topic Re: I am really UPSET!! Synchrony Bank already reported to the Credit Bureaus!! in Rebuilding Your Credit

I am really UPSET!! Synchrony Bank already reported to the Credit Bureaus!!

MikeyMagic — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 03:51:26 GMT

Hello can someone advise me on what to do?

I opened this Amazon Secured Card for $200 on 10/12/23. I was told just like my other 2 credit cards, Synchrony Bank will report to the 3 bureaus a few days after my statement is cut. That date for me is November 2nd.

I bought 1 item so far for $63 last Wednesday 10/18 and I was planning on paying the balance in full off this week so by the time November 2nd came around it would show a $0 balance.

I looked at my TransUnion report today and it showed that on 10/20 this Synchrony bank reported that I have a balance of $63!! That dropped my "tentative" score by 28 points because my utilization went higher. THEY WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO REPORT ANYTHING UNTIL AFTER MY 1ST STATEMENT!! I verified that with a supervisor the day I got the card!!

What am I supposed to do? This is really unfair to me. I am watching and doing all the right things with my credit and had I known Synchrony was going to do this to me I would have never bought anything last week. And probably wouldn't have even gotten this card. Was this in error or does this thing happen a lot(misleading customers on when they report)? Is Synchrony Bank known for this?

I am so upset and depressed. I'm trying to do the right thing yet get screwed by this unfair report.

Please help

Mike

Re: I am really UPSET!! Synchrony Bank already reported to the Credit Bureaus!!

admiralsmoker — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 04:38:19 GMT

It is just a temporary hit. It will go down when you pay down the balance next month. Nothing to panic about, you will be fine. You don't really know on new credit cards when the closing statement date it is until your first statement.

Re: I am really UPSET!! Synchrony Bank already reported to the Credit Bureaus!!

GZG — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 04:50:31 GMT

it's okay

bad things don't happen when you have balances reporting on your credit report, it's not optimal for your score, but it's temporary and will be fixed completely as soon as your balances report lower than they are

pay your bill in full every month and you're going to be 100% okay

just know that the score is going to go up and down unless you micromanage how cards report their balances, and as you saw with Synchrony, they don't care about your micromanaging of reporting balances.

micromanaging your balances to make the number go higher is a hobby for some people here, it's not the intended behavior and it certainly isn't needed to grow credit responsibly

Synchrony reports their accounts extremely quickly, I forgot to mention that, completely normal behavior from them.

Re: I am really UPSET!! Synchrony Bank already reported to the Credit Bureaus!!

MikeyMagic — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 04:53:42 GMT

@admiralsmoker wrote:
It is just a temporary hit. It will go down when you pay down the balance next month. Nothing to panic about, you will be fine. You don't really know on new credit cards when the closing statement date it is until your first statement.

Yeah but the account/card was open on 10/12 and I was told that the statement is on Nov 2. So can you or anyone explain why Synchrony Bank would report this $63 balance on a week old new account when my 1st statement hasn't even come out yet?

What am I missing here.

Also i checked Experian and Equifax and both of those don't show the $63 balance smh. What does this all mean? Was this sent in error to Transunion? Can I dispute this?

Thanks

Re: I am really UPSET!! Synchrony Bank already reported to the Credit Bureaus!!

MikeyMagic — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 04:56:29 GMT

@GZG wrote:
it's okay

bad things don't happen when you have balances reporting on your credit report, it's not optimal for your score, but it's temporary and will be fixed completely as soon as your balances report lower than they are

pay your bill in full every month and you're going to be 100% okay

just know that the score is going to go up and down unless you micromanage how cards report their balances, and as you saw with Synchrony, they don't care about your micromanaging of reporting balances.

micromanaging your balances to make the number go higher is a hobby for some people here, it's not the intended behavior and it certainly isn't needed to grow credit responsibly

Synchrony reports their accounts extremely quickly, I forgot to mention that, completely normal behavior from them.

Yikes if this is completely normal behavior from Synchrony, sending balances 8 days in from a brand new account to only 1 credit bureau I'm in for a hellish experience with them I can feel it lol.

Re: I am really UPSET!! Synchrony Bank already reported to the Credit Bureaus!!

GZG — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 05:05:36 GMT

@MikeyMagic wrote:
@admiralsmoker wrote:
It is just a temporary hit. It will go down when you pay down the balance next month. Nothing to panic about, you will be fine. You don't really know on new credit cards when the closing statement date it is until your first statement.
Yeah but the account/card was open on 10/12 and I was told that the statement is on Nov 2. So can you or anyone explain why Synchrony Bank would report this $63 balance on a week old new account when my 1st statement hasn't even come out yet?

What am I missing here. Synchrony has always usually reported new accounts with their current balances in less than a week.

Also i checked Experian and Equifax and both of those don't show the $63 balance smh. What does this all mean? Was this sent in error to Transunion? Can I dispute this?

Exp, EQ and TU all will have different processing times which can change depending on the day of the week, who last kicked the server and if it's raining in seattle or not, it's not going just always be instant for every report every time.

Thanks

@MikeyMagic wrote:
Yikes if this is completely normal behavior from Synchrony, sending balances 8 days in from a brand new account to only 1 credit bureau I'm in for a hellish experience with them I can feel it lol.

Synchrony lends out a lot of money to people more likely to burn it in a money pit than pay them back, it just comes with the territory.

the random balance reporting should stop after about 6 months assuming you're paying all of your bills in full every month

plus after 12 months, as long as you've been paying your balances in full every month, you will pretty much 100% be graduated to an unsecured card (you'll get your $200 back), get 5% and that is a card that wil grow in CL and that will keep forever

Re: I am really UPSET!! Synchrony Bank already reported to the Credit Bureaus!!

MikeyMagic — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 05:24:12 GMT

@GZG wrote:
@MikeyMagic wrote:
@admiralsmoker wrote:
It is just a temporary hit. It will go down when you pay down the balance next month. Nothing to panic about, you will be fine. You don't really know on new credit cards when the closing statement date it is until your first statement.
Yeah but the account/card was open on 10/12 and I was told that the statement is on Nov 2. So can you or anyone explain why Synchrony Bank would report this $63 balance on a week old new account when my 1st statement hasn't even come out yet?

What am I missing here. Synchrony has always usually reported new accounts with their current balances in less than a week.

Also i checked Experian and Equifax and both of those don't show the $63 balance smh. What does this all mean? Was this sent in error to Transunion? Can I dispute this?

Exp, EQ and TU all will have different processing times which can change depending on the day of the week, who last kicked the server and if it's raining in seattle or not, it's not going just always be instant for every report every time.

Thanks
@MikeyMagic wrote:
Yikes if this is completely normal behavior from Synchrony, sending balances 8 days in from a brand new account to only 1 credit bureau I'm in for a hellish experience with them I can feel it lol.
Synchrony lends out a lot of money to people more likely to burn it in a money pit than pay them back, it just comes with the territory.

the random balance reporting should stop after about 6 months assuming you're paying all of your bills in full every month

plus after 12 months, as long as you've been paying your balances in full every month, you will pretty much 100% be graduated to an unsecured card (you'll get your $200 back), get 5% and that is a card that wil grow in CL and that will keep forever

Wow thanks for breaking this down for me. I know you said not to sweat this but how am I supposed to do AZEO and keep my credit utilization around 3-4%(which is what I want)if Sychrony is gonna randomly report balances all the time which will hurt AZEO and my util?

I wanted to have the 3-4% utilization showing only on my Cap1 card and pay all balances in full on my other 2 cards like 5 days before the billing cycle/statement generates. For AZEO especially. Because of what you told me Synchrony does/did I can't do this which really sucks. Sigh...

Re: I am really UPSET!! Synchrony Bank already reported to the Credit Bureaus!!

rmduhon — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 06:08:10 GMT

I sent you a message

Re: I am really UPSET!! Synchrony Bank already reported to the Credit Bureaus!!

MikeyMagic — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 06:17:18 GMT

@rmduhon wrote:
I sent you a message

I tried to reply back to you but I saw no button to click to reply. I don't know how to do it so can you tell me how I can reply to your DM?

I appreciate what you told me and I think I briefly read that somewhere.

Also how can I send you a brand new DM? i clicked on your username but I don't see how to send you a private message.

Thanks

Re: I am really UPSET!! Synchrony Bank already reported to the Credit Bureaus!!

rmduhon — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 06:20:52 GMT

Should be a button that says send messages below my user name. At least that's what it shows when I click on your user name

Re: I am really UPSET!! Synchrony Bank already reported to the Credit Bureaus!!

MikeyMagic — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 06:30:16 GMT

@rmduhon wrote:
Should be a button that says send messages below my user name. At least that's what it shows when I click on your user name

Yeah there's a SEND MESSAGE button to the right of your username so I just sent you a DM.

I couldn't figure out though how to reply directly to your DM. I saw no button that allowed me to do it.

Re: I am really UPSET!! Synchrony Bank already reported to the Credit Bureaus!!

FireMedic1 — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 09:33:25 GMT

It might be $0 In Nov as you said when you posted it. When they added themselves to your file. They may have sent the balance at the same time. It always rebound. Please dont stress over staying at AZEO.

Re: I am really UPSET!! Synchrony Bank already reported to the Credit Bureaus!!

