topic Synchrony Credit Axe -- Synchrony 6, Me 1 in Credit Cards

Synchrony Credit Axe -- Synchrony 6, Me 1

azdude480 — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 09:53:44 GMT

Welp...I feel this needed to be shared.

As I just shared on someone else's post, I, too, was one of latest victim to Synchrony (within this past week).

All of my Synchorny cards (some of which I've had for many years) were in good standing when I went to bed and sitting at $0 after a fresh round of monthly payoffs. When I woke up the following morning, all of my accounts were closed. (I logged into account manager to see if the payments had posted, and saw the listing of all of my cards with "$0 Available Credit" for every account. My heart only sunk when 'ctrl + r' didn't resolve the 'website glitch'.)

RIP:
Paypal MC: 9K Limit
Amazon Store Card: 10K Limit
Sam's Club Store Card: 10K Limit
Sam's Club MC: 2.5K Limit
Walgreens MC: 2.5K Limit
Discount Tire Store: 6K Limit

While I have known about Synchrony and this practice, it sure was a shock when it happened to me.

At any rate, after going through the phases of grief (somewhere just shy of acceptance and oscilating between unadulterated rage and pure sadness), I logged into my Venmo app on my iPhone to confirm the bad news there, too (since the Venmo card doesn't show up on the Synchrony account manager website/interface along with most other Synchrony accounts). Much to my surprise, my Venmo Visa Siggy with a 20K limit remained. Feeling soooo thankful for this oversight (of my largest credit card limit), I used the card all week in an effort to show Synchrony some additional love and 'thanks' for their mercy of affording me one card.

I have had some issues sleeping the last few nights. Tonight, it suddenly struck me that Synchrony is literally a gigantic pile of absolute <censored> and I don't need them, and I don't need to ever do business with them again. So I just called them up to free myself of the last of their worthless 3.37" x 2.125" slices of plastic -- and literally laughed at them trying to convince me to keep the card open.

Customer service rep: "Well sir, I'm just having a little trouble understanding the actual issue as to why you want to close the card. There's no annual fee and no harm in keeping it open. How about we just keep the card open for now and you can always close it later? That sounds like a plan, yes?"

Me: "The actual issue? Synchrony just closed all of my accounts that have regular spend, $0 balance, perfect payment histories (like all of my accounts... ever) without warning. There's no issue. I'm just helping you knuckleheads out."

Customer service rep: "Sir! This account is in good standing. I don't understand and would like to help with..."

Me: "Ya freakin' missed one! I haven't gotten the letter yet, but I'm assuming you canceled my accounts because I'm a risky person with my 740 credit scores, complete lack of revolving debt / any debt outside of student loans, and my 100K+ income and philosphy of living well within my means."

Customer service rep: "There's nothing here that..."

Me: "You left me with a card and limit practically on par with the combined limits on all of my other cards you just closed. Well-played. The genius is in how it actually comes across as....oh I don't know. Ineffectual? Incompetent? Idiocracy? Lots of 'I' words you'd have to look up because you are literally that incapable. Ah hell, there's another one. They just keep coming!"

Customer service rep: "Sir I just need to read you some information before I close your account. If you close your account, you will not be able to reopen it. If you have rewards, they will be transfered to your Venmo balance. If you have accumulated rewards in the current statement cycle, they will be...........(rant goes on)."

Me: "Sounds rad."

Customer service rep: "Excuse me, sir?"

Me: "It's an 80s thing. You wouldn't understand."

Customer service rep: "Um..."

Me: "Yeeeeeeeee-ah this is awkward for me too. Close it down. And sir?

Customer service rep: "Yes?"

Me: You have not only my permission, you have my total confidence."

Customer service rep: "Ughh...oookay. You're account is now closed."

Anyways, I'm just happy that there is now going to be six accounts listed as closed by the issuer/grantor, followed immediately by one closed by me for the same issuer. As a side bonus, with all closed accounts reporting (sans the Venmo card) and the impacts on age of account metrics/utilization taken into effect, I've been docked 1 point on each bureau. My average age of open accounts is the exact same (although it should be a month ahead at this point, so I guess I lose a month).

