How many Synchrony Financial cards are too many?

[Anonymous]

They're not the best credit provider out there.. but they do have a lot of companies I like.. how many is too many in a year? Am I being too conservative with my 2/yr estimate? I don't want to get the dreaded blue letter. 

[Anonymous]

The more you add the lower your isnurance score will be resuting in higher premiums.

Store cards i.e. Sync / Comenity lower your CBIS scores and result in higher insurance costs.  

Sync though isn't usually tempermental about multiple accounts unless you add several in a short period of time and then they restrict spending on them until you provide POI to them to restore access.  They also have a 100K per person limit.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the info @Obscure-Expert. I was just wondering the same thing as the op. I have one Sync card now but I really need to add Care Credit ASAP and I would like to add Amazon. The 5% alone would be worth a lot of money to me. My one Synch card is recent so I’m going to wait two more months.

[Anonymous]

I opened my Amazon in December with an $1800 limit, got the PayPal Cashback less than two weeks later with an $8K limit, got the B&H Payboo last month for $5K. The Amazon card has grown from $1800 to $3K in that time period. 

I don't really think Sync minds much, just beware that their majors they will deny CLIs for too many inquiries. 

[Anonymous]

As @Saeren pointed out it's possible to accumulate them slightly spaced out or even close together.  It kind of depends on what your goals and use for them are.  5% on Amazon if you're beyond 5/24 w/ Chase is a viable reason and option.  Care Credit for floating a big medical/dental bill is a good reason to take them on as well.  

If you have a high TU score and moderate income then it's almost a given that you can push the limits upwards to compensate for higher use if needed.  Sync is usually easy to deal with when it comes to CLI's by calling Credit Solutions or using the online CLI option.

If you tread lightly on the V/MC options then it shouldn't raise too many flags.  

[Anonymous]

@Obscure, is Syncrony generally thought to be better lender than comenity? Jw... I've been eyeing care credit for my dental work coming up. Not sure of their many other cards. Always thought they were like comenity so I'd stay away....

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
@Obscure, is Syncrony generally thought to be better lender than comenity? Jw... I've been eyeing care credit for my dental work coming up. Not sure of their many other cards. Always thought they were like comenity so I'd stay away....

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I wouldn't touch Comenity with a 10 foot pole!  I don't trust them based on the posts here and elsewhere over the years.  The whole SCT thing was a fluke that nuked quite a few profiles around here with a scattering of junk plastic that was way too easy to get. Then they started rescinding approvals, tertiary reviews down the road and closing accounts down doing more harm.  

While Sync / GEMB/ whatever name you joined them under has had their own issues over the years it's a bit more correlatory to actions by the debtor that raised a flag for the resulting actions.  

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
@Obscure, is Syncrony generally thought to be better lender than comenity? Jw... I've been eyeing care credit for my dental work coming up. Not sure of their many other cards. Always thought they were like comenity so I'd stay away....

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 Comenity is really strict if they approve you for one of their major credit cards instead of just a store card, often rescinding approvals if you have new accounts. Synchrony doesn't really seem to mind credit seeking behavior and will only take AA when profile-specific triggers are met like a drop in credit score or carrying a large balance. 

At the end of the day, both of them are fussier than most (except maybe Barclays and sometimes Chase) but they also both offer so many cards that it's easy to get a lot of exposure really fast so it's somewhat understandable. I have been mostly happy with Sync, the only issue I have had comes down to the site for managing my PayPal card which has me planning on dropping that card in January but otherwise, the Amazon Store Card earns me a ton of cash back and I plan to use the deferred financing next year to get a new TV. 

[AverageJoesCredit]

Just remember there is a big difference if the card is backed by Synchrony Bank and Synchrony Financial. One of my most difficult approvals and getting cli has been on my Pep Boys/ Car Care One account which is backed by Synchrony Financial and ime is usually hp for cli.

[kdm31091]

Generally I would not build up my portfolio with a bunch of Synch (or Comenity) cards. It's not that they are the worst, it's just that they're far from the best and you can do better elsewhere. Don't pile up on cards from any one lender IMO, spread things around so you end up with a few major cards from different banks. That's not to say you have to end up with a dozen cards though - just that you should choose carefully and don't overload on easy to get cards that have limited use.