Consumer complaint received 2026-01-28 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement — Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: NY

Complaint narrative:
In XX/XX/year>, a temporary authorization hold of XXXX was placed on my PayPal Cashback Mastercard account for a transaction that was later identified as fraudulent. This transaction was only an authorization hold and was never finalized or settled. The merchant fully released and refunded the authorization, and no valid charge ever existed. 

Despite the transaction being both fraudulent and refunded, Synchrony Bank, the issuer of the PayPal Cashback Mastercard, incorrectly treated the authorization as a posted charge and later processed it as a disputed transaction. This occurred even though the merchant had already refunded the amount and there was no legitimate debt. As part of this improper dispute handling, Synchrony charged PayPal for the transaction. In turn, PayPal debited my PayPal balance approximately {$140.00}, leaving my PayPal account with a negative balance, even though the transaction was fraudulent, the merchant fully refunded the XXXX authorization, the charge was never finalized or valid, and I do not owe this amount to either institution. 

At the same time, Synchrony Bank has been sending me recurring billing and past-due email notifications stating that I owe money related to this same alleged debt, including late fees and interest. However, Synchrony will not provide access to an actual billing statement. When I click the links in these emails to view the bill online, I am redirected to PayPal, where no Synchrony bill or statement is visible. I am receiving payment demands and late-fee notices for a debt that I can not view, verify, or reconcile. 

I have contacted both PayPal and Synchrony Bank multiple times. Each institution refuses to resolve the issue and instead directs me to the other. PayPal states the issue must be handled by Synchrony Bank, while Synchrony Bank states the issue must be handled by PayPal. As a consumer, I am being improperly charged and threatened with fees due to a failure between two financial institutions to correctly handle a fraudulent and refunded authorization and to provide required billing transparency. 

This is not a valid debt. I am being asked to pay money that neither PayPal nor Synchrony Bank is legally entitled to collect, and I am being assessed late fees and interest without access to a proper billing statement. I am requesting immediate removal of the negative balance from my PayPal account, immediate cessation of all billing notices, late fees, and interest related to this transaction, written confirmation that I do not owe this amount to PayPal or Synchrony Bank, assurance that this matter will not be sent to collections or reported negatively, and correction of all internal records related to this transaction.

I am filing this complaint because neither PayPal nor Synchrony Bank has taken responsibility for correcting errors arising from their internal fraud, dispute, settlement, and billing processes, despite clear evidence that the transaction was fraudulent, refunded, never finalized, and never resulted in a valid charge.

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