I just wanted to share my experience in hopes of inspiring others to vote with their money. If a company (in this case lender or credit issuer) screws you royally, you don't ever have (and actually shouldn't) give them your business again. Credit can help you buy real estate, land jobs, buy cars and other big ticket items. But once you already have what you need, credit is just a game.

Re: Synchrony Credit Axe -- Synchrony 6, Me 1

NRB525 — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 13:13:04 GMT

Not sure why you felt the need to take it out on the CSR agent. The algorithm is what looked at your portfolio of cards and decided to close them. The CSR is just trying to do their job.

Sorry the closures happened.

Re: Synchrony Credit Axe -- Synchrony 6, Me 1

W261w261 — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 13:13:12 GMT

Love the writing. As long as we're **bleep**ing about Synch, last week my son went to Lowe's and did a few small charges (total <$400 out of a $5k CL). Account was always PIF, but hadn't been used in maybe 2 cycles. Apparently the multiple charges spooked the algorithm, and they shut down the card. He mentioned it the next day that the card mysteriously stopped working. Now, did I get a call? Did I get a text? No and no. Call to Synch CSR, transferred to another person, transferred to anti-fraud, 15 minutes later the account was back. Pain.

Re: Synchrony Credit Axe -- Synchrony 6, Me 1

bigseegar — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 13:13:53 GMT

@azdude480 Dang sorry to hear that! I too though keep waiting for the ax to fall and truthfully that should never be an issue with cards and customers in good standing. That's just crazy! As a DP in another post I did on SYNC trying to figure out their logic, did you carry any balances from month to month on any of these accts and how often did you use them?

Re: Synchrony Credit Axe -- Synchrony 6, Me 1

FireMedic1 — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 13:18:57 GMT

Sync strikes again. Sorry about that. Your not the first and certainly wont be the last. Might be more coming with all thats going on. CO's are probably on the rise like everything else. Foreclosures, repos, and so on. We'll all have to pay for it. Couple pawn shops around here stopped taking things in. People arent picking up their things and purchasing is down.

Re: Synchrony Credit Axe -- Synchrony 6, Me 1

Anonymous — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 13:22:58 GMT

@NRB525 wrote:
Not sure why you felt the need to take it out on the CSR agent. The algorithm is what looked at your portfolio of cards and decided to close them. The CSR is just trying to do their job.

Right. (Now it's just possible OP was being a keyboard warrior and that the reported exchange was hyperbole, hope so!)

Re: Synchrony Credit Axe -- Synchrony 6, Me 1

K-in-Boston — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 14:09:49 GMT

It's unlikely that even after the discussion the CSR has any idea why you were upset. All they are seeing is the account they have open in front of them which didn't appear to have any issues. I'm sorry that the cards were closed, but as mentioned already it's just a computerized decision based on risk assessment, and there always seems to be a reason for these closures when one looks at it objectively. The Walgreens and Venmo cards have only been fairly recently introduced; how many of these were recent acquisitions (last couple of years)?

Re: Synchrony Credit Axe -- Synchrony 6, Me 1

SUPERSQUID — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 14:25:09 GMT

Synchrony strikes again!

Re: Synchrony Credit Axe -- Synchrony 6, Me 1

SouthJamaica — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 14:28:45 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
It's unlikely that even after the discussion the CSR has any idea why you were upset. All they are seeing is the account they have open in front of them which didn't appear to have any issues. I'm sorry that the cards were closed, but as mentioned already it's just a computerized decision based on risk assessment, and there always seems to be a reason for these closures when one looks at it objectively. The Walgreens and Venmo cards have only been fairly recently introduced; how many of these were recent acquisitions (last couple of years)?

With all due respect, what is your basis for concluding that it was based on "risk assessment"? I didn't notice anything remotely risky in OP's profile.

Re: Synchrony Credit Axe -- Synchrony 6, Me 1

K-in-Boston — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 14:46:04 GMT

@SouthJamaica at least two of the cards are only recently introduced to the market so it seems these may be recent acquisitions. From the signature, adding in the closed ones that is a very high store card to Bankcard ratio as well. Also, from the other thread: "I have been on a bit of an an app and new account spree (between 15 and 19 inquiries reporting on 'each'--TU, EQ, EX)."

