Consumer complaint received 2016-01-25
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: NY
Product: Credit card
Issue: Identity theft / Fraud / Embezzlement

Complaint:
XX/XX/XXXX, I received a notification from Experian XXXX XXXX, saying that my XXXX score had decreased by XXXX points. Upon examining my report, I noted XXXX specific account as the cause - specifically, an entry of " 30 days late '' was made for my SYNCB/Amazon credit card account that begins " XXXX ''. 

I contacted Amazon on XXXX XXXX, XXXX, and was informed that an outstanding charge of {$42.00} existed and was overdue. I was told that this charge occurred in the state of Georgia. 

I informed the customer service representative that : ( a ) I had not charged the item on my credit report, and ( b ) I had not authorized anyone else to make that charge. Furthermore, I had never been in Georgia. The consensus between myself and the customer service rep. was that the charge ( s ) accounting for the {$42.00} were fraudulent, and my account was closed. 

Perhaps two or three weeks later, the XXXX-point deduction from my FICO score was reversed, and my credit report indicated no late payments for that account. 

Having closed that account to prevent more fraudulent purchases, SYNCB/Amazon opened a new account for me, and provided a new credit card ( which, for your reference, I have not used ). 

Today is XXXX XXXX, XXXX. About 1 week ago, I was notified by XXXX of a XXXX-point deduction from my FICO score. I checked my report immediately, and saw a " 30 days late '' entry for XXXX, XXXX on the new, open account [ the previous account, beginning with the same " XXXX '', was still closed and without any late entries ] Today, I spoke with XXXX different individuals at Amazon. After asking each person [ on XXXX different phone calls ] why this " 30 days late '' entry has reappeared after presumably being resolved [ the previous XXXX-point FICO deduction had been reversed ], I was transferred to the " Investigations '' department. I managed to listen to music on the phone for several minutes each time, but was never able to reach that department. I tried the following XXXX numbers : 1 ) ( XXXX XXXX XXXX 2 ) ( XXXX XXXX XXXX 3 ) ( XXXX XXXX XXXX The first phone number appears on the credit report. The person I spoke with at that number gave me the XXXX and XXXX numbers. XXXX of the XXXX people said that an investigation had concluded that the {$42.00} was not the result of fraudulent charges. I said that, if the {$42.00} was deemed to have not been fraudulent, then they must have concluded that I either initiated the charges myself, or that I had authorized someone else to make those charges, and I asked to see evidence that I had somehow produced those charges, either directly or through another individual. At that juncture, she tried to transfer me to the aforementioned " investigations '' department, but I hung up after approximately 10 minutes of music on the phone. 

The {$42.00} charge no longer appears on either the closed account or the newly opened one ; my current balance is {$0.00}, but this is irrelevant compared to the impact on my credit report. Unless SYNCB/Amazon can show evidence that I initiated or authorized the {$42.00} charge ( s ), **I feel that my FICO score should not be negatively impacted as is now the case. **

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation