topic Re: Sync closed 4 accounts! in Credit Cards

Sync closed 4 accounts!

Anonymous514 — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 00:44:15 GMT

My Lowe's card, BP card, PayPal, and my CareCredit. Gurantee the Old Navy Visa is probably closed as well. Reasons: Not enough paid down on student loans, credit score, (690 across the board), most recent delinquent or derogatory payment too soon (The one from the BK7 two years ago?) And credit utilization on current accounts. Literally like 500$/60,000$. I told them cool. I will BT the 243$ on Lowe's and 166$ on Paypal that I had on to literally show use and I guess I will not be doing anymore store cards. They were just meant to be cushion for utilization if I ever needed to carry a heavy balance. It is awful funny my CU (Baxter Credit Union) just bumped my travel card up to 15,000$. But apparently SYNC thinks I cannot handle their store cards.. LOL is all I can say. I will just stick to big name Visa,MC lenders..

Re: Sync closed 4 accounts!

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 01:18:39 GMT

I'm sorry to hear what happened.

Usually what triggers a shutdown is one (or more) of the following:

abnormal spending, such as lots of gift card purchases - issuers are very sensitive to rewards/cashback abuse;
getting denied for a new card from the same issuer due to a credit score decrease - the denial may trigger a new look at one's existing accounts; and
sometimes, an issuer will do periodic SPs and will shut folks down if they behave in a way correlated with high risk - e.g., tons of applications for new credit lines within a very short period of time; suddenly high utilization across all accounts.

What's strange is that the reasons you listed don't seem to fall into any of the above categories.

Re: Sync closed 4 accounts!

Anonymous514 — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 01:22:38 GMT

I have a lot of new accounts and inquiries from my rebuild but those were not listed. It's annoying but honestly this is probably a good thing. I have actual prime cards now with good limits so I'm not gonna stress too much over this. If these were like a capital one card or a major issuer I'd be really worried but it's Syncb lol

Re: Sync closed 4 accounts!

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 01:29:07 GMT

@Anonymous514 wrote:
I have a lot of new accounts and inquiries from my rebuild but those were not listed. It's annoying but honestly this is probably a good thing. I have actual prime cards now with good limits so I'm not gonna stress too much over this. If these were like a capital one card or a major issuer I'd be really worried but it's Syncb lol

Kudos on the success in your rebuild. Definitely true that Sync is, well, Sync. They play an important role in building/rebuilding credit, but can't compare to the prime lenders in customer service or reliability once you've reached that point.

Re: Sync closed 4 accounts!

Shooting-For-800 — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 01:35:56 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous514 wrote:
I have a lot of new accounts and inquiries from my rebuild but those were not listed. It's annoying but honestly this is probably a good thing. I have actual prime cards now with good limits so I'm not gonna stress too much over this. If these were like a capital one card or a major issuer I'd be really worried but it's Syncb lol
Kudos on the success in your rebuild. Definitely true that Sync is, well, Sync. They play an important role in building/rebuilding credit, but can't compare to the prime lenders in customer service or reliability once you've reached that point.

Sync has nice cards as well.

Re: Sync closed 4 accounts!

Anonymous514 — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 01:45:34 GMT

A lot of their cards are good for financing, store focused rewards. I am good with my cards I still have. As I rarely balance carry I should be ok without them.

Re: Sync closed 4 accounts!

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 01:47:10 GMT

@Shooting-For-800 wrote:
Kudos on the success in your rebuild. Definitely true that Sync is, well, Sync. They play an important role in building/rebuilding credit, but can't compare to the prime lenders in customer service or reliability once you've reached that point.
Sync has nice cards as well.

My issue with Sync is their customer service and reliability. DF recently opened a Sync Banana Republic card. A decent store card, yet Sync lowered his credit limit - twice! - for no discernible reason between the time he was approved for the card (not preapproved; actually approved) and the time they mailed out the card 48 hours later.