Re: Synchrony Credit Axe -- Synchrony 6, Me 1

SouthJamaica — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 15:09:35 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
@SouthJamaica at least two of the cards are only recently introduced to the market so it seems these may be recent acquisitions. From the signature, adding in the closed ones that is a very high store card to Bankcard ratio as well. Also, from the other thread: "I have been on a bit of an an app and new account spree (between 15 and 19 inquiries reporting on 'each'--TU, EQ, EX)."

Thanks.

Re: Synchrony Credit Axe -- Synchrony 6, Me 1

CaptinVantage — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 15:27:53 GMT

I'm just spit balling here but has anyone checked their vs4 score that synchrony uses to approve and deny cards with and manage accounts with when these closures happen ? Everyone talks about their great fico scores but synchrony manages their accounts based on the vs4 score and that score can shoot up and down real wildly based on overall credit usage across all cards . I'm just curious if the correlation is that score . Could be totally wrong but it moved 30 points one day when a card balance reported and up 50 a couple weeks later when another reported zero. Food for thought .

Re: Synchrony Credit Axe -- Synchrony 6, Me 1

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 15:59:51 GMT

@SouthJamaica wrote:
@K-in-Boston wrote:
It's unlikely that even after the discussion the CSR has any idea why you were upset. All they are seeing is the account they have open in front of them which didn't appear to have any issues. I'm sorry that the cards were closed, but as mentioned already it's just a computerized decision based on risk assessment, and there always seems to be a reason for these closures when one looks at it objectively. The Walgreens and Venmo cards have only been fairly recently introduced; how many of these were recent acquisitions (last couple of years)?
With all due respect, what is your basis for concluding that it was based on "risk assessment"? I didn't notice anything remotely risky in OP's profile.

I think terms like risk assessment and management are being misconstrued in the sync threads. First thought on the forums when risk is mentioned, is someone is already, or will soon be financially distressed. Unfortunately, we don't know what risk sync is looking for. It's been shown over and over again that even people with 0 balances and excellent credit are being affected. Yet, despite common themes of having 10s of thousands of dollars in available credit (the op had 60k with sync alone), nobody considers that risk.

So, some rough math. 60k @ 22% and a 1% minimum payment is $600 a month. That rate is conservative considering many sync cards are in the 24-26% range. It will take over 30 years to pay that back with the grand total being near 2.6 MM.

Looking at it from a DTI perspective, that monthly payment is only 10% of the take home salary on 100k, which is about 6k monthly after taxes. BUT, if someone has maxed out 60k with sync, they're probably maxed out with other lenders. Another common theme with the closures was people had a lot of credit with other lenders. Now, add the additional 600, 800, 1000 payments from those lenders plus mortgage/rent (average is about 4100 here), auto (average 563 nationally), utilities, etc. Cost of living where I'm at is over 78% of take home for just home and auto, plus the 10% for sync, and whatever is left for everyone else.

It's easy to see how having an excessive amount of exposure could be considered risky, even if not currently so. All it takes is one hospital visit, one multi-vehicle accident with minimum coverage, or losing your job.

Re: Synchrony Credit Axe -- Synchrony 6, Me 1

TRC_WA — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 16:51:38 GMT

My Sync accounts consist of a $4k Verizon Visa that is 2 years old and an $8k Care Credit that is 2 months old.

Can't get a CLI on the VV with 2 years of massive monthly spend and PIF so I switched my go to card status to the new Amex 3 months ago.

Synchrony has never given me any issues other than the lack of CLIs *knocks on wood* but I really don't have much interest in doing any more business with them other than the 2 cards I have... all these horror stories are pretty convincing.

Sorry to hear about your accounts OP. I'm sure the current economic status of the country is the reasons behind it.

Re: Synchrony Credit Axe -- Synchrony 6, Me 1

TRC_WA — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 17:02:06 GMT

@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:
It's been shown over and over again that even people with 0 balances and excellent credit are being affected. Yet, despite common themes of having 10s of thousands of dollars in available credit (the op had 60k with sync alone), nobody considers that risk.
It's easy to see how having an excessive amount of exposure could be considered risky, even if not currently so. All it takes is one hospital visit, one multi-vehicle accident with minimum coverage, or losing your job.

