Consumer complaint received 2026-03-30 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems — Other problem
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: OH

Complaint narrative:
I. UNAUTHORIZED CREDIT APPLICATIONS & DASH VULNERABILITIES Documentation from my XXXX consumer report ( Pages XXXX ) reveals an alarming and unauthorized pattern of credit inquiries conducted by 'Pay Pal, Inc. - DASH Risk View '. Crucially, I have not made a single purchase in the year XXXX. However, my report shows over XXXX separate entries labeled as 'Credit Application ' in XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX alone, including : - XX/XX/XXXX : XXXX inquiries - XX/XX/XXXX : XXXX inquiries - XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX, XXXX : XXXX inquiries per day - XX/XX/XXXX : XXXX inquiries in XXXX day I did not initiate these credit applications. The persistence of these inquiries during a period of XXXX account activity suggests either a systemic technical failure, unauthorized data harvesting, or a security breach within the PayPal Data Access/Sharing Hub ( DASH ) system. Section II : Deceptive " One-Click '' Interface & Dark Patterns The deceptive nature of this payment system is two-fold. The consumer-facing interface provided by PayPal and its partners ( e.g., XXXX ) utilizes 'dark patterns ' to facilitate high-interest debt without clear consumer disclosure. As demonstrated in the attached screenshots of the checkout interface, PayPal deliberately displays a generic PayPal logo alongside my email address, hiding the fact that the underlying funding source is a credit line. The distinct PayPal Credit logo is completely absent. This 'one-click ' payment path provides no warning that the transaction is being routed to high-interest debt rather than liquid cash.Simultaneously, the back-end 'DASH Risk View ' executes unauthorized credit inquiries multiple times per day. This creates a predatory 'One-Click ' loop : PayPal runs an unauthorized credit check via DASH to ensure the consumer can handle the debt, then completes the transaction through a disguised interface that prevents the consumer from choosing their intended bank funding source. XXXX. UNAUTHORIZED DEFAULT SWITCH & PRIOR COURSE OF DEALING For years, my established course of dealing for XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) was to fund purchases directly from my linked XXXX XXXX XXXX checking account. My PayPal Credit account was largely dormant for daily spending, evidencing {$0.00} in new purchases in my XX/XX/XXXX statement. However, coinciding with an 'Important Changes to Your Account Terms ' notice in the Summer of XXXX, XXXX XXXX interface surreptitiously globally altered my 'Preferred Payment ' default to XXXX Credit XXXX Immediately, my XXXX transaction volume was silently rerouted to this credit facility, spiking to {$180.00} in XX/XX/XXXX and {$330.00} in XX/XX/XXXX, at an exorbitant 31.34 % APR. I did not explicitly authorize this routing change. The system exploited a 'terms update ' to trap high-frequency digital purchases into a deferred-interest credit cycle. IV. ACTUAL DAMAGES & EXACERBATION OF FINANCIAL HARDSHIP The unauthorized default switch to PayPal Credit had catastrophic, real-world consequences for my financial survival. My XX/XX/XXXX statement shows a sudden {$700.00} in digital transactions silently routed to this credit line. It's clear Paypal Credit does this to Paypal accounts with high spend rates on many small amounts per month like XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Submitted to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau & Comptroller of the Currency Shortly after this unauthorized routing began inflating my debt at an exorbitant 31.39 % APR, I experienced severe, protracted unemployment beginning in XX/XX/XXXX. During this period, I was subjected to extreme financial and physical hardship, including an inability to afford basic utilities such as heat and electricity during the winter months. Furthermore, my employment was legally paralyzed by an un-actioned non-compete agreement with XXXX, which delayed my next paycheck until XX/XX/XXXX. During this entire period of hardship, PayPal and Synchrony Bank continued to compound interest on a {$5000.00} balance that was generated through deceptive, unauthorized transaction routing. The systemic 'dark pattern ' design actively drained my limited resources and trapped me in unmanageable debt during a period of ultimate vulnerability. The institutional lack of professional oversight is corroborated by physical evidence attached to this complaint : 1. Official mail from the PayPal/Synchrony fulfillment center in XXXX, OH, contains a blatant spelling error printed directly on the envelope : 'TIME SENSETIVE '. 2. The secure messaging portal for PayPal Credit has been non-functional, throwing an error stating, 'There is a problem with the information you provided. Please go back and try again. ' This is documented in the attached screenshot, proving consumers are denied the ability to resolve billing disputes electronically. 3. This pattern of negligence went across many lines of purchase where Paypal is my default, such as XXXX for domain names and MANY OTHER lines, including XXXX.

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