MikeyMagic — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 13:36:16 GMT

@FireMedic1 wrote:
It might be $0 In Nov as you said when you posted it. When they added themselves to your file. They may have sent the balance at the same time. It always rebound. Please dont stress over staying at AZEO.

Although I really wanted to use this Amazon card almost in full every month and pay it off, I only have a $1000 CL between my 3 credit cards I have started with. So obviously it's not much and if Synchrony is going to be randomly posting balances you can see how my utilization can go from 3% to 20%+ overnight.

Question, you think I should just use this card for my monthly Prime subscription at $12 and sock drawer it? A random $12 charge a few times a month shouldn't hurt my utilization very much at all. The only concern I have is will Amazon graduate my card in a year to their Unsecured Store Card if I'm only using it once a month for a $12 Prime subscription renewal? That I don't know.

I also read some other threads on here where others have had the same experience as me with Synchrony(balances reported literally 2 days after purchase and at all different times) and none were happy about it. The difference is most of those people had established their credit and had big limits overall so it really didn't hurt them too badly. For me with a $1000 CL between my cards and just beginning this credit journey, random $150 balance posts from Synchrony imo would hurt my credit score.

Sigh... I'm depressed. Maybe I shouldn't be but I am. I had everything so planned out on how to do this right and then this Synchrony stuff happened. And then I found out it's not a 1 off either. I would have never gotten this secured card had I known about this beforehand. Oh well. Sigh...

Re: I am really UPSET!! Synchrony Bank already reported to the Credit Bureaus!!

FireMedic1 — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 15:04:13 GMT

Sync does weird things with new accounts. Then fade out. Poster last week was upset his $5000 payment was put on hold and he runs thousands thru the PPMC and tried to pay more than once a month. With cards. Use them all you want. Helps with CLI's and so forth. Just do your paydown to stay AZEO come statement cut date. I havent used my debit card in years. Goes on a card. Then AZEO. Usage and paying is the best way to go to move up the ladder. Stress isnt good on the body. Next month things will be back to normal.

Re: I am really UPSET!! Synchrony Bank already reported to the Credit Bureaus!!

MikeyMagic — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 15:02:08 GMT

@FireMedic1 wrote:
Sync does weird things with new accounts. Then fade out. Poster last week was upset his $5000 payment was put on hold and he runs thousands thru the PPMC and tried to pay more than once a month. With cards. Use them all you want. Helps with CLI's and so forth. Just do your paydown to stay AZEO come statement cut date. I havent used my debit card in years. Goes on a card. Then AZEO. Usage and paying isthe best way to go to move up the ladder. Stress isnt good on the body. Next month thins will be back to normal.

Next month you say will be back to normal? See from what I've read about this bank this happens to new accounts a lot and goes on for 6 months at least lol.

So again I can pay off Cap1 and Discover Secured before the billing cycle ends no problem. And don't have to worry about random balance postings with either of them. But Synchrony just randomly posting balances throughout each month is very hard to deal with for a new person like me, trying to build my credit score.

Unless you or others think otherwise, I'm at the point now where I'm just gonna use this card once a month to pay my Prime membership and that's it.

Re: I am really UPSET!! Synchrony Bank already reported to the Credit Bureaus!!

FireMedic1 — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 15:06:26 GMT

Personally when my PPMC and Loews were new I didnt have any problems. Used the PPMC much more though. Its like a YMMV thing. Some posts problems with Sync. Some dont. Nothings set in stone.

Re: I am really UPSET!! Synchrony Bank already reported to the Credit Bureaus!!

Jordan23ww — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 16:18:42 GMT

I am sorry to hear how this unexpected reporting has affected your score. I would be disappointed or upset too to lose so many points for this reason! The great thing about utilization is that it has no memory. So if there are no other major changes to your profile and you pay this balance off, then next month when it reports you'll regain all the points you lost.

For some reason Synchrony has this habit of reporting quickly! They reported my Sam's Club credit card just 2 days after approval.

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/Synchrony-Card-Reporting-2-Days-after-Approval/m-p/6564088

They also have a habit of reporting off cycle when you have a balance on the card. If you see the below post you'll see how this has happened to others including myself. If you scroll down to around the 4th comment you'll see how they reported my card off cycle after I spent almost $1000 on some new tires. I must say that this has only happened once to me. Now I have high purchases and they don't report it early. So maybe they just do this for newer accounts.

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/wow-synchrony-is-worse-than-I-thought/m-p/6607119

Re: I am really UPSET!! Synchrony Bank already reported to the Credit Bureaus!!