Pretty much. I make $100k with slightly less than half of that in available credit. I've seen people here with available credit 2x and 3x their incomes... how is that not risky?

Other than going for NFCU cards in the near future (just joined) I'm done applying because quite frankly I don't need it and don't see a need for having 25 different cards with $200k in credit.

@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This too. COL is pretty bad here in WA... housing prices are insane and everything else has gone up as well. I'm doing alright though... my housing and car payment is like 35% of my take home.

Re: Synchrony Credit Axe -- Synchrony 6, Me 1

creditfan — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 17:43:08 GMT

I have a post in another thread on the same topic regarding this issue. Someone I know who has only samclub MC, he is carrying balance every month and missed payments almost every month and his card still remains open.

IMO, be proactive rather than passsive. Keep one or two you use the most and close the rest it's better than wait until they axe all at once

Re: Synchrony Credit Axe -- Synchrony 6, Me 1

C6 — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 18:22:17 GMT

I think your math is a bit off. 60,000 @ 24%, you would need to pay $1200 monthly or 2% just to cover the interest. That's what makes most cards now a suckers bet. Unless you're using them only for rewards and always pay in full don't use them.

Re: Synchrony Credit Axe -- Synchrony 6, Me 1

Remedios — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 18:29:52 GMT

@azdude480 wrote:
Welp...I feel this needed to be shared.

As I just shared on someone else's post, I, too, was one of latest victim to Synchrony (within this past week).

All of my Synchorny cards (some of which I've had for many years) were in good standing when I went to bed and sitting at $0 after a fresh round of monthly payoffs. When I woke up the following morning, all of my accounts were closed. (I logged into account manager to see if the payments had posted, and saw the listing of all of my cards with "$0 Available Credit" for every account. My heart only sunk when 'ctrl + r' didn't resolve the 'website glitch'.)

RIP:
Paypal MC: 9K Limit
Amazon Store Card: 10K Limit
Sam's Club Store Card: 10K Limit
Sam's Club MC: 2.5K Limit
Walgreens MC: 2.5K Limit
Discount Tire Store: 6K Limit

While I have known about Synchrony and this practice, it sure was a shock when it happened to me.

At any rate, after going through the phases of grief (somewhere just shy of acceptance and oscilating between unadulterated rage and pure sadness), I logged into my Venmo app on my iPhone to confirm the bad news there, too (since the Venmo card doesn't show up on the Synchrony account manager website/interface along with most other Synchrony accounts). Much to my surprise, my Venmo Visa Siggy with a 20K limit remained. Feeling soooo thankful for this oversight (of my largest credit card limit), I used the card all week in an effort to show Synchrony some additional love and 'thanks' for their mercy of affording me one card.

I have had some issues sleeping the last few nights. Tonight, it suddenly struck me that Synchrony is literally a gigantic pile of absolute <censored> and I don't need them, and I don't need to ever do business with them again. So I just called them up to free myself of the last of their worthless 3.37" x 2.125" slices of plastic -- and literally laughed at them trying to convince me to keep the card open.

Customer service rep: "Well sir, I'm just having a little trouble understanding the actual issue as to why you want to close the card. There's no annual fee and no harm in keeping it open. How about we just keep the card open for now and you can always close it later? That sounds like a plan, yes?"

Me: "The actual issue? Synchrony just closed all of my accounts that have regular spend, $0 balance, perfect payment histories (like all of my accounts... ever) without warning. There's no issue. I'm just helping you knuckleheads out."

Customer service rep: "Sir! This account is in good standing. I don't understand and would like to help with..."

Me: "Ya freakin' missed one! I haven't gotten the letter yet, but I'm assuming you canceled my accounts because I'm a risky person with my 740 credit scores, complete lack of revolving debt / any debt outside of student loans, and my 100K+ income and philosphy of living well within my means."

Customer service rep: "There's nothing here that..."

Me: "You left me with a card and limit practically on par with the combined limits on all of my other cards you just closed. Well-played. The genius is in how it actually comes across as....oh I don't know. Ineffectual? Incompetent? Idiocracy? Lots of 'I' words you'd have to look up because you are literally that incapable. Ah hell, there's another one. They just keep coming!"

Customer service rep: "Sir I just need to read you some information before I close your account. If you close your account, you will not be able to reopen it. If you have rewards, they will be transfered to your Venmo balance. If you have accumulated rewards in the current statement cycle, they will be...........(rant goes on)."

Me: "Sounds rad."

Customer service rep: "Excuse me, sir?"

Me: "It's an 80s thing. You wouldn't understand."

Customer service rep: "Um..."

Me: "Yeeeeeeeee-ah this is awkward for me too. Close it down. And sir?

Customer service rep: "Yes?"

Me: You have not only my permission, you have my total confidence."

Customer service rep: "Ughh...oookay. You're account is now closed."

Anyways, I'm just happy that there is now going to be six accounts listed as closed by the issuer/grantor, followed immediately by one closed by me for the same issuer. As a side bonus, with all closed accounts reporting (sans the Venmo card) and the impacts on age of account metrics/utilization taken into effect, I've been docked 1 point on each bureau. My average age of open accounts is the exact same (although it should be a month ahead at this point, so I guess I lose a month).

I just wanted to share my experience in hopes of inspiring others to vote with their money. If a company (in this case lender or credit issuer) screws you royally, you don't ever have (and actually shouldn't) give them your business again. Credit can help you buy real estate, land jobs, buy cars and other big ticket items. But once you already have what you need, credit is just a game.

You still have CH7 on your credit report.

Even without credit seeking (which you did plenty) it's making you a risky customer.

Also, while others have already addressed that alleged conversation, I really hope I'm right in my thinking that it didn't happen.

It's really not acceptable to talk to someone who's at work and cannot tell you exactly what they think.

It wouldn't even survive on this forum for longer than a few minutes, but I guess you showed them how it's done

Re: Synchrony Credit Axe -- Synchrony 6, Me 1

azdude480 — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 19:46:36 GMT

That's the thing about how large companies work. Generally the ones that interface with the customers are the CSRs. It's sort of set it up that way, unfortunately.

You work for a company (especially one where this is a common occurence), you know what you're signing up for. Intention wasn't to take it out on the CSR, it was cathartic. Unortunately, I was just pointing out the obvious... issues... with the logic in their algorithsm.

From a completely different angle, I was shocked the account closures happened just to the extent that I was not expecting it to actually ever happen to me. But I can totally see how I would have been flagged (at least biweekly CLI checks on all accounts, never using remotely close to my credit limits on any accounts, having a larger-than-normal number of inquiries than the average person, having a higher-than-normal number of new accounts over the past 6-12 months than the average person, much larger Synchrony exposure than the average person... the list goes on).

As stated, it's all a game. Systems and algorithms aren't ever perfect. Fortunately it didn't have much of an effect on me other than piss me off for the first 24-48 hours. I'd say it hurts them more than me, but with me low spend due to spreading purchases over 10-25 cards in any given week/month/year, they probably weren't making a whole lot off of transactions. lol

Re: Synchrony Credit Axe -- Synchrony 6, Me 1

azdude480 — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 19:54:23 GMT

I never carried balances on any of these accounts. I 'had' a balance on my Amazon account at time of closure, but that has since been paid off (even though it was a 12 month 0% financing deal and only 1 month in). Also, I used the Amazon, Paypal, and Sam's MC regularly to buy normal items I need (not as much as a lot of Amazon shoppers). I used the Venmo slightly less than those.

I'd have to go out of my way to remember to put spend on any of the others (thankfully with the Discount Tire Card, I'd use it for gas every now and then otherwise it would go mostly unused).

I mean I can totally see why on their end they would possibly benefit from closing the accounts. Sam's Club was used mostly for gas and stuff like toilet paper, bottled water, and any non-perishable food items. I probably used it twice a month and paid it off immediately. Amazon purchases were probably 1 purchase (order) per month. Everything was paid off regularly as soon as the charge posted. They weren't making interest and probably making very little off of the few transaction fees. What they were making, they probably spent generating notices that I was approved/denied for credit limit increases.

But from a 'risk' perspective, it's all sort of relative. You'd think someone who paid off balances on all accounts wouldn't pose a risk. You'd also think they wouldn't have increased the limit on my Venmo and Paypal MC ...generously...two days before closing all accounts (probably another useful data point relating to possible over-exposure).