Synchrony Bank review: Paypal partner to pay taxes

In April 2023 I was heavily solicited to pay my taxes via PayPal. I was recently laid off so I followed the solicitation to distribute my $1600+ tax payment over 6 months interest free. For this benefit there was a charge of $30.62 applied. As you can see from the screen shot attached, in the email solicitation it reflects an available credit balance of $5,400.

Following my acceptance of their offer, I was notified that they would NOT be paying my taxes. When I called to inquire why they said it was because my credit limit was only $1,500. I was told I had to apply for an increase despite the fact that I was solicited with a $5,400 line of credit. I said fine – do it. And I was declined on the spot. I had to wait three days to get my declination letter and the decline reason was inactivity of my account ( I no longer have this as I thought this was settled in July – If I need it then I am sure I can spend MORE time getting a copy since it is on my credit now.)

I called back to have the fee reversed given that they were not going to honor the originally solicited offer, and was told I had to take that up with the US government. I followed up until I found a representative who agreed that it did not make sense and they took it to someone with a high enough authority to approve writing off $30.62. This was in July 2023. In an attached screen shot can see that in July the charges were reversed. I no longer have full access to get to details online since I closed my Synchrony credit account. But ALL charges are relating to the initial erroneous charge to the US Government for using PayPal to pay my taxes – which NEVER occurred. Then the $30.62 was added back in September – why? – I have no idea.

When I have tried to resolve with Synchrony via phone I cannot be connected to anyone beyond a frontline supervisor, often not even that. The standard response is that I take this up with the US Government. Only ONCE – in July did the representative actually try to solve a customer issue.

I have tried to appeal to PayPal since it is their partnership with Synchrony that enticed me to even consider the heavily marketed financing of a tax payment. PayPal, while very supportive of the fact that my request is reasonable, ultimately only sends me back to Synchrony. From the attached screen shot, you can see that when I try to use the method that PayPal provides for me to chat with a live agent at Synchrony, however, I am pushed back into the PayPal system. It is a furious loop of inadequate resolution with no method of escalation.

On Friday November 10, I spoke to "Sherwin" at Synchrony Bank. Unfortunately in the time that it took me to reconstruct all of this insanity, I was then late for an appointment. I quickly and directly shared the story with Sherwin, advised I didn’t have time to wait to be put on hold and stated that I expected a refund or I would report this incident. To date, I have not had any refund or even a call to reach out to learn more. I have spent too much time on an erroneous $30 fee. But I am not willing to have my credit impacted. When I look at Synchrony on your site they have a horrendous customer experience. I hope this will provide some recourse to what appears to be a very simply write off of a fee incurred due to poor follow through on marketing by a PayPal and Synchrony partnership to finance tax payments.

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