MikeyMagic — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 16:57:11 GMT

@Jordan23ww wrote:
I am sorry to hear how this unexpected reporting has affected your score. I would be disappointed or upset too to lose so many points for this reason! The great thing about utilization is that it has no memory. So if there are no other major changes to your profile and you pay this balance off, then next month when it reports you'll regain all the points you lost.

For some reason Synchrony has this habit of reporting quickly! They reported my Sam's Club credit card just 2 days after approval.

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/Synchrony-Card-Reporting-2-Days-after-Approval/m-p/6564088

They also have a habit of reporting off cycle when you have a balance on the card. If you see the below post you'll see how this has happened to others including myself. If you scroll down to around the 4th comment you'll see how they reported my card off cycle after I spent almost $1000 on some new tires. I must say that this has only happened once to me. Now I have high purchases and they don't report it early. So maybe they just do this for newer accounts.

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/wow-synchrony-is-worse-than-I-thought/m-p/6607119

Wow thanks for the links. It really stinks what they do and I wish I would have known about this before I got the card. I think I would have passed.

Update though: I spoke to an account manager with Synchrony who was very knowledgeable. She acknowledged they do this and she also told me after about 8 weeks they report something called HIGH BALANCE REPORTING to the bureaus. I asked her why they do this as this does not help any of their customers and she didn't know why Synchrony does this smh.

Anyways, she did tell me a little hack/secret that she would do for me. She told me if I see a random balance reported to the bureaus during the cycle, once I pay it off(which I will do quickly) and it gets to a $0 balance - to call and ask for her and she will report a $0 balance right away to the 3 bureaus. She told me it would take 24-48 hours.

I don't know if this really solves anything but at least she will get my reporting to show $0 way before the statement comes out for me to help me. Obv just have to pay it off first.

Seriously Synchrony Bank is crazy.

Re: I am really UPSET!! Synchrony Bank already reported to the Credit Bureaus!!

LulubellNJ — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 17:43:10 GMT

I am feeling your pain! Capital One credit card reported me late. It is the only negative reported to my credit score and dropped my score almost 30 points. My account is current and now have to go thru the investigation process. I was in the process of a home equity loan

and when they ran my credit report my score dropped, they denied my loan until it is removed. Horrible, their is no forgiveness regardless of the 29% credit interest I am paying and was never late before. They got us over the barrell.

Re: I am really UPSET!! Synchrony Bank already reported to the Credit Bureaus!!

Jordan23ww — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 20:21:23 GMT

@MikeyMagic wrote:
@Jordan23ww wrote:
I am sorry to hear how this unexpected reporting has affected your score. I would be disappointed or upset too to lose so many points for this reason! The great thing about utilization is that it has no memory. So if there are no other major changes to your profile and you pay this balance off, then next month when it reports you'll regain all the points you lost.

For some reason Synchrony has this habit of reporting quickly! They reported my Sam's Club credit card just 2 days after approval.

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/Synchrony-Card-Reporting-2-Days-after-Approval/m-p/6564088

They also have a habit of reporting off cycle when you have a balance on the card. If you see the below post you'll see how this has happened to others including myself. If you scroll down to around the 4th comment you'll see how they reported my card off cycle after I spent almost $1000 on some new tires. I must say that this has only happened once to me. Now I have high purchases and they don't report it early. So maybe they just do this for newer accounts.

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/wow-synchrony-is-worse-than-I-thought/m-p/6607119

Wow thanks for the links. It really stinks what they do and I wish I would have known about this before I got the card. I think I would have passed.

Update though: I spoke to an account manager with Synchrony who was very knowledgeable. She acknowledged they do this and she also told me after about 8 weeks they report something called HIGH BALANCE REPORTING to the bureaus. I asked her why they do this as this does not help any of their customers and she didn't know why Synchrony does this smh.

Anyways, she did tell me a little hack/secret that she would do for me. She told me if I see a random balance reported to the bureaus during the cycle, once I pay it off(which I will do quickly) and it gets to a $0 balance - to call and ask for her and she will report a $0 balance right away to the 3 bureaus. She told me it would take 24-48 hours.

I don't know if this really solves anything but at least she will get my reporting to show $0 way before the statement comes out for me to help me. Obv just have to pay it off first.

Seriously Synchrony Bank is crazy.

@MikeyMagic you're welcome! I wish they didn't do that too and don't understand why they do it. I'm glad others on this forum had gone through it before me so they could let me know this was normal or something Synchrony does.

It's really cool that the account manager is willing to do this for you. It might even be necessary since it will also report again on November 2nd. So if you pay it before then your account will automatically update a few days after your new statement cuts in the coming days. That's what happened with me and my balance from my tire purchase. I had confirmed with a Synchrony customer serve rep when they reported early when will it report again and they reassured me it would after my next statement cut which was in a few days from them reporting early. It did exactly what they said.