Consumer complaint received 2024-05-29
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Fees or interest — Problem with fees
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL (CA)

The XXXX XXXX  as a whole and it's partner Synchrony bank gave me the run-around for three weeks from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX. I called a total of 6 times to address issues, including my attempted use of the account to make a payment through the app from my bank, not the credit card, only to be told I was at fault when the app was giving me an error. I gave them the statement the error was giving me and they continued to say " It sounds like a payment issue '' when the issue wasn't insufficient funds, but that the app wasn't accepting payment to a credit card on file from my bank. In addition, I was hung up on mid-conversation multiple times by agents from both XXXX and Synchrony Bank during phone calls to address this. 

I was finally able to pay off the credit card and cancel the card on a sixth call with an agent from Synchrony Bank, whom I spoke with about the issue on XX/XX/XXXX. She cancelled the card and processed the payment through my bank.

Once this was done I assumed that all of that struggle meant that I no longer had to worry about the card. But on XX/XX/XXXX XXXX charged me interest on a card that I no longer had. They claimed it was a late fee for payment, but I had already paid off the card. The interest was being charged against a XXXX dollar amount as well, which total {$5.00}. This means they are charging interest on XXXX balances for credit cards and passing it off as a late fee, when their late fees are much higher, at {$41.00}. In an attempt to address this I was forced through the automated service 4 times before I could actually speak to an agent, since the XXXX customer service would hang up after saying hello. After finally getting an agent who didn't just hang up on me, I had to go through a tiring hoop of a long list of identity confirmation checks only to be told that the card on file was disabled ( this was the debit card ). Which I knew. I told them I received an email from XXXX ( not Synchrony Bank ) giving me my credit card statement of XXXX. She said I would have to call Synchrony Bank. So I then had to repeat this process another 4 times to reach a live agent with Synchrony Bank and go through the task of proving my identity. Finally, I told them that I received an email stating I had a balance of {$5.00} on my account. I told the agent I had paid off the card and canceled the card.

So then she stated that this was a late fee processed because my payment was late due to a policy change on their services. Late fee payments weren't applied until the XXXX of the month for my card, so it was adding a so-called 'late fee ' not only based on the amount owed, but also even if there was no amount due on the card. I did not receive any notification of service change, but I also didn't have a working card with XXXX or Synchrony Bank anymore, so it shouldn't have applied to me. But it did, and then I had to argue with customer service about it before speaking with a supervisor who, again, stated it was an assessed late fee on a card I made on-time payments to back on XX/XX/XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX that paid off the card.

The supervisor stated she could do a fee waiver as a 'courtesy ' to me, which I accepted, which would not post for two days. But had I not requested to speak to a supervisor, or called Synchrony Bank after tiring
attempts to reach them, or called XXXX multiple times until I got a hold of someone there, I would not have figured out what they were doing, which was adding fees to a card that had been canceled by their own agent with my permission at the beginning of the month. This long journey of not having a working card, trying to make payments to the credit card from my bank and through the XXXX app and the many failed attempts to reach customer service only to have to start the entire process over made all of this so prohibitive I don't know if many would make that effort. It was important to do this because the fees would have continued to pile up on card I no longer had, and no fees should have been assessed for a canceled card that was paid off on time. In addition, I'm trying to cancel my XXXX account, which I can't do until the Synchrony bank fee waiver applies in XXXX hours. This means I need to wait in limbo for XXXX days worried more is going to happen that I will have to call multiple times to reach an agent to address. This is predatory behavior and would easily confuse someone who doesn't understand what is happening, especially because they lied over the phone about the so-called 'late fee '. I think they assumed I wouldn't see such a small amount, but it could also just be automated through a bad system that their customer service agents have to then battle through unsuspecting customers over who should be informed multiple times and through a transparent process about the risks of the use of their credit cards.