Consumer complaint received 2024-06-07
Product: Credit card — Store credit card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems — Other problem
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL (OH)

The card offers XXXX kinds of promotional deferred interest plans : " XXXX equal monthly payments '' with deferred interest where you pay amount borrowed off with XXXX equal payments in XXXX  months and no interest will be charged, " Deferred interest with payment '' where you can pay any amount each month and as long as you make the necessary minimal monthly payment and the total is paid off in XXXX months no interest will be charged, and non-promotional or standard interest terms where you have to pay the balance in full each month in order to avoid an interest charge.. 

My intention when using any credit card is to manage my payments so that I avoid paying interest on the amount of money I put on the card regardless of the terms that apply to the purchase. The credit cards goal is for me to pay them interest. Knowing how much to pay each month to avoid interest is crucial information for a consumer to have and it is in the interest of the credit card company to make this information hard to know, how to find on the statement and how to figure out if it isn't clearly stated. 

I have other credit cards with other credit card companies that offer the same kind of credit use. Those companies make it very clear and easy to know how much I need to pay to avoid interest charges for each monthly statement cycle. They have it listed on very clearly on the front and top of the statement. It is labeled " Amount to pay to avoid interest ''. This is very clear and aboveboard and there is no deception involved, no making it hard for the consumer to figure out. You don't have to search through pages of data or do any math calculations to know what to pay to avoid interest. 

This company on the other hand, does not tell you up front and in an easy, clear way how much you need to pay to avoid interest charges. The information you need to figure it out is scattered all over the multiple pages and sections of the statement. 

Another way they make it confusing and unclear is that they use the word " Regular '' to describe the amount of current balance charges that will accrue interest if not paid in full. They use the words " XXXX equal monthly payments XXXX XXXX interest '' to describe the promotional rate purchase amounts. These amounts are in a running list, not in separate lists or boxes and it is hard to miss seeing the distinction when you look at the statement. 

The most complicated way they make it difficult is that you end up having to find and uses XXXX or XXXX amounts and you have to do some math with them to figure out the minimum payment necessary to avoid a monthly interest charge. 

On the front page of the statement they put the current balance. Turns out this includes each kind of promotional and the non- promotional totals. There is no separating out offered. 

On page XXXX there is the long ( if you use the card a lot ) list of different kinds of balances, regular ( their term ), XXXX equal payments, and deferred interest. If XXXX looks hard enough you can find the total for each category. 

At that point you have to take the total balance and subtract the " regular '' amount. Then if there is a deferred interest amount, I guess you would subtract that too, then you are left with the amount of XXXX equal payment and you have to divide that by XXXX to find the necessary amount to pay. Then you add the regular, the XXXX months back up and throw in the amount you want to pay on the XXXX months deferred interest amount to be sure you pay it off in time. This is a lot of math work and studying of the statement to find the info you need for your calculation! 

Finally, the customer service person I talked to tried to explain to me how they determine how to apply the payment you send them, which category they apply it to first. But by then my head was still trying to wrap my head around how to find info and what math to do. 

My point is that by making the statement and process so multi-step and complicated, it adds up to being on the verge of deceptive! I am angry because I have ended up paying interest almost every month, or at least the last XXXX months of statements I looked at to check back and see. When I asked myself " How did this happen?! '' and called customer service to ask about it and learned how complicated it was, I felt cheated and taken advantage of ... tricked! Or at least compared to other credit card companies like the XXXX XXXX XXXX card I have that very simply puts right on the front of my statement in LARGE print, " Amount to pay to avoid interest ''. Haven't paid any interest to them in years! 

I don't expect to get all that interest back from Synchrony. I am making this complaint so that you can look into the way they do their statement and maybe help others avoid their deceptive little game. I plan to pay off my full balance and never use the card again. I will never accept or use any other card that comes from Synchrony. I will write to Amazon and suggest they change the bank that manages their store card. I also have a JCPenny store card, a PayPal XXXX and Lowes card managed by Synchrony that I will never use again and will write to those companies as well. Synchrony is sleazy. Oh I'm sure they are technically legal but their practices are deceptive as in unnecessarily ( an in my opinion ) purposely complicated. Sure, I can see them saying, " If it's to hard, don't use the card. '' and that is exactly what I plan to do! 

I won't close the accounts since I know that dings XXXX 's credit rating, just stash the cards and never touch them again, and tell everyone I know to never accept a credit card that involves Synchrony. Thank you for your attention to my concerns. Please do what you can to change how Synchrony does it's business.