Care Credit drama

Anonymous · ‎03-10-2018

Back about April 2017 i applied for $500 Care Credit card. TU was 545. Got approved. Used it on a pretty regular basis for the pets until September. Ive been making the payments on it since May and paid it off just this month with taxes. I went to check it since it was paid off so i could use it again, should have been $0 due, $500 limit and $500 available to spend.... Nope. $0 available to spend. Huh? I got on chat, they swore i had money on it and could use it. I called and got about 3 other stories before finally being told it was closed " because my credit score went down". My current TU is 576, up from when i applied and I have better credit than I did then as far as whats on there! ( I just got approved for a car loan in October). I called hog wash. I looked up reviews and this happens to other people as well.

My advice? Care Credit is great. I had no issues with the service or the card, even applying was easy....but theyll close it in a heartbeat and not think twice.

Loquat · ‎03-10-2018

Sometimes it's about risk assessment. While you may have been approved back then with a lower score...if things change in the economy or the lender starts to have an uptick in defaults, they'll reassess their risk and sometimes that leads to account limits being reduced or as in your experience, closed. If your utilization starts to creep up and they don't see a pattern of large payments on account review, this could also lead to said actions. Trying to figure out why they did it could be an endless journey.

Not saying that I agree but it's not our company, our money, and we don't get to make the rules. It's good that you didn't have a balance on the card at time of closing. Try again if you like when your score improves. Best of luck to you OP and thanks for sharing your experience.

Anonymous · ‎04-03-2018

I had been paying the same $30 every month since it was opened, so it wasnt due to paying less or nothing at all.

Oh well. Google says its happened to others as well sadly.

SunriseEarth · ‎04-03-2018

I'm sorry to hear they closed your account. However, I'm actually a bit surprised that they opened the account to begin with with your TU score at approval. Although it no longer helps your UTIL, it's still a positive TL and will continue to be as long as it reports (~10 years after closure). FICO scores aren't affected by "closed by lender" or "closed by consumer" remarks. Some feel that the latter may look better on manual review, but that's largely speculative.

I would advise that you keep working on your credit profile. Please see the "Rebuilding" forum to see what you can do to raise your TU scores. My scores were similar to yours in the not-so-distant past, and that Forum greatly helped me in getting to where I am now.

Anonymous · ‎04-03-2018

Im surprised they gave me one too but im thankful!! We had to take the pets to the vet and it paid for our sick bunny ( who died from the crappy vet).

Im glad to know it will still report positive. I was a bit worried about that.

My score has improved since then. Not a super jump but going higher.

Anonymous · ‎04-03-2018

and i understand how to rebuild and what to do. Its just a waiting game to get there.

Anonymous · ‎04-03-2018

@Anonymouswrote:
and i understand how to rebuild and what to do. Its just a waiting game to get there.

Hang in there. You will prevail.

Anonymous · ‎04-03-2018

Wow! Synchrony seems to be on a rampage with closing cards.

SunriseEarth · ‎04-03-2018

@Anonymouswrote:
Im surprised they gave me one too but im thankful!! We had to take the pets to the vet and it paid for our sick bunny ( who died from the crappy vet).

Im glad to know it will still report positive. I was a bit worried about that.

My score has improved since then. Not a super jump but going higher.

As long as your balance is paid and you had a good payment history, it's a positive TL. Payment history is the largest factor in your FICO scores. And I know all too well about needing patience in a rebuild! It's no fun now, but it will get a LOT better down the road.

Anonymous · ‎04-03-2018

@AnonymousI had been paying the same $30 every month since it was opened, so it wasnt due to paying less or nothing at all.

OP, not to veer off topic too much here, but what is causing your scores to be in the 500's? Usually when we're talking scores in that range it's a combination of both negative items as well as high utilization.

Where does your current utilization sit? You made the comment above about paying $30/mo, which to me sounds like it was more or less minimum payments. If that's the case, I'd give you the friendly advice to sort of reconsider your perspective on revolving debt. Paying minimums (or near them, double them, etc) is not ultimately what you want to do, as it is something that is viewed by lenders as being far more risky. On top of that, this type of payment behavior suggests the carrying of balances, paying interest and in general rolling with higher utilization than you'd like. Depending on where your current utilization sits, you could be leaving anywhere from 25-100 points on the table. Just something to consider, because with the relatively low credit limits you have paying down balances lowers percentages across thresholds much easier than if you had huge credit lines.