Consumer complaint received 2024-06-04 00:00:00
Product: Debt collection — Credit card debt
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action — Sued you without properly notifying you of lawsuit
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: PA

Complaint narrative:
Okay. Here we already go again with another report for Synchrony Bank and XXXX XXXX XXXX, where Im constantly somewhere between outrageously angry and terrified with both companies. Before I get to the newest reason Im filing this report, please allow me to preface this with a small rant about the previous CFPB report: At the beginning of XXXX  this year, I filed a report to Synchrony Bank / PayPal Credit that boiled down to the question: Why did my PayPal Credit account get repeatedly locked in XXXX  in the middle of the night when I was asleep? Were you doing that? I made it very clear that was my primary concern for filing the report, above everything else Ive been writing. I filed two CFPB reports to Synchrony asking this question because they were taking forever to answer me, and XXXX XXXX XXXX  attorneys were (and still are) totally ignoring me every time I raise my frustrations with them. When Synchrony finally submitted their response on XXXX XXXX XXXX, it was a winding, extensively detailed thing about my paper-mailed identity theft form being rejected. And in the middle of that long response, I THINK Synchronys wording implies Yes, it was us manually shutting down your account multiple times at XXXX XXXX XXXX You can call this phone number if it happens again. I had to re-read this letter a couple times just to get to that part. Theres no sensible reason it took almost 60 days for anyone from Synchrony and XXXX  to answer the question Why did my PayPal Credit account get repeatedly locked in XXXX  in the middle of the night when I was asleep? Were you doing that? XXXX  attorneys ignored every e-mail about this for the past two months, and when Synchrony finally did reply through the CFPB system, you focused almost completely on the identity theft paper form you, and barely answered my actual question that was the main reason for submitting the CFPB reports: Why am I getting these multiple cryptic security alerts from PayPals system? Apparently it was impossible for anyone at Synchrony or XXXX  to reach out in the past two months and just say, Yeah. It was us locking your account manually. Sorry for spooking you out a little bit. Now please give us some time to work on this other identity theft paperwork we sent you. (I already knew that paper form was lost cause the moment I mailed it back to you, anyway!) To reiterate a very scary problem for the umpteenth time: I was attacked by a wild repeating identity theft invasion in XXXX and early XXXX. Those attacks might be family-related, or it might be debt collector-related, or it could somehow be both. In the years before this, Ive had an active Discover Card number stolen and used for a fraudulent online shopping spree (the perpetrators were 99% likely some sick jokers on my fathers half of the family a few months after he died from XXXX), and a couple years ago someone was trying to hack the bank account that holds my current car loan (which was also probably family-related, given the timing with some frustrated emails I was sending certain family members a couple days before the account-hacking happened). And thats just the tip of the iceberg for the snarky anonymous abuse Ive endured from multiple family members on and off, non-stop, for the past eight years. Apparently, for some people, its just not enough that I lost my father to XXXX  after growing up my entire life in a very scary parental divorce situation, and now my finances are permanently damaged from the criminal games these people were playing in the estate probate process. They just have to keep rubbing it in my face years later, while also continuously hiding so they always get away with it. What Im trying to say is: It gets VERY confusing, very scary, and very aggravating, VERY quickly when I get random bank security alert emails out of the blue (i.e. the emails Paypal was sending me at the beginning of XXXX), and nobody from the bank is giving me prompt, concise answers why its happening. Let me just encapsulate how lopsided and abusive this whole creditor-consumer relationship is right now: You aggressively sue me for superficial reasons that dont really add up (read: I never stopped paying you! I was paying you on and off the same way for two years!) You file this lawsuit with no warning, when Im in the middle of trying to pay you, and Im being rocked to my core with six months of still-unsolved identity theft. You shove me on a 20-day deadline when a surprise court hearing is scheduled, and you bombard me to follow YOUR rules, and then you wait until a few minutes before were supposed to have that hearing to swerve around with your local XXXX XXXX guy, to make sure Im not even allowed to have the hearing! (By the way: No one has still answered this question I wanted to argue at the hearing we DIDNT have: Why should I be forced to pay anything when your sketchy debt collectors cant even spell Judge XXXX  name correctly on the paperwork theyre rushing me to sign and they refuse to even acknowledge the repeated typo???) Then, you cant even promptly answer my newest very stressful question: Why did my PayPal Credit account get repeatedly locked in XXXX  in the middle of the night when I was asleep? Were you doing that? So basically, Im forced into all the big scary legal court deadlines, while Synchrony and XXXX can delay, and delay, and delay, and goof around all they want! NOW, REGARDING THE ACTUAL NEW REASON IM FILING THIS REPORT: Who the heck legally owns this debt account right now? Because Synchrony is making statements saying they have nothing to do with this entire argument. Their phrasing in their May 31 CFPB response reads Account no longer with Synchrony Bank. But all of the legal documents coming from XXXX XXXX XXXX claim this is still Synchronys account, and XXXX are operating on behalf of Synchrony. In their latest CFPB response on XXXX XXXX (which is the ONLY response Ive heard from them lately), they even used the phrasing XXXX believes no wrongdoing has occurred by our firm or our client. I also specifically remember XXXX XXXX last year making a point when we talking outside the courtroom, where he said this was original debt account still owned by the original bank, Synchrony. The actual court case on record is named XXXXXXXX  SYNCHRONY BANK vs. XXXX XXXX. If my account officially legally changed ownership within the past year (or ever, for that matter), why was I never notified? Why are XXXX still making references that make it sound like this is Synchronys Synchrony-owned account that they are representing on behalf of Synchrony, as of just a few weeks ago in their CFPB communications? To Synchrony Bank: You kept trying to apologize to me in the response you submitted to the CFPB on XXXX XXXX. That apology comes off as completely hollow and artificial to me. If you wanted to be genuinely apologetic toward these problems, then theres nothing stopping you from telling XXXX XXXX XXXX: Hey! Guys! This isnt the right time or the right way to be doing this! Youre making all of us look terrible! STOP SUING HIM IMMEDIATELY! I find it incredibly corrupt, inept, and very insulting that someone at Synchrony would actually say We are not able to address any of the legal proceedings being handled by XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, when Synchrony and XXXX are the only ones here creating a scary, complicated, touchy legal situation! How many times do I need to repeat that YOU sued ME without any warning you were even angry at me, at a very sketchy time, in a very sketchy way, with a rushed and forced payment contract where you cant even spell Judge Gindlespergers name correctly? YOU are attacking ME here! Im just trying to defend myself! And if anyone from Synchrony and/or XXXX is nervous about how this is all a legal nightmare, just remember youre the ones forcing a court judgment over my head, that you didnt even earn through a fair two-sided argument! It's insane how Synchrony keeps insisting they are completely separate from XXXX. I was sending XXXX emails regarding the identity theft all through the second half of XXXX  (after the NON-HEARING in Judge XXXX  courtroom) and into early XXXX. Nobody ever replied. I started raising some concerns to XXXX XXXXr in XXXX  XXXX, and suddenly XXXX decided to reply to me (a grand total of ONE time this entire year), and Synchrony abruptly mailed me their identity theft report form. Thats the exact same time I was receiving alerts my PayPal Credit account kept getting locked on multiple days at XXXX XXXX XXXX. So how do my communications go from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX to Synchronys fraud department, when Synchrony keeps insisting they have no involvement whatsoever with XXXX XXXX XXXX? Theres obviously some communication going on between these parties concerning my account, and no one is being very open to me or the CFPB about it! And now Ive fallen into the pattern of filling out one CFPB report after another, because thats the only time anyone from Synchrony or XXXX ever replies to me!  Heres one more final detail in this case I might as well bring up: Its a fairly minor discrepancy compared to everything else Ive been describing on these CFPB reports, but its been bugging me constantly for the past year: When XXXX XXXX was sending me his email responses urging me to sign his judgment contract last summer, he mentioned XXXX has on file my request to only contact me in writing, and no phone calls. Heres the thing: What file is he talking about? When I was looking through all of my documentation last summer, and to this day, I can find no record of a written communication I sent to Synchrony or XXXX directly that asks them to only contact me in writing for their debt collection. I know for fact I did send such requests to some of my other creditors, and I was able to find that documentation, but I cant find the record I ever directly sent Synchrony or XXXX this written request, and I could not find any letter from them confirming they ever received this request. As far as I can tell, XXXX XXXX email last year was the first time anyone from Synchrony or XXXX mentioned this request being in place. This means one of two things to me: Either Im being forgetful, and I DID send this written request at some point in the past few years prior to 2023, and I just cant find any record of it for whatever reason. And Im openly admitting thats a possibility. But at same time, Im thinking: Is Synchrony or XXXX talking to one of my other creditors where such a request does exist, and theyre coordinating their legal actions in an illicit way, and XXXX XXXX just accidentally dropped a hint last year because his firm has some details mixed up on their side? But again: The entire written request not to call me issue is very, very minor in the grand scheme of things, as it pertains to this Synchrony and XXXX case. So, to clarify, this is the NEW main point of confusion Im trying resolve in this CFPB report: Synchrony is trying to claim XXXX XXXX XXXX fully owns my debt account, and Synchrony has absolutely no power over whatever XXXX is doing. But what Synchrony is saying makes no sense to me, because XXXX keeps saying theyre acting on behalf of their client Synchrony, and XXXX XXXXXXXX was saying Synchrony was still the original owner of this account, and all of the legalese paperwork XXXX has filed appears to say this is still a Synchrony account. So who is lying about who here? You guys have found yet another way to make this unnecessary, unjustified legal process completely confusing for the consumer. To sum up my grievance: Synchrony and XXXX: Youre both treating me like total dirt for reasons youve clearly decided I dont deserve to know, and you think I should have NO right to defend myself from you. Now Im going to be nervously waiting for the next careless arbitrary response Synchrony and XXXX has for me in another two to eight weeks, or whenever they feel like replying!

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