Consumer complaint received 2024-07-10
Product: Credit card — Store credit card
Issue: Fees or interest — Problem with fees
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL (MD)

Apparently XXXX. XXXX  switched its credit card provider from XXXX to Synchrony ( website says that was as of XX/XX/XXXX that I can no longer use my old card ), and although I had auto pay set up with XXXX  ( as well as with Synchrony for another store card, Crate & Barrel ), Synchrony did not apply the auto pay, and started charging me late fees and interest. The first time I learned of the switch was when I received a bill in the mail ( perhaps a few weeks ago ) that had late fees and interest charges. Since I never activated any new card and the XXXX XXXX  website says that I could use my old card until XX/XX/XXXX and I didn't make any purchases past that date, I'm not even sure how any new charges were put on the new card - if they were, they were unauthorized. In any event, as soon as I saw that late fees and interest charges were on my bill, I immediately called to try to get Synchrony to remove the charges so that I could then pay my bill in full ( as I had always done - I've never paid late fees or interest on any credit card I have ever had because I have always paid in full ). After speaking to a XXXX XXXX representative, who then transferred me to XXXX, I was hung up on. Given that it is summer, with kids in camp and travel, and that I have a full time job, I was unable to call back until today, and after speaking with someone who said they could not remove any charges except for XXXX late fee, they transferred me, and I was again hung up on. I said that I would be happy to pay for all purchases in full and set up automatic pay as soon as the unfair late fees and interest charges were removed from my account because I do not want any payment to be applied to those. 

I then raised this issue in an online chat and called back. I've now been on the phone for over an hour trying to deal with this issue, with multiple " supervisors '' telling me there is nothing they can do and suggesting that this is my fault. 

To me, the transfer of accounts seems like a scheme by which Synchrony is trying to unfairly increase its revenue by charging junk fees on unsuspecting consumers who don't realize that XXXX XXXX switched credit card companies. Even though Synchrony has all of my information and my authorization for auto pay due to me also having my Create & Barrel card with them, they don't use any of that and just start charging fees and interest ( even during a time when my old card and thus presumably my auto pay was/should have been operable ) by claiming that I had to spend my own time dealing with paperwork and website registration processes to reset my auto pay. What is even stranger is that there hasn't even been a full month since I wasn't able to use my old card, so it doesn't make any sense that I should even have any purchases, much less late fees and interest added on this new card. I'm concerned that this is happening to a large group of consumers since Synchrony is giving me the run around and being so difficult/unwilling to remove these charges. This all seems like an excuse to increase revenue at the expense of hard working American consumers, who don't have the time to deal with these issues when it takes so long to get anyone on the phone to do anything ( assuming you aren't hung up on repeatedly like I was ). I'm still on the phone with a representative ( XXXX hours later ), who agrees that this is strange and doesn't understand why I would be charged interest on purchases made prior to the switch, but is taking significant time going back to supervisors to try to get authorization just to remove something that should have never been authorized in the first place. 

I was also kicked off of the Synchrony website in the middle of raising this issue with a representative and can no longer see my account data, so I'm not able to tell what I actually owe from in-store purchases versus interest and fees, so now I have to deal with that as well. Very strange that this would be shut off in the middle of my conversation with Synchrony representatives.