Then there's the Sync-run PPMC. It's a decent $0 AF, 2% back credit card, and certainly one of the few (only?) $0 AF, 2% back cards available to people who haven't quite reached the end of building/rebuilding their credit. But the login interface sucks. You'd think that, between Sync's expertise in issuing credit cards, and PayPal's expertise in managing online payments, that they'd be able to figure out a first-rate, or at least decent, card management interface. But... they haven't. Then there's the FTF. The PPMC started out with a standard 3% FTF. Then Sync eliminated it, and folks flocked to the card. Then Sync reimposed the 3% FTF. Yet even weeks after the 3% FTF was reimposed (and certainly months after Sync first decided to reimpose the 3% FTF and notified cardholders), we've had reports on here of multiple Sync CSRs, and even supervisors, assuring cardholders (incorrectly) that the FTF was still $0.

I'm not saying Sync's awful. They're decent at what they do and I haven't really heard any true horror stories (which isn't the case with some other issuers). But I've never heard anyone claim that Sync operates on the same level as, say, Citi or Chase.

Re: Sync closed 4 accounts!

MrDFinance — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 01:48:56 GMT

Wow 😖....Did you recently apply for another Sync card or a credit increase? ....Ususally they don't just close out the blue like that

Re: Sync closed 4 accounts!

Taurus22 — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 02:03:24 GMT

Once again, same old story with SyncB. Really sorry this happened @Anonymous514 I agree, stick to Prime and CU-issued cards.

I know people love to get on here and defend SyncB and insist that the lender has done nothing but protect their own interests, but how many times is this going to be the story before people realize that any relationship with SyncB is risky, at best? This forum is but a small corner of the world that we can actually see the repeat of stories pour in.....makes you wonder about the true percentage of people that this affects, that we never hear about, simply because they are not members here. SyncB will never find a place in my profile. Defend them all you want.

Re: Sync closed 4 accounts!

Anonymous514 — Sun, 22 Aug 2021 23:00:09 GMT

Re: Sync closed 4 accounts!

coldfusion — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 02:36:14 GMT

Synchrony has been especially twitchy with accounts for the last year. Emperically if you have several Synchrony cards and either of the following applies you appear to be at increased risk of having all of your Synchrony cards closed with no opportunity for reconsideration:

Aggregate credit limit of roughly on the order of $75K-$100K across all your Synchrony cards but with comparatively minimal usage.

Recent credit seeking activity by adding multiple new tradelines and/or requesting CLIs on Synchrony cards.

There was a master thread started on the topic right about this time last year and while that thread has been locked and closed it's still relevant and there have still been individual threads created here from members who discovered that all of their Synchrony cards have been closed.

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Master-Synchrony-Account-Closure-Thread/m-p/6119157

Re: Sync closed 4 accounts!

MrDisco99 — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 03:00:00 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Then there's the Sync-run PPMC. It's a decent $0 AF, 2% back credit card, and certainly one of the few (only?) $0 AF, 2% back cards available to people who haven't quite reached the end of building/rebuilding their credit. But the login interface sucks. You'd think that, between Sync's expertise in issuing credit cards, and PayPal's expertise in managing online payments, that they'd be able to figure out a first-rate, or at least decent, card management interface. But... they haven't. Then there's the FTF. The PPMC started out with a standard 3% FTF. Then Sync eliminated it, and folks flocked to the card. Then Sync reimposed the 3% FTF. Yet even weeks after the 3% FTF was reimposed (and certainly months after Sync first decided to reimpose the 3% FTF and notified cardholders), we've had reports on here of multiple Sync CSRs, and even supervisors, assuring cardholders (incorrectly) that the FTF was still $0.

This was the only card of theirs that was on my radar, specifically for the 0% FTF. I never got arround to submitting an app even though they bugged me constantly via email. I'm glad I waited. I would've been pretty upset if I'd blown a HP on this card only for them to undo that feature.

Nothing else they have interests me, especially after hearing stories like OP.

Re: Sync closed 4 accounts!

Trini88 — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 03:23:55 GMT

Terrible. This story definitely tells me to never apply for one of their cards. I hope my VS card never gets snatched up by them 😪

Re: Sync closed 4 accounts!

Shooting-For-800 — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 12:00:00 GMT

Sync has more than one 2% cards.

I have the Premier WMC and it's been great.

Not saying they are a Godsend.

