Consumer complaint received 2024-10-23 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — Store credit card
Issue: Fees or interest — Problem with fees
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: IL

Complaint narrative:
I am a XXXX  staffer to XXXX  Attorney General XXXX XXXX. After conferring with the Chief of our Consumer Protection Bureau, she recommended that I file this complaint. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, my wife and I purchased a new oven and stovetop from XXXX in XXXX. They were running a promotion that provided 12-month, interest free financing if you made the purchase with XXXX  credit card processed through Synchrony Bank . I signed up for the card and made the purchase ( approximately {$3500.00}, I believe ). I also provided my bank account information to Synchrony so that the monthly payments could be auto-deducted. 

Fast forward to yesterday when I was about to purchase a new washer and dryer from XXXX. There is a similar promotion running right now that I wanted to take advantage of and the XXXX customer service representative advised that I would need to call Synchrony to confirm the purchase before she could process it. I called Synchrony and was informed via automated message that I have a balance of {$2100.00} from the XXXX purchase. This, of course, was startling as I thought the XXXX purchase was paid off at the end of XX/XX/XXXX. At that point, I enrolled my account in Synchronys online services so that I could see what happened.

I eventually was able to speak with someone through Synchronys online chat portal. She confirmed that they had the wrong address on file explaining thats why Ive never received a statement. Additionally, she advised that the account was set for minimum monthly payments and, because of this, there was a balance at the expiration of the 12 month promotional period resulting in interest accruing ( approximately {$500.00} to date ). When I inquired as to why and when the account was signed up for minimum monthly payments, she simply asked if I would like to change the monthly payment amount. I also asked that in the event that I were to use the card again for the newest purchase, would the new charge need to be paid off in the promotional period ( from todayXXXX  ) or would the entirety of the balance need to be paid off during that time. She again asked if I wanted to change my monthly payments. 

I then posited that I believe that, unlike other credit cards, new accounts are automatically set for minimum monthly payments in an attempt to ensure that a balance exists at the end of a promotional period resulting in interest owed to Synchrony. When I asked her to confirm this, she disconnected the chat.

I dont think an average consumer would suspect that a credit card company would simply enroll them in minimum monthly payments in order to ensure the expiration of a promotion of which the consumer wanted to take advantage as a means to collect future interest payments. Also, as an aside, this never would have occurred if Synchrony set the statements to the correct address as I would have reviewed the statement and caught the practice.

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 monetary relief