Consumer complaint received 2024-07-17
Product: Payday loan, title loan, personal loan, or advance loan — Installment loan
Issue: Charged fees or interest you didn't expect — 
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL (TX)

On XX/XX/XXXX I purchased an XXXX XXXX XXXX while at the State Fair of Texas. The chair was sold through a Mattress Firm vendor there. The salesman named XXXX told me the total price, {$4700.00}, and asked what payment period I wanted. Since he told me there was no interest, I chose 60 months. XXXX ran my credit, approved me, and said the payments would be {$80.00} per month for 60 months, no interest. As a XXXX veteran on a budget, the terms were simple, straight forward, and workable for me, so I agreed. The chair was weeks late but was finally delivered in late XXXX. 
It was a financial stretch, but knowing that I wanted to pay the chair in less than 60 months, I set up automatic payments of XXXX XXXX through my bank, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX As you will see on the included printout from XXXX, the first payment was delivered on XX/XX/XXXX. To make sure I stayed on top of the payments, another automatic payment was delivered less than a week later on XX/XX/XXXX and consecutive payments were scheduled to be sent near the beginning of every month. Also, as you will see, on a few occasions I paid more than {$100.00} and even paid twice in some months. 
I kept getting monthly reminder texts from Synchrony Bank to pay my bill even though no less than {$100.00} was being paid to them automatically every month. A couple of times I adjusted the automatic payment to come out even earlier in the month to make sure I was covered. I finally changed the Send On date in XXXX and XXXX to the first to really make sure I was covered after I began getting texts about getting back on track. Having done all that, thinking that the monthly reminder texts were something that Synchronys system just automatically generated, I felt secure in knowing that I was already on track and up to date on my payments. 
Knowing that I had been paying every month, I considered stopping their access to text me, but I decided to call and ask about the texts first. 
On XX/XX/XXXX at approximately XXXX I called and spoke to a Synchrony Bank Representative named XXXX XXXX She told me that since I had not been making my minimum payment of {$140.00} that late fees were being added to what I owe. I told her that my payments were supposed to be $ XXXX and that I had been paying {$100.00} or more every month. I asked if she could see that on my account and she said yes. Then she told me that because I was paying too early in the month that my payments were being put toward the previous month which made the current month late. It made no sense at all and I told her that. I asked her, You mean if I make a payment on the first of the month, I am being penalized because I made it too early, before my monthly closing date. She said yes. 
As a former Customer Service Trainer, I suspected that XXXX could not openly agree with the evidence right in front of her showing consistent monthly payments and an arbitrary, increased minimum payment that caused erroneous late fees. I did not raise my voice or get angry at her because I knew her power to resolve this was very limited, but I told her again that her explanation did not make sense. She put me on hold and then came back a few minutes later and confirmed that my payments were indeed supposed to be {$80.00} and that she would waive {$89.00} of the late fees. I asked how much the late fees are and she said {$41.00} every month. I asked how many of these late fees I had gotten and she said five. I was appalled. I told her that I should not have any late fees and that I wanted all of them refunded, {$200.00}. She said she was only authorized to return {$89.00}. 
XXXX suggested that I change my payment date to the XXXX of each month. I dont get why but I did that, and I immediately sent an additional payment of {$100.00} through my bank after hanging up from the call. 
I also asked if Synchrony had been reporting the erroneous late fees to the credit reporting agencies. She said she did not have access to my credit report. Good answer. I asked how Synchrony could just arbitrarily raise my monthly fee to {$140.00} without notifying me. She said it should have been on my statements. I told her that I have not been receiving statements, not by email or as a paper statement. I asked her to send me an email right then to see if they had my correct information. She said she could not, even though she used my partial email to verify me at the beginning of the call. I asked for a paper statement to be sent to me. 
After 48 minutes, XXXX and I disconnected and I called XXXX, the Mattress Firm salesman who sold me my chair ( which I love by the way! ) and told him about what Synchrony was doing. Obviously familiar with Mattress Firms usual promotion and successful enticement to sell chairs, he emphatically confirmed that our original agreement was $ XXXX for 60 months, no interest. I hope there is no collusion between Mattress Firm, the seller of XXXX XXXX XXXX at the Texas State Fair and Synchrony Bank to knowingly bait and switch finance terms because I have enthusiastically recommended my massage chair, its seller, and their financing terms to friends and family on more than one occasion. 
As you will see by the physical statements I received by mail approximately a week later, the cover letter from Customer Service confirmed that I have not been receiving statements. Recently, your billing statement was returned by the Post Office, thus we are sending this copy of your statement to your updated address. Updated? I have lived in my home since XX/XX/XXXX. Also, I received correspondence from Synchrony Bank, XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, PA dated XX/XX/XXXX sent to my current address but, conveniently, no statements. 
Along with pages of information on interest rates and time frames that I did not sign off on, Sychrony stated that they are not under any obligation to investigate any requests to correct payment mistakes unless they are in writing and within 60 days of when the mistake is made. Well, I was not receiving statements and, therefore, could not possibly do that. 
I have enclosed proof of automatic payments from XXXXXXXX XXXX and the statements from Synchrony Bank I only recently received. 
Also, not originally included in my agreement with Mattress Firm, Synchrony Bank is adding a 2 % Promotion Fee to my monthly balance as of XX/XX/XXXX because my payment period extends past 18 months. How can changes to my account terms be made that were not in the original agreement? It seems that Synchrony is capitalizing on or punishing any customer who purchased through a no interest promotion as I did. Customers are lured in by no interest offers only to find that Synchrony is determined to recoup that supposed lost interest through any means possible. If I was paying the minimum of {$80.00} every month, whether Synchrony calls it a Promotion Fee or Interest, adding an extra, unexpected percentage to my monthly fee would cause me to be paying less than the minimum payment so that they can also charge a late fee and interest to the unpaid monthly balance. Putting that information in a statement that may not get read because I am responsibly and automatically adhering to the original agreement should be considered deceptive lending practices and should not be legal. Being able to continually change the original agreement just by stating so in their statements should not be allowed. How is a customer supposed to hit the payment bullseye if Synchrony keeps moving the target? I believe this is a type of predatory lending.