@RaiseMyScoreASAP wrote:In November 2013, I opened two charge accounts with GE Capital: one with Belk and one with Brooks Brothers. Since that time, GE Capital sold its charge accounts to Synchrony Bank (SYNCB). I left these two charge accounts in a hot car over the summer and they slightly warped. So I requested a replacement card for each.
SYNCB is now reporting that I have FOUR accounts, two open and two closed. SYNCB reported two of the accounts as "lost or stolen." This has increased my overall account total by two and decreased my AAOA. I have never experienced this from any other bank or creditor. With EVERY OTHER creditor, damaged cards are replaced the same account number. Sometimes, the creditor will assign a new account number, but certainly does not report multiple accounts. The customer service agents at Belk and Brooks Brothers have not been helpful in getting this resolved. I simply want it reported that I have ONE account with Belk and ONE account with Brooks Brothers. If I had known what a huge hassle and detriment this was I would have just kept my mouth shut and kep the damaged cards. They probably were fine to use, but were warped. I rarely use the physical cards anyway. I just show my ID and have the clerk look up the number. Finally I spoke to someone at Brooks Brothers who finally admitted that this practice was not the industry norm. He says that the duplicates should drop off in a few months. Why should I have to suffer because of their incorrect reporting?
The thing that really has me off the rails is the Belk people who tell me that oh no I am WRONG. THEIR personal credit was never impacted when THEY closed an account. It seems that EVERYONE who is an agent at Belk SYNCB is a certified FICO expert and I should be glad that they are so helpful. When you get denied credit solely because of the decrease in the AAOC, then you have suffered damages. And I have suffered damages.
THIS IS A WARNING TO ANYONE WHO HAS A CHARGE ACCOUNT WITH SYNCB. First, don't open an account with this bank in the first place. And if you do never request a replacement card.
What he says is 100% true! When Sam's Club switched from Discover to MasterCard, I never received my new card. Soooo I called and explained what happened, I was tols a new one would be sent. Sooooo I get a alert on my CR that my Sam's Club MC CC is now Lost or Stolen!
Starting Score: 675
@RaiseMyScoreASAP wrote:THANK YOU FOR CONFIRMING!
@jwduke wrote:
@RaiseMyScoreASAP wrote:In November 2013, I opened two charge accounts with GE Capital: one with Belk and one with Brooks Brothers. Since that time, GE Capital sold its charge accounts to Synchrony Bank (SYNCB). I left these two charge accounts in a hot car over the summer and they slightly warped. So I requested a replacement card for each.
SYNCB is now reporting that I have FOUR accounts, two open and two closed. SYNCB reported two of the accounts as "lost or stolen." This has increased my overall account total by two and decreased my AAOA. I have never experienced this from any other bank or creditor. With EVERY OTHER creditor, damaged cards are replaced the same account number. Sometimes, the creditor will assign a new account number, but certainly does not report multiple accounts. The customer service agents at Belk and Brooks Brothers have not been helpful in getting this resolved. I simply want it reported that I have ONE account with Belk and ONE account with Brooks Brothers. If I had known what a huge hassle and detriment this was I would have just kept my mouth shut and kep the damaged cards. They probably were fine to use, but were warped. I rarely use the physical cards anyway. I just show my ID and have the clerk look up the number. Finally I spoke to someone at Brooks Brothers who finally admitted that this practice was not the industry norm. He says that the duplicates should drop off in a few months. Why should I have to suffer because of their incorrect reporting?
The thing that really has me off the rails is the Belk people who tell me that oh no I am WRONG. THEIR personal credit was never impacted when THEY closed an account. It seems that EVERYONE who is an agent at Belk SYNCB is a certified FICO expert and I should be glad that they are so helpful. When you get denied credit solely because of the decrease in the AAOC, then you have suffered damages. And I have suffered damages.
THIS IS A WARNING TO ANYONE WHO HAS A CHARGE ACCOUNT WITH SYNCB. First, don't open an account with this bank in the first place. And if you do never request a replacement card.
What he says is 100% true! When Sam's Club switched from Discover to MasterCard, I never received my new card. Soooo I called and explained what happened, I was tols a new one would be sent. Sooooo I get a alert on my CR that my Sam's Club MC CC is now Lost or Stolen!
THANK YOU FOR CONFIRMING!! I didn't think I was crazy. Perhaps my mother should have had me tested like Sheldon Cooper.
The more I think about this, the madder I get. A bank is able to greatly lower your AAOA by sending you a replacement card. Say if I only had five cards and they are all with SYNCB but each was opened 25 years ago (I don't even know how long SYNCB has been around) and these are my only accounts. If I request the replacement cards or SYNBC just decides to send me a new card with a new account or say Brooks Brothers switches from Visa to MC, then my 25 year AAOA becomes 2.5 years just like that!!! You become someone with a low AAOA instead of a large AAOA overnight just because of this STUPID bank. This is incorrect, a lost/stolen card does not calculate into Fico scoring in any way, it does not cause a loss of AAoA. A product upgrade to a bankcard from store card will be a new account and your AAoA will change with the new account opening. The old store card gets closed and it stays around for up to 10 yrs post close.
So at first I thought I would keep the Brooks Brothers account open. Really getting a $20 gift card on my birthday and $25 off a purchase of $175 or more coupons are not enough. I had already decided to ditch the Belk card after it has 24 months of reporting. I was already getting nervous that my Brooks Brothers card would one day magically be "updated" to a MC and thus inflicting the same thing on me all over again. (In that case, if I requested the upgrade to a MC, I would fully expect a new account would be showing and the old one would be closed. That would be like applying for a new BB MC.) You have the choice of denying the upgrade if its offered to you, its their policy that the old account is closed and a new one opens with the current date, there is nothing wrong or illegal in this.
However, I am going to file a complaint with the FACT people or FCRA people. The responses I have gotten from SYNCB in the mail have been automated boilerplate. Their customer service stinks so bad I had to spray Febreeze on the phone for days. I do not see an issue with Synch the premise that your AAoA is changed due to lost/stolen/replacement cards is not correct.
Right now I can't tell if the letters I have received from them were in reponse to my FAX or phone call or letter. Their letter to me didn't reference what correpsondence. So I may need to resend via certified mail and request that the response specifically refer to my letter.
