“Dear Steve,
I don’t believe I have been “scammed” in the traditional sense, but I find something fishy about Synchrony Bank (Formerly GE Capital, GE Capital Retail Bank) My story is as follows: I have 3 credit cards with GE CRB and receive notices of change to Synchrony, the usual stuff (my online accts now go to them etc.) That’s fine and dandy, then I get an e-mail from Synchrony stating that my PayPal extras Mastercard Statement is ready. 3 years and 10 months ago I cancelled that card over being told that my acct was past due because most people upon getting their email statement, pay immediately by electronic means. My payment was not due for almost 2 weeks. So I paid it off and cancelled the card at that time.
Now I am told by Synchrony that they owe me 78 cents and that is why my paypal acct has been reactivated. according to paypal my acct is closed. I then received a new terms of agreement, statement and a check for 78 cents. How can an acct that I closed suddenly be reopened and what can I do to remove my personal information from a closed acct?
I called paypal they said my account was closed.
I called Synchrony they said the acct would be closed again, if I wished, but I need the credit don’t I?
Robert”
Dear Robert,
I took a look at the PayPal Extras MasterCard card statement you sent me from Synchrony Bank and it seems that rather than the account being reopened or activated this is simply a statement about a found credit balance. In this case $0.78.
I can certainly understand how the arrival of a new statement on a long closed account can create confusion and I did reach out to Synchrony Bank to confirm my suspicions. They concurred that is exactly what happened. They also said they would attempt to contact you to help answer any remaining questions you might have.
They probably are just as thrilled having to send a statement out as you were to receive it.
As to what caused them to suddenly report the $0.78 you had as a credit balance and send the statement, well that’s the mystery but I’m sure the answer is going to be based in a regulation and bureaucracy.
Please post your responses and follow-up messages to me on this in the comments section below.
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OK, first I wish to thank you for the prompt response to my issue above. Now, however, I have had what I consider a lot of correspondence for a closed acct, I have received postal & email from Synchrony bank for an address change (I never gave them my new address), A letter saying they hope I will continue to shop with them and monthly statements showing a zero balance as well as a change in policy statement. Is their policy to harass someone over an acct closed before they ever became an entity? I also carry 3 other accounts (Store cards) that they took over and have a zero balance on those as well, but I don’t get anything from those open accounts. I guess that all I can do is to never use or close those accounts again. What are your thoughts?