Consumer complaint received 2020-07-11
Product: Debt collection — Credit card debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed — Debt was paid
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL (ME)

I use bill pay through XXXX  XXXX XXXX to pay my creditors. The card Im having issues with is XXXX   through Synchrony Bank. 
Bill pay is setup to automatically make payments of XXXX XXXX  monthly On the XXXX of each month. On XX/XX/2020 a payment was made to this account. On XX/XX/XXXX I got a notice of this payment being late. I immediately checked my bank account and it showed the {$40.00} had been paid. I called Synchrony and they said give a few days it might be processing slowly due to the pandemic. 
I checked back with them on XX/XX/XXXX because it still wasnt showing that it was credited. They told me to wait a couple of business days. 
XX/XX/XXXX it hadnt been credited so I called again. The person that day said they never received it. I told them they did they asked for the confirmation number on that transaction so I gave them the confirmation number. They said it should take a couple days before its credited. Nope! I call again and they said the confirmation doesnt prove anything. I call XXXX  XXXX XXXX we do 3 way call and whatever Synchrony asked for from XXXX XXXX XXXX they gave them. After a week and half of this back and forth some agent found the money credited to another account. The agent told me that once it transfers from that account to the XXXX XXXX be all set. Nope! I called several more times over the next week and half and they all said to wait for it to transfer theres no need to keep calling. Week 3, I made a call to find somebody willing to manually make the transfer and he asked me why the others had not done it? It took him a while but he did it while I was on the phone. He told me it should show up in the next few days as a credit. It did!! I decided at that point that I would pay off this card so I dont have to go through this again. I scheduled a final payment for XX/XX/XXXX in the amount of {$100.00}, the balance was {$100.00}. On XX/XX/XXXX the final payment hadnt been credited so I checked my bank account and saw the {$100.00} had been taken out on the XXXX of XXXX. So, I call Synchrony and they said give a couple business days and check back. I check my XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX and it still hasnt shown up. So, I call and they are now saying they didnt get it. I told them they did because it was taken out of my checking account. I asked them if they credited it to another account and they said they wouldnt do that. HUH! I told her that they did with my XX/XX/XXXX payment. So she told me that she would do some checking and Id hear back in 3-5 business days. I told her that by that time itll look like my payment will be late, on XX/XX/XXXX, and Ill be charged a late fee. She said that they will credit the late fees once the payment was credited. XX/XX/XXXX, I call and they are still saying they havent received it. I call XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX and we do a 3-way call. The two representatives, one from my bank and the other at Synchrony, discuss this situation and the agent from Synchrony tells my bank that all they need is information showing the confirmation number, my account number the amount and date on XXXX XXXX   XXXX letterhead. My bank agent faxed the document while we were all still on the phone. Synchrony then told myself and my bank rep that it should be taken care of in 3-5 days. Nope! I called back on the XXXX of XXXX to find, they are not able to accept something on letterhead it doesnt prove the payment was made. I told her, that is what Synchrony bank asked for. She stated, Im not sure who you spoke with but we need something showing your name, your account number and the actual transaction, such as your bank statement. I call my bank to inform them of what is needed but my bank can not send my bank statement because they have no access to it. I print it and tried to fax it but their fax line was busy for 2 hours so I made a copy and mailed it to the address given to me by that agent. By this time Im getting, almost daily, late payment reminders. I call them to let them know that its been paid. The agent said she could see all the calls I made and removed the late charges and interest and would wait for my bank statement to show up so my account could be credited. On XX/XX/XXXX, I call again because now Im getting texts and emails of a late payment. The agent from Synchrony said its automated and there isnt anything she can do about it until my account is current. She told me not to call regarding those automated emails and texts. XX/XX/XXXX, I get an email that tells me they can not accept my request and to contact my bank and request a compete transmittal report be sent. I called Synchrony bank, same day, and asked what that meant? She said that my bank statement doesnt prove the money didnt go back into my account but they can see where it was taken out. She told me that they need the transmittal report. I asked what thats going to do to resolve this situation? She said it will follow the money that was sent. She said this will take care of my account. I call my bank, same day, to let them know that Synchrony is asking for a transmittal report. The bank faxed the transmittal report. Same day, XX/XX/XXXX, I receive another email letting me know they were pleased to inform me that my request was approved and a provisional payment was made to my account in the amount of {$100.00} based on the information provided. If their research shows the payment is invalid, they will reverse the credit. XX/XX/XXXX, Synchrony sends me another email letting me know that they had not received valid documentation so the previous credit will now be reapplied as debt. 
