Consumer complaint received 2024-09-24
Product: Credit card — Store credit card
Issue: Fees or interest — Charged too much interest
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL (CA)

I am filing a complaint regarding misleading and deceptive financing terms for a furniture purchase I made. Note that I have requested the original purchase agreement, but I can't even see my old statements to know the total amount I paid, so I will have some generalizations on prices in this complaint. The company will have the exact details on record. 

In 2021, I purchased furniture from Ashley Furniture under what I was told was a 60-month 0 % interest financing plan, which is common for Ashley. Both my wife and I were clearly informed by the salesperson that the entire purchase would be interest-free for 60 months. Based on this representation, we proceeded with the purchase, setting up the autopay for the minimum payments we were told were needed to complete the purchase with zero interest. I have been paying via autopay ever since. 

Only recently, I reviewed my financing statement more closely and discovered that the financing was split into two parts : one portion of the balance was subject to the 60-month 0 % interest plan as stated, but another portion of approximately {$4000.00} was only interest-free for 12 months. After those 12 months expired, I began incurring interest at an exorbitant rate of 30 %, resulting in thousands of dollars of additional interest charges, which I was unaware of at the time of purchase. 

The contract does mention the 12-month interest-free portion, but this critical detail was never explained to me by the salesperson. Both my wife and I relied on the salespersons clear verbal assurances that the financing would be 0 % interest for 60 months on the entire purchase. At no point were we told that a portion of the sale would only be interest-free for 12 months, nor were we provided with specific information about how much needed to be paid during those 12 months to avoid high interest charges. Had we been told this, we would have made adjustments to how much we paid to ensure we didn't pay interest, or walked away from the purchase altogether. 

As mentioned, based on the salespersons representations, I made minimum payments, believing that doing so would cover the balance and complete the purchase within the 60-month 0 % interest period. I was never informed that the 12-month portion would need to be paid off in full within that period to avoid high interest charges. This lack of disclosure significantly misled me, as I had no reason to believe there was any urgency in paying off a portion of the balance sooner. 

The salesperson who assisted us is no longer employed by the company, but this misrepresentation has caused significant financial harm. I believe this constitutes misleading and deceptive business practices. The purposeful failure to disclose the full terms of the financing arrangement is unfair and has resulted in substantial, unexpected costs for my family. 

I request that this issue be investigated and that the excessive interest charges be refunded or credited to my balance, and that the remaining balance be set to zero interest on the initial promise of 60 month payoff.