Consumer complaint received 2024-10-15
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems — Other problem
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL (TN)

The first issue is I checked my XXXX statement and noticed a " Protected Balance '' of {$370.00} and accrued interest being charged. I asked an agent to tell me what a Protected Balance is, and they said it was for general use charges which was the first red flag for me. I only use Paypal to make purchases of $ XXXX using their promotional financing of no interest in 6 months and ALWAYS pay at the 6 month mark. I was concerned about potential fraud or use of my account. 

I looked on the site to find statements to track down where these charge ( s ) came from. I could only find statements as far back as XX/XX/year>. I first asked via chat if the agent could tell me that dates, to which they declined and said I could get that info from Paypal. However, I went to Paypal and could not find anything. I then tried to use the Secure Message area of the site to request statements. I could not send any secure messages and kept getting errors and " Please try again '' messages. I messaged an agent who gave me an email XXXX and emailed the below message on XX/XX/year> with an included screenshot of the error : " Hello, I'm experiencing a technical issue on my PC using Secure Messages. The browser is XXXX XXXX. I'm unable to send them at all and receive an error that looks like this : *screenshot inserted* I also have noticed a concern on my statement. I have a " Protected Balance '' of {$370.00} that has been accumulating interest. However, I only authorized purchases that are over {$99.00} and pay them off within the 6 month period to avoid deferred interest. When I tried to determine where this amount came from, the representative was unable to tell me any dates. I tried to access statements to check, but they only go back to XX/XX/year>. 

I looked through my Paypal account history and can not locate any corresponding charges. I have concerns that this is a result of fraudulent use of my account. I need to see statements and preferably a full breakdown of charges XXXX, XXXX XXXX '' Synchrony did not respond to this email and it has been XXXX business days already. 

2 days later, somehow I was finally able send XXXX secure message : " I need to know where the protected balance on my account came from. I suspect fraud and can not access statements before XX/XX/year> '' They responded : " Hello XXXX, Thank you for your recent inquiry regarding your PayPal Credit account. We appreciate your message and the opportunity to be of service to you today. 



We would be happy to assist with your inquiry but need more specific information. Please respond to this message with additional detail regarding your specific inquiry. 

Thank you for contacting us and allowing us to address your concerns. If you have any questions or if we may be of further assistance in the future, please contact us via the Online Message Center or at the toll-free number listed below. We value the opportunity to assist you and appreciate your feedback. 



Sincerely, XXXX XXXX. 



Customer Service XXXX Account is owned by Synchrony Bank '' I tried multiple times to answer this and keep getting errors. I then reached out asking to speak to a manager to resolve my issue on XX/XX/year>. The manager only provided a tech support phone number and said they could not address the original issue of this potentially being fraudulent and the accompanying accrued interest. They kept copy and pasting the same response over and over- " I apologize for the difficulty '' and used an emoji face which isn't professional when it comes to a banking interaction that could be fraud and potentially affect my credit score. I felt like it was potentially an AI bot and not a person. I also noted that while usually a transcript download is available at the end of the chat, this time the option was not presented. Fortunately I took screenshots of the interaction that I can furnish upon request. 

The XXXX issue is their site displayed a message that the auto pay was set up and would next be deducted on XX/XX/year>. Because of this, I made a manual payment towards my balance. However, on XX/XX/year>, the auto pay DID come out of my account, resulting in a double payment. I reached out immediately to an agent while the payment was still showing as pending on Synchrony 's site. The agent said there was nothing they could do and to contact my bank. I contacted my bank who was able to issue a stop payment. I then noticed Synchrony issued a {$30.00} canceled check fee. The agent had not mentioned that would happen when telling me to contact my bank. And from my perspective, it was Synchrony 's error for displaying that the auto pay would not be proceed until XXXX. 

I'm noticing a pattern on Synchrony 's site to withhold information and hide behind tech issues in order to charge fees and interest.