Consumer complaint received 2017-05-08
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Advertising and marketing, including promotional offers — Confusing or misleading advertising about the credit card
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL (CA)

Several years ago, I was visiting a new XXXX for the first time. Instead of doing the XXXX that was scheduled and covered by my insurance, the XXXX was extremely pushy about me getting a XXXX XXXX that cost hundreds and hundreds of dollars. I explained to her that I was a XXXX XXXX XXXX and could not afford the procedure, but she kept pushing me. Then she said Here, lets just sign you up for Care Credit and you can pay it off at 0 % over 24 months! I tried to back out but she kept pushing. She had me write down my social and she called the company. After about 1 minute she hung up the phone and said I was approved for {$15000.00} of credit and had 24 months to pay it off, so I might as well get the procedure. I reluctantly scheduled it but cancelled the next day after consulting with another XXXX who said that I did not need the procedure. I ended up using the Care Credit card several months later at two different XXXX for some XXXX XXXX. When I tried to clarify with them how long I had to pay it off, they said that was all determined by Care Credit and it was whatever they told me when I signed up. On XX/XX/XXXX, I logged onto my Care Credit account to update my address. I noticed the balance looked pretty high ( I dont go on the account very often because I only used the card for those two procedures and I use autopay for the monthly payments. I opened up my statements and noticed two fees- one for {$350.00} in  XX/XX/XXXX and one for {$190.00} in XX/XX/XXXX. I called the company immediately. I explained to the representative what had happened and she said that I had been charged the fees because if you dont pay the balance off in 12 months, you get charged 22.99 % of the original purchase price. I explained to her what I had been told by the XXXX and that I was never informed of this policy, and she basically told me it was my fault and I should have looked over my statements closer. She said if I wanted to see the promotional period length, I would have to try to track down a signed receipt. I asked her if it was possible to wave the fees since I was never told about this policy. She refused, so I asked to speak with her manager. The manager was extremely rude and basically said it was my fault. She said that she couldnt waive the {$35000.00} fee because apparently you only have a certain timeframe to contest the fee and it had past, but she could waive the XX/XX/XXXX charge since it was still within the timeframe, I reiterated that I had no idea about this policy and offered to pay the account off in full if she would just waive the fees. She refused. At this point I was baffled, I always pay my credit cards on time and keep track of them well, and I have good credit, so I was so confused about how this happened. I went online to see if anyone else had had similar issues with CareCredit- sure enough, I found tons of reviews with nearly my same exact story. I was also shocked to discover that they had been penalized by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in XX/XX/XXXX for misleading and unclear policies that were intentionally used to profit off of consumers. They were fined nearly XXXX XXXX dollars and given specific orders for all future business to ensure that they would not deceive and take advantage of their customers anymore. Based on my experience with them, there are several orders that Care Credit is still currently violating. For example, it is stated in the order that if a customer calls and says that their XXXX did not inform them of the interest rate or did not go over all of the terms with them, it is Care Credits responsibility to investigate the claim ( yet they told me it was my responsibility ). If the provider did not explain the terms clearly or if clear terms were not given by the Care Credit representative on the phone, the patient is not responsible for the charges even if services were rendered, according to the order. Also, for customers enrolled in auto- pay, the order states that they are to receive two emails stating in the body of the email that their promotional period is ending and clearly explain the fee that they will be charged if it is not paid off. Care Credit never sent me an email notifying me of this. There are numerous aspects of the order that they are violating, which Ive attached to this complaint. I called to speak with a manager the next day, and when I cited these examples of things they are in violation of, she tried to tell me that the order only applied to customers in the past from the class action law suit ( which is clearly not true as it states right in the order that it is for all future business. Im shocked that this company is continuing to conduct business this way even after being fined {$30.00} million just a few years ago. They are blatantly lying to their customers about their policies ( or at least the ones that they are supposed to be following ), and ignoring the order that your organization put into place. Additionally, they reported me as delinquent on my account, which affected my credit score, and tried to make a collection call to me. Both of these things are prohibited by the order in any customers who are in the process of a complaint.