topic Re: Fed up with Synchrony's reporting in General Credit Topics

Fed up with Synchrony's reporting

Anonymous — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 16:04:02 GMT

A couple times now I have been burned by Synchrony randomly reporting my balance to the credit burueaus. For the most part...especially if there is no card activity, they have been reporting on or near my statement date. But if you actually use the card they will report to the bureaus on any random day, or multiple times a month, or who knows, nobody knows. For someone like me, I may put a huge charge on the card knowing I will PIF BEFORE the statement cuts and BEFORE the card reports. But with Synchrony, as soon as the charge is on, they taddle on me and run to the bureaus as fast as they can and tell the world you made a charge and thus completely destroy your scores. When this has happened, I have had a heart attack and IMMEDIATELY paid it to 0. But even though Synchrony has no problems immediately reporting any charge, they also have no problem taking their time in reporting your payment to 0 and will just leave you hanging for as long as they want. I think it's very unfair they can report your balance at any given random minute, but they won't immediately report if you pay it to 0. Yes this is a rant. If I did not have such a nice credit line with them, I would definitely cancel my card with them. I can't manage my credit scores with how they do business, thus I can't be prepared to app for things when I need. There should be a regulation that if a bank chooses to randomly report any balance at any irregular time, they also MUST report it to 0 within 48 hours. Rant over(or not).

Re: Fed up with Synchrony's reporting

Gmood1 — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 16:15:23 GMT

Why not use a debit card that doesn't report to any CB? Or maybe only charge a small amount to the CC and the rest on the debit card? What's the purpose of using the CC? I've seen some banks giving decent cash back on debit card use.

Re: Fed up with Synchrony's reporting

Anonymous — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 16:16:21 GMT

What Synchrony card is this, what's your limit and what are you spending on it? I only have a Lowe's card through them and have never experienced any irregular reporting. Also, my limit is high enough that they could report several thousand dollars, probably more and it wouldn't impact my scores. Have you reached out to them about this? Perhaps bump your limit higher through Credit Solutions so that it absorbs these issues better?

Re: Fed up with Synchrony's reporting

K-in-Boston — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 16:35:17 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
What Synchrony card is this, what's your limit and what are you spending on it? I only have a Lowe's card through them and have never experienced any irregular reporting. Also, my limit is high enough that they could report several thousand dollars, probably more and it wouldn't impact my scores. Have you reached out to them about this? Perhaps bump your limit higher through Credit Solutions so that it absorbs these issues better?

+1000

Neither my Amazon nor my Lowe's card have ever had any irregular reporting*. They both report the statement balance within a few days of the statement closing. Paying to zero has never resulted in a mid-cycle report, nor has a large purchase of thousands.

*The one exception to this is when an unknown Amazon purchase appeared on my Amazon Prime Store card about a year ago and they issued me a new card number. I temporarily had two Amazon accounts reporting for a few weeks - one closed, and then a new open one with duplicate information from the other account (same opening date, limit, balance, payment history, etc.).

Re: Fed up with Synchrony's reporting

AverageJoesCredit — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 16:37:12 GMT

I actually agree with op, i have experienced and have noticed it but op said it better. There are times when i make a purchase have to wait for it to post to pay then pay and bam , even though i know its nowhere near my due date, its already at the cra. Then you pay it takes forever for them to report it at zero. I feel your pain. Just part of the Sync experience i guess

Re: Fed up with Synchrony's reporting

Anonymous — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 16:42:04 GMT

@Gmood1 wrote:
Why not use a debit card that doesn't report to any CB? Or maybe only charge a small amount to the CC and the rest on the debit card? What's the purpose of using the CC? I've seen some banks giving decent cash back on debit card use.

I use credit cards to get rewards and build my credit. Using debit cards does nothing for your credit. And yes, I thought I could use my Synchrony for a small charge, but no, they reported that also and it was enough to put my utilization up 0.5% which kicked up me into 10% which kicked my score down 10 points. Yes, lesson learned. Whenever I even suspect I might need to app for something, the Synchrony will be in the sock drawer a month in advance and stay there.

Re: Fed up with Synchrony's reporting

Anonymous — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 16:48:07 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
What Synchrony card is this, what's your limit and what are you spending on it? I only have a Lowe's card through them and have never experienced any irregular reporting. Also, my limit is high enough that they could report several thousand dollars, probably more and it wouldn't impact my scores. Have you reached out to them about this? Perhaps bump your limit higher through Credit Solutions so that it absorbs these issues better?

This is the Paypal Extras card.

Incident #1: I used to have a 3k limit. I put a $2k charge on the card. Instantly reported. I paid it to zero and asked for a CLI. They bumped my CL up to 10k. Okay fine.

Incident #2: My card is at 10k limit right? I made a few small charges that added up to $350. They ran and reported it. I caught it two days after they did this. Immediately paid it to 0. Seven days later I am sitting here with still the balance on my reports. By bad luck that $350 bumped me into the next utilization realm of 10% and crashed my score 10 points, and was trying to app for something today.

Re: Fed up with Synchrony's reporting

Gmood1 — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 17:36:07 GMT

Totally understand the building credit part. lol

You said it crashed your scores? If your scores are current in the signature. How much of a difference do you believe those 10 points are going to make?

I'm just trying to understand what's the real world difference between a 770 and a 780?

IME it doesn't matter. If they're going to deny or approve. In this score range it's not going to make a difference from what I've experienced.

Re: Fed up with Synchrony's reporting

MrDisco99 — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 17:48:08 GMT

Yeah once you’re above around 750, you’re pretty much golden anyway. The only things that will stop you at the point would be specific things like number of recent inquiries/new accounts or running against specific app rules that some banks have (like 5/24).

That said I totally get the frustration. I’ve got $1K still showing up on my Barclay CashForward even though I paid it down to zero over a month ago. I’m hoping they actually print a statement this month and report the zero balance. Otherwise they’re going to get an unpleasant phone call from me. I get that different banks report differently and it’s bad enough just keeping up with that. It’s a whole other thing when they are inconsistent though.

Re: Fed up with Synchrony's reporting

Anonymous — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 17:57:36 GMT

@Gmood1 wrote:
Totally understand the building credit part. lol
You said it crashed your scores? If your scores are current in the signature. How much of a difference do you believe those 10 points are going to make?
I'm just trying to understand what's the real world difference between a 770 and a 780?
IME it doesn't matter. If they're going to deny or approve. In this score range it's not going to make a difference from what I've experienced.

You raise a good and valid point. Am I being dramatic for nothing?

Last week before Synchrony, my EX was 775 at 9% utilization. After the Synchrony report, my EX was at 766 at 10% utilization. None other of my accounts or data changed.

Maybe I am being too uptight, but like everyone on here I really struggle for every point I can get because you never know the difference between approval and denial right? Sometimes it comes down to 1 point or 1 inquiry or how one thing looks to the underwriters. But your point is well taken.

Re: Fed up with Synchrony's reporting

Anonymous — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 18:55:26 GMT

I get wanting your score to always look as good as possible. I'm guilty of this as well.

That being said, if you're sitting at 9% utilization, you're really walking the line in terms of that threshold and at any point could be just above or just below it. If a $350 balance on a $10,000 limit card reporting is enough to push your across that threshold, IMO you're riding it too close. Your first step should be to take your utilization all the way down to 1-2% if possible. At that point, it likely wouldn't matter (score wise) if Synchrony reports you off-cycle, as you'd have a good amount of utilization padding there to absorb an abnormality.

Re: Fed up with Synchrony's reporting

SBR249 — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 20:25:32 GMT

IMO, if this is going to be an ongoing source of frustration, then I'd use that 10K limit and app for a better card. Now that you have a high limit card, other banks will be more willing to give you one as well. Then SD the Sync and move on.

Re: Fed up with Synchrony's reporting

Anonymous — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 23:17:43 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I get wanting your score to always look as good as possible. I'm guilty of this as well.

That being said, if you're sitting at 9% utilization, you're really walking the line in terms of that threshold and at any point could be just above or just below it. If a $350 balance on a $10,000 limit card reporting is enough to push your across that threshold, IMO you're riding it too close. Your first step should be to take your utilization all the way down to 1-2% if possible. At that point, it likely wouldn't matter (score wise) if Synchrony reports you off-cycle, as you'd have a good amount of utilization padding there to absorb an abnormality.

That's correct. And my close math walking that close line would have worked perfectly if Synchrony had not randomly reported the small balance off cycle. It is what it is. My utilization is about to go down, now that I have apped and approvals today. Will post the data points for the group when everything is together.

Re: Fed up with Synchrony's reporting

Anonymous — Fri, 15 Dec 2017 06:59:11 GMT

Yes it happened to me also with my walmart card wasn't enough to worry about but it did.

Re: Fed up with Synchrony's reporting

Anonymous — Fri, 15 Dec 2017 08:26:29 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

That's correct. And my close math walking that close line would have worked perfectly if Synchrony had not randomly reported the small balance off cycle. It is what it is. My utilization is about to go down, now that I have apped and approvals today. Will post the data points for the group when everything is together.

I think the more important question here, while it may veer the conversation off topic is why are you keeping your utilization at 9% rather than say 1%-2%?

Re: Fed up with Synchrony's reporting

Anonymous — Sat, 16 Dec 2017 02:42:03 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:

That's correct. And my close math walking that close line would have worked perfectly if Synchrony had not randomly reported the small balance off cycle. It is what it is. My utilization is about to go down, now that I have apped and approvals today. Will post the data points for the group when everything is together.
I think the more important question here, while it may veer the conversation off topic is why are you keeping your utilization at 9% rather than say 1%-2%?

My 10% is all at 0% or it's balances which will be PIF before end of cycles.

Yes, I do take advantage of 0% money to keep my cash position strong and fix problems in my life.

Re: Fed up with Synchrony's reporting

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Jan 2018 15:28:40 GMT

Now I know what you mean. My new Marvel card current balance was reported with no statement being cut. It didn’t affect my utilization though.

Re: Fed up with Synchrony's reporting

Dave4fun — Tue, 23 Jan 2018 16:52:09 GMT

Hey MrDisco99! I love your profile name! I know this is off topic from Synchrony, but as you mentioned, Barclays is very slow to report. They don't run out and report a balance right away, but in the same manner they do take forever to show the PIF $0 balance too.

Re: Fed up with Synchrony's reporting

Anonymous — Wed, 24 Jan 2018 00:53:49 GMT

Interesting. My statement cut for my Care Credit was January 15, got the statement and the balance said zero and amount due zero. There were no pending charges either.

January 18th I made a $36.00 purchase at rite aid and got alerts on all my reports on January 21 that there was an increase of $36.00 on bank cards. Sure enough Synchrony reported the $36. 6 days after statement cut date reported the purchase.

Re: Fed up with Synchrony's reporting

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Feb 2019 16:04:12 GMT

Hey everyone... I just had this happen with Synchrony on my Amazon Store Card. I've had it for a few months with a $2,500 SL. Each month I charge about $1,500 on it and then PIF before the statement cut date. During this cycle, all of a sudden they randomly reported about $1,200 to the bureaus, which obviously shot up my utilization on this card to about 50% and overall to over 20%.

Has anyone figured out whether there is any rationale behind them doing this and how often it happens (once mid-cycle, etc.) or is it just purely random?

I guess I'll have to either not use their cards (like some of the other people here said) if I'm planning on applying for any other credit, or just PIF after every larger purchase.

Any additional thoughts or guidance is appreciated!