Consumer complaint received 2024-12-31 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — Store credit card
Issue: Fees or interest — Problem with fees
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: VA

Complaint narrative:
We have experienced multiple issues with late fees / additional charges with Synchrony bank, who is the Lender for our XXXX XXXX credit card. Our most recent issue- which will be the subject of this filing- began when Synchrony began charging for paper billing. We had paper billing since opening the account ( ****need date**** ), but charges for paper billing began in XXXX of XXXX. We set the account up for direct pay through our bank, not with Synchrony, to make the necessary payment amount each month until final payment. 

We were notified of late charges in XXXX. We discussed in late XXXX and early XXXX, at which point were told the account was late due to the approximate {$2.00} charge for paper billing that was started in XXXX. As this was a set dollar amount payment, the new charge resulted in a higher amount due than what had been set up initially. 

The XXXX call with Synchrony resulted in a proposed resolution from Synchrony that would remove the paper billing, bring the account current, and return the account to the same monthly payment we had set. This was addressed through an agreement that we would make payment to Synchrony in the amount specified to us by Synchrony in order to bring the account current, etc. The call was on XXXX and payment was made in the amount instructed by Synchrony on XX/XX/XXXX. 

We received messages this month ( XXXX ) that we had not made payment on the account. We spoke with Synchrony and were told that an interest charge of somewhere between {$1.00} and {$2.00} had resulted from the late charges assessed after the charge for paper billing was introduced on the account in XXXX. 


We paid Synchrony additional to resolve the account issue introduced by the paper billing charge - again, an amount Synchrony instructed us to pay in order to bring the account current, however ; the amount we were instructed to pay was apparently not sufficient to address the $ XXXX {$2.00} interest charge. This unpaid interest charge resulted in an additional ~ {$90.00} in late charges- the equivalent of two months of late fees. On our XXXX call, Synchrony did agree to waive the late fee on the current billing cycle and stated this would bring the account current. When asked why we were still being required to pay for a late fee we incurred because we were not provided the correct amount to bring the account current with the payment in XXXX, we were simply told an internal complaint would be filed and that the complaint would take 30 days to review. Although not fully clear, the individual we spoke to appeared to state that the complaint was internal-only and would not impact the additional late fee we are being charged.

Although an admittedly small amount of money, our concern is that we have been through multiple similar scenarios with Synchrony since opening this account. We have wasted hours on the phone attempting to correct issues with billing that have generally stemmed from what appears to be mismanagement of the account- typically resulting in requests for us to pay more than what was required. The issue has never been our ability to make payment, but it has long been incredibly frustrating dealing with what feels somewhere between predatory and incompetent. We rectify the issue and Synchrony always comes up with new ways to wreck the account.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation