topic Re: Synchrony Bank and FICO score in General Credit Topics

Synchrony Bank and FICO score

fidofico — Wed, 31 May 2023 14:29:23 GMT

Last month I wanted to set up a "Care Credit" card - emergency-use credit card for veterinary bills - and this is handled through Synchrony Bank.

Terrible outfit, as I see from other stuff I've since read online, and I'm wondering if my abortive dealing with them will ding my credit score.

Here's the story.

Thinking it would be fast and easy and simple to apply for a small amount of credit (under $10k) with them online, I provided my information. They pulled my credit report (FICO score well above 800 for at least five years), and my income is in the $150-200k range.

But instead of prequalifying me based on this like most lenders would have done, they then said I had to submit to facial recognition for fastest approval, or submit notarized bank statements.

At that point I said never mind, I'm not interested. But they'd already pulled my (Transunion they said) credit report, and said that my credit report would show that I applied for credit there, that was not granted.

What do I do now? I did immediately call Transunion, but they at the time had no record of Synchrony making an inquiry, and I had to wait 15 minutes through noisy music and attempted "upselling" of credit report features, before I spoke to someone.

If my "offense," balanced against my overall credit record, is like someone with a perfect driving record parking too far from the curb on a quiet street, I'll not dig any more on this. But if I face something more adverse, I'd appreciate hearing what I'm supposed to do now.

Re: Synchrony Bank and FICO score

GZG — Wed, 31 May 2023 15:28:16 GMT

have you confirm that they did a hard pull on your report as opposed to a soft pull?

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/

Synchrony typically has soft-pull pre-qualifying options prior to the full application, be sure you didn't do that as opposed to the full application with a hard pull

as to the impact one inquiry will have (if it is a hard inquiry), it will be very slight and the scoring impact will go away in 12 months. I wouldn't worry about it at all.

given your credit/income, I feel like you might easily be able to accomplish something similar with a 0% apr card for 15-21 months

citi BT card, wells fargo BT card, BoA BT card, Discover, all have really long 0% intro APR periods

Re: Synchrony Bank and FICO score

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Wed, 31 May 2023 16:10:21 GMT

@GZG wrote:
have you confirm that they did a hard pull on your report as opposed to a soft pull?

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/

Synchrony typically has soft-pull pre-qualifying options prior to the full application, be sure you didn't do that as opposed to the full application with a hard pull

as to the impact one inquiry will have (if it is a hard inquiry), it will be very slight and the scoring impact will go away in 12 months. I wouldn't worry about it at all.

given your credit/income, I feel like you might easily be able to accomplish something similar with a 0% apr card for 15-21 months

citi BT card, wells fargo BT card, BoA BT card, Discover, all have really long 0% intro APR periods

For someone with scores in the 800s an inquiry can be much more than a slight ding. Depending on profile, someone could take a 30 point hit.

As for the title mentioning fico, synchrony doesn't use fico. They use vantagescore. That being said, it doesn't appear that you were denied for creditworthiness. You chose to not continue due to their identity/income verification. I see no reason why Synchrony should remove your inquiry because you chose not to continue, regardless of how you view their process. You inquired about new credit, you get an inquiry on your report.

Re: Synchrony Bank and FICO score

rosco75 — Wed, 31 May 2023 19:24:53 GMT

Thats pretty standard stuff from that bank. They typically will send you a link and you do facial ID by scanning your face.

Are you concerned about facial biometrics as a identity confirmation tool? If I may ask - for what reason are you hesitant to move forward with thier process?

Re: Synchrony Bank and FICO score

fidofico — Wed, 31 May 2023 20:21:55 GMT

I appreciate the responses. I didn't understand the difference between a hard and soft pull, so maybe that's what was done. I've never had a problem getting credit under tougher financial circumstances and don't see myself seeking new credit any time soon, so won't worry about it.

Regarding facial recognition, maybe I'm too Luddite, but that just isn't something I'm comfortable with, willingly giving that personal form of identification into data maintained by what's struck me as a sketchy outfit. And certainly not for such a small amount of credit that I far from need.

Re: Synchrony Bank and FICO score

GZG — Wed, 31 May 2023 20:52:38 GMT

@fidofico wrote:
I appreciate the responses. I didn't understand the difference between a hard and soft pull, so maybe that's what was done.

when a company pulls your credit report, if you are formally submitting an application and requesting credit, they are supposed to place a 'hard inquiry' on your report. These inquries do impact your credit score.

on the TU report, they look like this

it's a declaration to other creditors that you are seeking credit

they can also not do that when they pull your credit, this would be called a soft inquiry. These are only seen by you and don't impact your credit score.

they look like this on the TU report:

you can pull your report for free to see if Synchrony added a hard "regular" inqury to your report or not.

It's perfectly understandable not to be okay with their identity verification, there are other (arguably better especially for your SuperPrime credit) that will gladly have you without the fuss

Re: Synchrony Bank and FICO score

fidofico — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 14:10:32 GMT

@GZGthanks for the guidance. I did look at the report, and it was an "account review inquiry," with the exact language you showed. The Synchrony supervisor with whom I'd spoken when this had all come to pass had given me incorrect information. Which I understand is pretty par for their course.

Re: Synchrony Bank and FICO score

FireMedic1 — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 14:18:27 GMT

Your not the first to bring this up. I did what they asked for so i could get the PP MC. No big deal. Photo of DL and a selfie. Google yourself. More info on you than what Sync asked for out there.

Re: Synchrony Bank and FICO score

fidofico — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 17:48:04 GMT

I actually did use facial ID and DL to set up an account with the IRS (at a time when this was going to be required; IRS subsequently backed away).

I didn't play ball with Synchrony because I was getting major sketchy vibes (should have googled/reddited/myficoed them first, ha ha), and because any reputable outfit upon seeing my credit report (way over 50 pages) and FICO score, would have at that point been comfortable granting me the small amount of credit I was seeking.

Re: Synchrony Bank and FICO score

GZG — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 18:20:51 GMT

@fidofico wrote:
@GZGthanks for the guidance. I did look at the report, and it was an "account review inquiry," with the exact language you showed. The Synchrony supervisor with whom I'd spoken when this had all come to pass had given me incorrect information. Which I understand is pretty par for their course.

that's good to hear

feel free to make a thread about what you're looking for credit for and you could perhaps get some ideas or suggestions, I imagine you can get any number of high quality credit products for your usecase

Re: Synchrony Bank and FICO score

M_Smart007 — Sat, 03 Jun 2023 04:15:55 GMT

@fidofico wrote:
I actually did use facial ID and DL to set up an account with the IRS (at a time when this was going to be required; IRS subsequently backed away).

I didn't play ball with Synchrony because I was getting major sketchy vibes (should have googled/reddited/myficoed them first, ha ha), and because any reputable outfit upon seeing my credit report (way over 50 pages) and FICO score, would have at that point been comfortable granting me the small amount of credit I was seeking.

Regarding Synchrony Prequalify ...their method is to "SP" your file, and only "HP" "IF" you pass ID verification.

Again this is for "Pre-Qualification".

I cannot say that SYNCB is at the top of my list of all time "Greatest" hits lenders.

Just because they have a anti-fraud ID verification process in place to mitigate risk,

does not make them a less "reputable outfit".

It will actually pretty much stop someone else (a bad actor) in their tracks from applying in your name.

The best thing you can do if you are worried is to FREEZE or LOCK all three of your credit bureau files.

I personally keep all mine "LOCKED" and it has stopped someone from applying at a car dealership in my name.

If you are worried about ;

" maybe I'm too Luddite, but that just isn't something I'm comfortable with, willingly giving that personal form of identification into data maintained by what's struck me as a sketchy outfit."

After all the data breaches such as to name The Equifax one "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Equifax_data_breach",

most of your credit profile is probably already on the dark web somewhere.

So when it comes to lender ID verification, I'd consider that small potatoes.

Re: Synchrony Bank and FICO score

BuckyB — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 05:36:58 GMT

@M_Smart007 wrote:
@fidofico wrote:
I actually did use facial ID and DL to set up an account with the IRS (at a time when this was going to be required; IRS subsequently backed away).
So when it comes to lender ID verification, I'd consider that small potatoes.

Curious, if collecting facial biometrics from people is "small potatoes" from a privacy standpoint, what would be "big potatoes?"

Re: Synchrony Bank and FICO score

SouthJamaica — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 15:43:05 GMT

@fidofico wrote:
Last month I wanted to set up a "Care Credit" card - emergency-use credit card for veterinary bills - and this is handled through Synchrony Bank.

Terrible outfit, as I see from other stuff I've since read online, and I'm wondering if my abortive dealing with them will ding my credit score.

Here's the story.

Thinking it would be fast and easy and simple to apply for a small amount of credit (under $10k) with them online, I provided my information. They pulled my credit report (FICO score well above 800 for at least five years), and my income is in the $150-200k range.

But instead of prequalifying me based on this like most lenders would have done, they then said I had to submit to facial recognition for fastest approval, or submit notarized bank statements.

At that point I said never mind, I'm not interested. But they'd already pulled my (Transunion they said) credit report, and said that my credit report would show that I applied for credit there, that was not granted.

What do I do now? I did immediately call Transunion, but they at the time had no record of Synchrony making an inquiry, and I had to wait 15 minutes through noisy music and attempted "upselling" of credit report features, before I spoke to someone.

If my "offense," balanced against my overall credit record, is like someone with a perfect driving record parking too far from the curb on a quiet street, I'll not dig any more on this. But if I face something more adverse, I'd appreciate hearing what I'm supposed to do now.

Either there's an inquiry or there isn't. Either way, it's history, so my advice is to forget about it and move on.