Consumer complaint received 2015-11-25 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — 
Issue: Late fee — 
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: NJ

Complaint narrative:
I use my bank 's automated bill pay service to pay my monthly minimum for my Amazon XXXX Credit Card issued by Synchrony Bank. My due date is the XXXX and my minimum is {$50.00} to which I add {$5.00} for a total payment of {$55.00}. Synchrony receives this payment on the XXXX of each month. In the month of XXXX ( likely due to the holiday weekend ), my scheduled payment failed to process on time. My bank notified me of the failure so I made a one-time payment on Monday, XXXX XXXX through Synchrony 's website for {$55.00} dollars. The payment was 1 day late. When the billing cycle ended on XXXX XXXX, Synchrony assessed a fee of {$25.00} for the lateness. This fee seems to have been added to my minimum monthly payment for a new required payment of {$76.00}. I did not notice the increase. 

On XXXX XXXX, my bank processed my regularly scheduled {$55.00} dollar payment. Because it did not meet the new minimum, I was assessed another fee of {$35.00} for lateness. This cycle repeated itself in XXXX, XXXX and XXXX for a total of {$160.00} in fees and a minimum monthly payment for XXXX totaling {$200.00}. Synchrony bank made no reasonable effort to contact me about the delinquency on my account until XXXX when their collections department reached out by phone. I was receiving a regular monthly statement via email but because the payments are automated and were going out as scheduled and because the emails did not mention any problem with my account that would warrant further investigation, I was not aware of the issue. By the time Synchrony called, they had already assessed four months of late payment fees and were seeking a {$200.00} payment to bring my account current. 

While this lack of communication is atrocious customer service on Synchrony 's part, my complaint centers around what I believe to be an instance of illegally pyramiding fees. As I understand our regulatory laws, a credit card company can not apply your payment to a fee first and a minimum monthly payment second so that the amount can not satisfy the minimum monthly requirement and cause the customer to incur yet another fee. Since I continued making on-time payments that satisfied my minimum payment less fees, it seems to me that I should not have incurred additional late fees after XXXX. During this time, no new purchases were charged to the account that would have otherwise affected my balance and minimum monthly payment. The only change that can account for increases to my minimum monthly payments are the fees Synchrony added to my account. 

Please apply your legal expertise in this case. If Synchrony is not in compliance, I seek a refund of all fees incurred after and as a result of the XXXX late fee and a return of my minimum monthly payment to {$50.00}. I have reached out to Synchrony bank and they agreed to remove XXXX the fees but refused to lower my monthly payment for XXXX and could not guarantee that my minimum monthly payment would return to previous levels in XXXX.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief