Can’t seem to get in with Synchrony

[Anonymous]

Hey all, 

I may already know the reasoning but I am going to reach out to see if there's any experience out there. Long-time lurker. Short-time poster. 

I've noticed any time I apply for a Synchrony backed card, I get a denial. The response is always stated as too many inquiries. I also googled this and it says they are inquiry sensitive with preferring 6 or less. I apply for Lowe's once every year and Care Credit once every 6 months. 

I forget who they pull and my TU and EQ aren't very good scores. Noted in my signature. 

DP's- scores in signature. 9 HPs in 2020. New car loan in April. Reported in July finally. All cards in my signature are from 2020 as I was always a firm believer in having no credit cards. No bankruptcies. No past charge offs from credit card lenders that have fallen off either. One baddie in my report that is from 2017 for 6k. May pay in 2021. May let it fall off. It only reports in TU which is suppressing my score, I know. Had several medical collections in early 2020. Had all PFD except one which is paid to $0 since July with it still showing as closed and paid on my report. 100% on time payment status via myFico subscription. 5% utilization via myFico subscription. I do have two old and very low balance (2k and 6k) paid off student loans that were paid off August 2014 reporting some late payments. I don't know if student loans fall off in 7 years or 10 years. When I contacted the company directly about deleting the trade line they said because they are student loans, they don't delete the trade line. Hoping those fall off as the 7 year mark happens in 11 months. 

My only desires cards are Care Credit (which I would BT to another card if I couldn't pay it in the promotional same as cash period) and Lowe's. I rent, but it would be nice to get things there occasionally as I'm trying to set my profile up to apply for a mortgage loan in 2023 when my son graduates high school and we relocate back to my home town. I don't have anything else going on with credit. 

Any experience is appreciated. I know all scores and profiles vary by consumer and I did not omit any information from my DP section of this post. Complete transparency. I have been in the garden a whole 2 weeks (woopty) but I plan to increase that for a year perhaps two. I will only request SP CLI's for the remainder of the time. I am a preferred rewards client with Bank of America and they are where I hold my checking and savings primarily. I was given a $5k SL on BofA travel rewards in July 2020. That is a low limit, I know I know. But I'm sure getting approved for that with a 650 FICO score on experian at the time was due to my rank with BofA. 

Thank you all. I understand my experience may vary. But I don't get what will budge for Synchrony.  

if this belongs under credit card applications then please move the thread and accept my apologies. 

[Anonymous]

Hey all,

I was curious on to what Synchrony is sensitive towards? I have read it is having over 6 inquiries can cause a denial.

Data Points:

My scores are below. My recent cards are below. I have not obtained credit cards before this year as I have tried to live a debt free life. I have not had any CC's in charge off status either. I have 100% payment status and 5% utilization according to my monthly reports. I am a Bank of America preferred rewards client with a $61k income. I keep money in the checking and savings to hold the status with BofA. I have never obtained a Synchrony backed CC. I have 1 baddie for $6k at 3 years old only reporting on TU. Hence the score being so low. That will be paid in 2021 or it will drop off in time. Depends on how this pandemic rolls. I have 2 student loans that are paid off as of 8/2014. They have a few lates, and I am not sure if they drop off in 7 or 10 years. I started the year off with several medical collections and scores in the low 500's. I have since paid off all medical collections and did the PFD. There is one for $215 paid to a $0 balance but they would not delete the trade line. Everything else looks good. 

I have 9 inquiries this year. I assume that is the reason for denials. I am only interested in Lowe's and Care Credit. The denial letters state too many inquiries and one stated that as well as derogatory account status. I don't recall off hand without looking it up on who they pull from initially.

I understand all consumer profiles differ greatly and that there is no straight forward answer. Any experience or advice offered with Synchrony before I apply again? I have been in the garden for 2 weeks and want to make it for a year, possibly two so I can app for these two desired cards. 

Thank you all. 

[KLEXH25]

If I understand correctly, all 8 cards in your signature were obtained this year from March - September, with some denials as well? As I see it, gardening for at least 1 year minimum is best before applying for any more cards. 

