Consumer complaint received 2025-09-30 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — Store credit card
Issue: Fees or interest — Unexpected increase in interest rate
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: MD

Complaint narrative:
I have had a Synchrony Credit Card with The XXXX XXXX for years. I was paying off my promotional plan balance with no interest for 24 months and was under the impression that I was making auto payments with an interest-saving amount that was automatically calculated. 

In XX/XX/year> I received an interest charge of {$540.00}. Because I was doing auto-pay, I didn't realize this until XXXX, when I noticed that I should have had my card paid off completely. When I logged in, I saw the charge in XXXX and the subsequent charges afterwards and asked customer service to reverse the {$540.00}. They told me that because I didn't contact them within 30 days, they couldn't do anything about it. I asked them to clarify if they had an automatic interest calculating payment calculator with their auto-pay, and they told me yes. When I asked them to clarify because I had been under the impression that was the payment plan I was on when I was doing auto-withdrawals, they told me that I had to calculate the amount myself and then set the auto-pay to that amount. So, they told me yes they had an automatic payment calculating auto-pay, and then told me I needed to do it myself. How is that automatic? My other credit card, XXXX XXXX with XXXX XXXX does have this feature, which was why I was following up with Synchrony on it, but they were giving me false information. 

I decided to just XXXX it up and pay the interest because I was chatting with customer service for a very long time and they were just sending me back automated responses and telling me there was nothing I could do. I finally paid off this card this past month and just received another interest charge of {$12.00}. I contacted customer service right away and was sent an automatic response canned message telling me there was nothing I could do. I asked to speak with a supervisor and was told I was speaking with " XXXX XXXX '' and then was sent another automatic response denying my request. I was within 30 days of reaching out so it's obvious that they were never intending to grant my original request to reverse the interest in the first place. They are just telling their customer any excuse and then denying the request. 

I again just paid the interest due, because I was getting nowhere with customer service who claims they are real people and then just send back canned responses. I asked how I could cancel this card so I could be done with the customer. They said I could navigate it myself in my account or call in. They did not provide me with a phone number to call and did not give me instructions on how to find the area in my dashboard to cancel the account. After a frustrating 10 minutes of trying to find the link in my dashboard, I reached out to the same " XXXX XXXX '' and asked how I could cancel my card because I couldn't find it in the dashboard, and he didn't provide me with a phone number. " XXXX XXXX '' responded back that I could chat with customer service. I WAS chatting with customer service. I was in a chat with " XXXX XXXX '', the " supervisor '', asking him how to cancel my card, and he told me I could chat in about it. This company has SO many deceptive and frustrating practices. I don't have hope that I will receive the interest back that I paid, but I can not stand the thought that this company is still allowed to exist and take advantage of so many people, some of whom are not as well off or do not understand how to file complaints against big corporations. What's worse is that they take advantage of you and then gaslight you into thinking that it's your fault.

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