Consumer complaint received 2020-03-04
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: GA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: Store credit card
Issue: Getting a credit card
Sub-issue: Card opened as result of identity theft or fraud

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2020, I made a purchase at XXXX, specifically the store located at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, GA XXXX. During checkout, a store employee told me that I could receive 10 % off my purchase if I had a store rewards card. I asked if she was referring to a member card used only for discounts, and she confirmed that to be the case. During the signup process, I asked several more clarifying questions to be certain that I was only signing up for a free store loyalty card that had no function other than to provide discounts. Specifically, I asked the following questions : Is it free? ( She stated that it was XXXX Is it a store loyalty card, similar to a XXXX card? ( She stated that it was ) I also again asked if it was used only for discounts ; she stated that it was. 

At no point did she mention that it was a credit card, that it would affect my credit, or anything else that would indicate that I was signing up for anything other than a store loyalty card that is not used in transactions except to provide discounts. Once I provided my signature, she used the word MasterCard for the first time. I immediately stopped what I was doing and asked her if it was a credit card. She confirmed that it was indeed a credit card. I pointed out that she had not informed me of this fact prior to that point, that I did not want a credit card, and that I wanted her to cancel the process. I was told that it was too late to cancel the process, as she had already submitted my information, that she could not do anything to stop a card from being issued in my name, and that I would need to finish the process in order to check out and leave the store with my purchased items. I expressed that I felt deceived and told her that I did not want to use the 10 % discount that I had been offered. 

Upon leaving the store, I immediately called the credit card issuer ( Synchronicity/TJX ), explained what had happened, and told them to cancel the card. Less than 10 minutes after checking out, the card had been cancelled, and I was informed that the issuer would be submitting a request to the credit bureaus to dismiss the hard inquiry on my credit report. I was told that I would receive a mailed letter within 30 days informing me of how that request had been resolved. 

30 days elapsed last week. I gave them an additional week in case the letter had been mailed out right before the deadline. Having still not received a letter after the additional week had elapsed, I called the issuer. I was told that my letter had been sent to the wrong address. I was also told that they considered me to have provided my information willingly, and therefore they would not submit a request to dismiss the hard inquiry. 

I believe that the intentional deception and fraud in which the employee engaged violated my consent, and thus I did not provide my information willingly. The employee purposefully concealed information from me and did not honestly answer my questions when I attempted to confirm that I was not signing up for a credit card, and as such it was not possible for me to provide informed consent. As soon as that deception had been revealed, I attempted to stop the process while still inside the store. As soon as possible after that, I contacted the issuer to stop the process and undo anything that had already been done. 

As the issuer has now refused to submit the request to dismiss the hard inquiry, I am now filing a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Following the conclusion of the CFPB process, my next step will be to contact the Federal Trade Commission to inquire about filing a complaint with them. If the hard inquiry has still not been dismissed once those complaint processes have both run their courses, I will use the documentation to file a police report. Once that report has been filed, I will then use the complaint documentation and the police report to file a dispute with the credit bureau. 

I am not seeking monetary compensation or any other sort of recompense. I do not wish to file a police report and will only do so if it necessary to get this inquiry removed from my credit report. I do not know the name of the employee, and a name is not listed on my receipts, but I can provide a description of her appearance, and I would be able to positively identify her if I saw her again. All I want is for this fraud-based hard inquiry to be removed from my credit report. Ideally, I would also like the store and issuer to keep these events in mind when dealing with other deceived/defrauded customers and to change their practices to eliminate potential deception and fraud ; those remedies may be outside the scope of the CFPB, the FTC, the police, and the credit bureaus.

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