Consumer complaint received 2017-08-30
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — Store credit card
Issue: Problem with a credit reporting company's investigation into an existing problem — Their investigation did not fix an error on your report
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL (CA)

A few years ago my husband and I went shopping at a XXXX store. It was during the Holiday season of XXXX so I believe XXXX. During the purchase, we were convinced to get a credit card in order to receive a discount. After much resistance I finally gave in and we decided to apply for one. I ended up qualifying for a card and received my discount on the spot. Afterwards the store clerk informed me that I would be receiving my actual card in the mail within a few weeks.
A few weeks passed after I completed my purchase and my card never came. I went back to the store and asked them about my card but the clerk assured me that I would receive it in the mail. She stated that it was probably being delayed because of the Holidays. I asked if I could make the payment in store and the clerk said it was n't necessary as I would simply make the payment to the credit card issuer. I listened to her advice and waited some more. XXXX came around and I still had n't received my card. I was now getting worried as I thought that maybe someone had stolen it and I should let XXXX know just in case. 

I went back to XXXX and spoke with their customer service department. I informed them of my card that had never arrived. I asked if I could simply pay the balance as I just wanted to be done with everything but the representative refused to take any money. They informed me that they could n't take any money from me. I actually begged them to take my money and XXXX XXXX continued to refuse. To this day I am still amazed at how I had to beg someone to take their money and they would n't do it. All they did was give me a number to call. I tried for weeks and that number was never answered. 

After so much fighting with XXXX I finally decided that I would stop stressing over something I had no control over and kept living my life. Unfortunately, when later that year my husband and I attempted to purchase a home we were denied because there was a recent " charge-off '' on my credit report. Sure enough when I asked the lender to whom or what for she told me it was for XXXX. Because I had spent so much time fighting them and had actually attempted to pay them in the past I did n't know what to do anymore. I decided to hire professional help. I went to a company called XXXX XXXX XXXX. After they heard what happened, they informed me that there were options available for me as the credit card issuer can not simply place something on my credit report without validation or legitimate reason. I decided to hire them and they assisted me with attempting to resolve the account. 

At first, we disputed the charge-off with all three credit bureaus. After about a month, I received packages from all three credit bureaus stating that the account was verified as legitimately being owed. I took it to XXXX XXXX XXXX and they assured me that this was n't the end of their assistance. What they suggested is to call the creditor directly as the creditor was in clear violation of the Fair Credit Billing Act. He informed me and my husband to tell the creditor exactly what happened. We decided to call XXXX XXXX who is the bank issuing the XXXX XXXX credit card and spoke to a few representatives. This was on XXXX XXXX of XXXX. Ultimately the final representative we spoke to was a lady named XXXX. XXXX informed my husband that they had in fact received a mail return in the first billing cycle and charged-off the account because of it. When she asked for our home address, we provided it to her. XXXX admitted just as the prior representative who we had spoken with before being transferred to her that the address they had on file was not the address that I was providing them. That bothered me a lot considering I had lived at my address for 5 years and everything I had including my Driver 's license was listed at the address I provided to XXXX XXXX. It all started to make sense. 

XXXX stated that she could in fact undo the charge-off and would gladly do so. She stated that she would undo the charge-off, remove late fees, interest charges, any codes in their system that says " I will not pay '' and remove all the negative history from XXXX of XXXX until now. I still have the recording. I thought everything was going to be fixed until several months later I still have n't received a credit card from them, I still have n't received a single bill, ans when I review my credit report again, XXXX XXXX is not only reporting a charge-off, but a charge-off for a much greater amount than before. 

I do n't know what to do anymore, I 've done everything I could think of to try and get this fixed. It 's not my fault that the XXXX XXXX store wrote an incorrect address when I applied for the credit card even though my driver 's license and every other document I have only had the address I lived in. It also is n't my fault that I was not allowed to pay an account in store on numerous occasions or that the number I was provided to resolve this situation was a bad number and never worked. To this day I STILL HAVE NEVER RECEIVED A XXXX CREDIT CARD! Not to mention any bill. Even after I call XXXX XXXX  with the aid of XXXX XXXX XXXX and provide them with all the appropriate information to send me a card, bill me and have this charge off removed, XXXX XXXX does not do anything that they promised. I am at the point where if this does n't get fixed I will have to sue as they have been preventing me from buying a house for almost two years now. Please help me.