People have problems with all banks including Citi, Chase, and even Amex.

GL OP!

Re: Sync closed 4 accounts!

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 12:58:06 GMT

@Taurus22 wrote:
This forum is but a small corner of the world that we can actually see the repeat of stories pour in.....makes you wonder about the true percentage of people that this affects, that we never hear about, simply because they are not members here. SyncB will never find a place in my profile. Defend them all you want.

Possible, but common sense would suggest that that really isn't the issue. People here are far from representitive: they are far more "aggressive" about credit (getting cards, getting CLI/APRR etc), often have a rebuilding past and thus just appear more risky. Plus, MyFico isn't the only source, if lots of customers were getting unfairly treated by an issuer, mainstream media would also report.

Equally, we don't hear all those stories from non-members about the time that that great Sync company sent them lots of free money because they are great customers. Or cured their medical conditions.....

That said, it's possible that if you are a typical MyFico credit person, you may want to be more cautious with Sync rather than X. But over time, lots of Xs have also been implicated so a hard and fast rule is difficult.

Re: Sync closed 4 accounts!

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 15:15:36 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Taurus22 wrote:
This forum is but a small corner of the world that we can actually see the repeat of stories pour in.....makes you wonder about the true percentage of people that this affects, that we never hear about, simply because they are not members here. SyncB will never find a place in my profile. Defend them all you want.
Possible, but common sense would suggest that that really isn't the issue. People here are far from representitive: they are far more "aggressive" about credit (getting cards, getting CLI/APRR etc), often have a rebuilding past and thus just appear more risky. Plus, MyFico isn't the only source, if lots of customers were getting unfairly treated by an issuer, mainstream media would also report.

Equally, we don't hear all those stories from non-members about the time that that great Sync company sent them lots of free money because they are great customers. Or cured their medical conditions.....

That said, it's possible that if you are a typical MyFico credit person, you may want to be more cautious with Sync rather than X. But over time, lots of Xs have also been implicated so a hard and fast rule is difficult.

^This! I think Sync's preferred customer is one that utilizes their products frequently. Sync pushes their available financing options and I imagine they make a lot of money from customers that fail to pay the entire balance before the promotional period ends. This forum is a very small subset of credit card users, most consumers outside of this space don't have a clue about utilization padding. My guess is Sync has an algorithm that runs to see if you utilize offers/credit limit or if you push a few small charges through every 3 months to maintain a 5 figure CL with little to no use. The average customer that does this with one account is likely not a red flag, but if someone does this with multiple cards and their limits are in the 6 figures Sync probably catches on pretty quick.

I will say, I certainly do not agree with Sync's tendency to close all accounts when they detect activity they don't like. I think reducing CLs would be a much better way of handling those situations.

Re: Sync closed 4 accounts!

MileHigh96 — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 15:23:36 GMT

Sync did me dirty last year. I didn't realize how many of my cards that they had their fingers in, but out of the blue they closed every single card I had with them. No notice or warning, just closed them all. Now granted, I did have a LOT of their cards, but I had never missed a payment on any of my credit cards ever. They really screwed my credit up bad.

I will never ever do business with Sync again because of what they did. And it sucks because they had some great cards with great promotional terms. I used their Care Credit card regularly at the vet's office with all of our dogs because of the great promo deals. But never again.

Re: Sync closed 4 accounts!

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 16:41:55 GMT

@MileHigh96 wrote:
out of the blue they closed every single card I had with them. No notice or warning, just closed them all. Now granted, I did have a LOT of their cards, but I had never missed a payment on any of my credit cards ever. They really screwed my credit up bad.

I will never ever do business with Sync again because of what they did. And it sucks because they had some great cards with great promotional terms. I used their Care Credit card regularly at the vet's office with all of our dogs because of the great promo deals. But never again.

Exactly. It's this kind of behavior that we see from Comenity, from FNBO, from Sync that we don't typically see from the likes of AmEx, BofA, BB&T, Cap One, Chase, Citi, Discover, Goldman, HSBC, TD, etc. Even Elan and U.S. Bank, which are particularly (over)sensitive to even occasional, bona fide gift card purchases, are generally more reliable than Comenity & co.