[rostrow416]

Synchrony will probably be pulling TransUnion.  So I'm guessing that unpaid neg combined with the 9 inquiries is going to hurt that much more.  The inquiries will hurt less and less each month, and won't affect your odds at all after 12 months.  So wait until 4 or 5 of those inquiries are past the 12 month mark and you might get over that approval hump.

[Meanmchine]

Depends which card you are going for.  For store cards, Synch just about always pulls TU.  If however you try for one of their MCs or Visas, you will have a 20% chance they will pull EX

Good luck

[Loquat]

OP if I were you I'd hold off a little. Understand that current economic conditions are changing a lot of what we have come to know about these lenders.

Their tolerance levels have certainly changed and rightfully so. It's anyones guess what Synchrony is looking for these days. Just my opinion though.

[Anonymous]

Agreed with all of the advice above, especially waiting at least a year without apping for anything.

Keep in kind, and you can research this if you want to confirm my sometimes suspect memory, but I think I have read that apping the Lowe's card in-store results in an EX pull, whereas online (where I did it) was TU.

[growthadvocate]

Hi @Anonymous 

My personal belief is that you're in a great position...first thought that comes to mind is, why do you want the Lowes and Care Credit cards?

If it's to use the promo's, I understand...but I assume that you have some good promo's currently with the cards that you have.  You have a great lineup of cards that will grow--which can be done without any HP's.  Adding 2 more store cards wouldn't be your best move in my opinion.  In my experience, Synchrony is quite suspect at the moment.  I personally grabbed a couple of cards from them the end of last year, because of their reputation for growth.  However, things change and this hasn't been easy to achieve...especially during this pandemic.  There are some other issues with Synch in my opinion as well.

My 2 cents is: start working on removing the baddies...then garden and grow.  BofA is beginning to loosen up again and you should have plently of opportunity to get CLI's moving forward.  If you haven't been doing so already, use that luv button they offer--you should see it every 90 days or so.  BofA has been good to me. 

[Loquat]

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@growthadvocate wrote:

Hi @Anonymous 

My personal belief is that you're in a great position...first thought that comes to mind is, why do you want the Lowes and Care Credit cards?

If it's to use the promo's, I understand...but I assume that you have some good promo's currently with the cards that you have.  You have a great lineup of cards that will grow--which can be done without any HP's.  Adding 2 more store cards wouldn't be your best move in my opinion.  In my experience, Synchrony is quite suspect at the moment.  I personally grabbed a couple of cards from them the end of last year, because of their reputation for growth.  However, things change and this hasn't been easy to achieve...especially during this pandemic.  There are some other issues with Synch in my opinion as well.

My 2 cents is: start working on removing the baddies...then garden and grow.  BofA is beginning to loosen up again and you should have plently of opportunity to get CLI's moving forward.  If you haven't been doing so already, use that luv button they offer--you should see it every 90 days or so.  BofA has been good to me. 

---

Only chiming in to address the question of why Lowe's.  That card has some really nice perks for those looking for home improvement and that's a given.  But more importantly, speaking from personal experience, my Lowe's card was a savior before I was able to play in the sandbox with the majors.  They sell gift cards to places like Hotels.com and Delta/Southwest Airlines.  That was really important for me because at the time when I didn't have a lot of major cards I was also doing a lot of travel for work.

Have a really nice limit on my Lowe's card allowed for me to purchase my airline tickets as well as my hotel stays using gift cards while waiting for my employer to do a reimbursement.  This allowed me to float a little as well as keep my very limited major card open for rental cars. 

Don't sleep on Lowe's or a lot of other store cards as they can be beneficial when one has to be creative with low limit (or no) major cards. 

[Anonymous]

Agreed with @Loquat , the Lowe's card is one of my most treasured. I use it all the time, from home improvement items to cleaning supplies to appliances. I also use it for gift card purchases, as I'm still hesitant to buy GCs with an Amex. I would not want to lose that account.

Readdressing the bureau pulls, Synch is a heavy puller of TU. They pulled it for my Lowe's card last year and for my Sams Club MasterCard this past weekend.