I called them immediately to see why the information was not sufficient? The agent said they didnt get it. I told the agent it had been faxed and a credit applied to my account. Why would you do that if you didnt get the report!? I asked the agent for her fax number. I informed her that as of the next day it would still show my account delinquent and a payment due which will include more late fees and interest. She apologized and agreed that I would be assessed late fees that can removed once my account is current. 
I called my bank yet again to inform them of this incompetence and re-faxed it to the number they had for Synchrony and then to the number Synchrony gave me. 
XX/XX/XXXX, I get an email from XXXX stating there had been a change on my account. I opened it to look to see that this disaster is now showing up on my credit report. It has dropped my credit score from the 800s to the 700s. I immediately call Synchrony and get someone who could see ALL the phone calls, the temporary credit and all the reports and couldnt understand why this hadnt been fixed. She put me through to a supervisor, XXXX, who told me they have the transmittal report and once its processed, within 30 days, Ill be all set. I told XXXX that its outrageous that it has taken so long and that I have to wait another 30 days. She blamed me for calling so many times because every time I call it creates a different report. I told XXXX that this account has been open for 30 months and the first 28 payments, all made the same way, got to you just fine but payment 29 and now payment 30 is a  problem!?!? She blamed the pandemic. I let her know that another agent I spoke with in XXXX told me the missing payment has nothing to do with the pandemic. I told her that every time I call I get someone different and nobody can agree with what is needed. XXXX  gave me her name and extension so I can contact her directly with any future calls. 
XX/XX/XXXX, I call Synchrony bank, because it has now been 30 days since the transmittal report had been faxed a second time. I asked what is going on with this never-ending issue? After 48 minutes the agent tells me that the transmittal report is not sufficient because it doesnt show if the money came back into my account? I reminded him that the transmittal report follows the money and itll show you, it never came back to me. He said it went back to my bank. XXXX XXXX, I called my bank and let them know they needed to do something because it has been over 2 months and this isnt any closer to being resolved. I told my bank what Synchrony bank said, that the money came back to my bank. I asked my bank what the transmittal report shows and they said, the money never came back to my bank. My bank called Synchrony to see what else they needed and I ended up transferred to another department. She apologized and asked if she could help. I told her the story and she put me on hold to read the reports and then transferred me to a supervisor. I didnt get to a supervisor I ended up with their credit card department. This person then transferred me to bill pay department and the agent couldnt help me with everything that I shared but she could update my phone number. I told her my phone number is up to date. She said that somewhere deep into their system its showing a couple old numbers. So, she updated the numbers and filed a complaint. So, an hour and 20 minutes later, my phone number was the only thing fixed. 
XX/XX/XXXX, I called my bank again and insisted they fix this! My account is insured. You pay them so this nightmare ends, and you figure out where the money went. The agent called Synchrony to do another 3-way conversation and XXXX, their agent, could see everything that has taken place and couldnt understand why it hasnt been fixed? She read the reports and reminded me that my last call, XXXX XXXX, to them asked me for one or two more bank statements. I reminded XXXX the transmittal report is all you need because it follows the money. I told her that this will never end even if I send one or two more statements. Those statements will not be enough either. XXXX then transferred us to a supervisor, XXXX. XXXX would not approve of my bank recording the conversation so my bank had to hang up. Before my bank hung up, she told myself and XXXX they would fax everything they have over again. 
Then there was just XXXX and myself. XXXX could not see any communication after XX/XX/XXXX and could only give me information that I already knew. XXXX told me that the information that was sent, transmittal report, was invalid. I asked her to clarify what invalid meant? She couldnt, so I enlightened her of the history of this missing payment and that Im now at just over 16 hours of phone calls, 3 hours  of driving to my office to fax, copy and print documents to send to them, and she can not explain what invalid means. Supervisors should know more than the agent and this call was a waist of time because my bank wanted to discuss what else was needed. She explained that my bank didnt have to hang up that she was just saying she didnt want to be recorded. I asked her to transfer me to XXXX, a previous supervisor I spoke with on XX/XX/XXXX who could see the transmittal report and gave her the extension number and she said, she couldnt do that because they arent set up to do that. People are working from home and all around the world. It doesnt work like that. 
I hung up filed a report with XXXX  and now with you. 
Interestingly enough, I have other Synchrony accounts and all those are fine and theyre getting payments on time with no missing payments, its just this XXXX  account. Now my balance on that account is {$140.00}.