is Too High On This Account '' It wasn't before they lowered my limit which they did without merit. " This Account is Currently Past Due '' If anyone had looked at the pay history they would have seen a payment made on time every single month from inception of this loan to current date. Again, there was no phone call, no email, no late notice, no effort made to alert me that they perceived there was an issue. " The Percent Of The Last 12 Months Where The Payment Was Greater Than Or Equal To Statement Balance Is Too Low '' I made the required payment on this account every single month. This statement is ridiculous. I am not required to payoff the statement balance on an account that offers me the privilege of interest free financing. This is made up nonsense. " The Ratio Of Payments To Amount Due On This Account Over The Last 3 Months Is Too Low '' Again, the payment I have made every single month is the required payment. These comments are absolutely unfounded and untrue. They are generic - they do not apply to me or my account. 

I made it very clear to this creditor that I would accept their decision if I had earned it but I have not earned what they have done and what they have done damaged me by the lowering of my credit score. While a creditor may have the right to lower a credit limit, I very strongly believe that they should be held to a standard of truth telling when providing a reason why they took such an action. I also feel that they should have notified me by some method of communication that they perceived an issue on the account because if they had, I would have immediately explained and resolved it. They afforded me no such opportunity. They were the rudest people me or my wife have ever had the misfortune to speak to. They were condescending, they made statements that were absolute lies ( telling me that I had other credit accounts with issues - all of my other accounts are paid off ), they were defensive and they would not listen. They possessed absolutely no customer service skills whatsoever. The last woman that called told us that they could lower the credit limit for any reason they wanted to. We replied that may be true but they should be required to tell the truth about why they did it and not send a letter with a bunch of made up nonsense that does not apply to me. 

While the CFPB may not be able to do anything about the quality ( or the lack thereof XXXX of the personnel hired by Synchrony Bank or their customer service protocols, I am hoping that you will do something about the lack of any notices to me of any perceived issue on my account, and the fact that every reason they listed in the letter they sent to me is a lie. I am asking you to hold them accountable for the lies they told and how those lies damaged me. Thank you for your time.

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