Folks keep saying, "but Sync & co. offer credit cards with great APRs and rewards!" They do! They do indeed. That is not, and has never been, the complaint. Heck, many of Sync's CCs offer better rewards than any of BB&T or PNC's cards, AFAIK. That's why myFICO'ers have often advsied folks to get the PPMC, whereas folks here have pretty much never advised anyone to go for a BB&T card.

Folks also keep saying, "but EVERY ISSUER takes AA! EVERY ISSUER is profit-oriented! EVERY ISSUER has disgruntled (ex-)customers!" And of course that's true too. No issuer is perfect; every issuer has taken (arguably unwarranted) AA; every issuer has (arguably unwarrantably) closed accounts; every issuer has (arguably unwarrantably) issued CLDs. But a consistent theme that's emerged, again and again and again, is that Sync & co. are more ruthless about taking AA. And, to be fair to Sync & co., they probably have to be more ruthless than, say, Citi in view of the average creditworthiness of their customers. But still, that's not a good outcome for the customer - especially the customer whose credit is strong enough that they could choose to do business with Chase instead.

The typical customer expects AA if they suddenly start falling behind on payments; or if their utilization suddenly spikes from 10% to 90%. The typical customer does not expect to lose multiple CCs in one fell swoop without so much as a "by your leave" for merely not spending enough on said CCs to suit the issuer's taste.

As a closing note, I take some exception to the characterization of myFICO'ers as particularly "credit-risky." If it was true that myFICO'ers were "subprime" borrowers, the prime lenders wouldn't touch myFICO'ers with a ten-foot pole. The fact that lenders, even picky lenders like Chase and Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank, love myFICO'ers shows we aren't "subprime" or particularly "risky." And even with credit-seeking behavior, I don't think most myFICO'ers credit-seek that aggressively. Yes, there are some on here with 30 credit cards and a million dollars in credit; but I'd venture to say that isn't remotely representative of the average myFICO'er. I think <10 cards is far more common, and many non-FICO'ers easily get up to the same number of cards simply by getting suckered into applying for mediocre store card after mediocre store card (that's how my parents were when I was a kid).

Re: Sync closed 4 accounts!

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 17:21:41 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

As a closing note, I take some exception to the characterization of myFICO'ers as particularly "credit-risky." If it was true that myFICO'ers were "subprime" borrowers, the prime lenders wouldn't touch myFICO'ers with a ten-foot pole. The fact that lenders, even picky lenders like Chase and Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank, love myFICO'ers shows we aren't "subprime" or particularly "risky." And even with credit-seeking behavior, I don't think most myFICO'ers credit-seek that aggressively. Yes, there are some on here with 30 credit cards and a million dollars in credit; but I'd venture to say that isn't remotely representative of the average myFICO'er. I think <10 cards is far more common, and many non-FICO'ers easily get up to the same number of cards simply by getting suckered into applying for mediocre store card after mediocre store card (that's how my parents were when I was a kid).

Well, according to https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/average-number-of-credit-cards-a-person-has/ and other sites, the average US card holder has between 3-5 cards. And, IMO, the vast majority of people on MyFico have more, the minimalists being a small percentage. And people here do attempt to "grow" cards just because, which again is not something people in the normal world would do (if they even know about increasing limits, do it when there is a need). And a lot of the forum have had some sort of BK in the past, although I don't know if this is a significant percentage. So I think this IS a more risky population that those at large. Sure, people get great cards all the time, but being more risky as a population certainly doesn't translate into no-one here ever gets a card.

As a reality check, discuss your credit card life with some non-members, it really isn't remotely normal. Which isn't bad, but it DOES look unusual to the issuers.

Re: Sync closed 4 accounts!

Bradac56 — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 17:42:17 GMT

This Synchrony bashing seems fairly myopic.

Sync is a small margin, high issue company (*very high approval rate to questionable clients*) which results in allot of risk so claw backs happen regularly - as in every year. People with 3+ cards with them are always on the cutting block that is just how the company works.

If you go app happy with them or hold large balances long term with anyone you really do not understand there business model and should stay away from there products.