Lowe's card problematic if lost

h4ldol · ‎05-09-2016

My wife lost her Lowe's card when we took a trip to Portland a couple weeks ago (actually her wallet was stolen and someone charged $2000 on our Amazon Chase card in a couple hours!) and later found out that unlike just about every credit card (although it's not VISA/MC) they will not simply reissue the card with a different numer but under the same account, but will actually close the account and open a whole new account, which of course could affect your credit score (for a newly opened account not to mention a needlessly closed account) and also requires that you have to create a new online account (e.g. new username). How annoying. I searched here and found an old thread from 2012 about the same topic and was surprised that they are still doing that. It makes me not want to carry this card around (would love to be able to use it with Apple Pay so I don't have to worry if I lose it). Anyway, just a warning to people who have the Lowe's card that you want to make sure you don't ever lose it!

Aahz · ‎05-09-2016

Definetly sounds like overkill on their part and a hassle I'd have to think twice about going through for a store card.

Has anyone lost/had stolen any different Synchrony cards? Are they all like this?

Anonymous · ‎05-09-2016

DW apped for a Walmart mc. Card was approved but she never received the card. When she called synch, they cancelled the original card and reissued new one. So never received card became closed account on her credit report and then new trade line for new card. But they're not the only one that does this. I know bbandt will close and open new account if lost or stolen.

taxi818 · ‎05-09-2016

@h4ldol wrote:
My wife lost her Lowe's card when we took a trip to Portland a couple weeks ago (actually her wallet was stolen and someone charged $2000 on our Amazon Chase card in a couple hours!) and later found out that unlike just about every credit card (although it's not VISA/MC) they will not simply reissue the card with a different numer but under the same account, but will actually close the account and open a whole new account, which of course could affect your credit score (for a newly opened account not to mention a needlessly closed account) and also requires that you have to create a new online account (e.g. new username). How annoying. I searched here and found an old thread from 2012 about the same topic and was surprised that they are still doing that. It makes me not want to carry this card around (would love to be able to use it with Apple Pay so I don't have to worry if I lose it). Anyway, just a warning to people who have the Lowe's card that you want to make sure you don't ever lose it!

Im not sure that is 100% accurate. Well could be. I lost my Ebates Card a couple of weeks ago. They closed the account sure. But when they reiisued the new card it had new account number as you say. But all the original history was there. including payment history and account open date. It did not report as a brand new account although the original account now says closed.It does say Clearly. Closed lost or stolen Card. This is how Synch rolls. But it will not affect your AAoA or anything. This is a fact not fiction. So no need to worry about it .

h4ldol · ‎05-09-2016

Thanks, I think you may be right about a lot of your points. Although I have gotten credit alerts (from my credit monitoring service from my previously hacked employer) about the Lowe's account being closed (listed as "lost/stolen card" for the reason), I was able to keep my username on my online account (the Lowe's card CSR had told me I would need to create a new username but that turned out to be untrue) and all the previous info seemed to still be there. I also haven't seen an alert yet for new account, like you mentioned, but that does seem odd (and nothing like what every single one of my other 15-20 cards I've had in the past 20+ years have been like re: lost/stolen cards) but I guess it's not a huge deal if it doesn't affect my credit score directly.

If Lowe's weren't the clear choice for my big box home improvement shopping needs (Home Depot is quite a drive while Lowe's takes maybe 5 minutes), I would most likely not have gotten the card in the first place, but since I do go there quite a bit the 5% savings is pretty attractive.

taxi818 · ‎05-10-2016

Gettibg alert from monitoring service means nothing. You will get alert for any change. But does not mean it's reporting as a new account. It's just a change. Which is true. As stated. Nothing to worry about. Look at it from fico and you will see your original open date.

Anonymous · ‎05-10-2016

When I lost my wallet penfed did that. Reissued my card with a new account number. Closed the old TL and moved all the data to the new TL. So the open date didn't change. Had the same open date as the old TL and payment history.

Anonymous · ‎05-10-2016

If the account is listed twice on the credit report, then aren't both of those listings impacting AAoA? I had a CC "lost or stolen" 4 times over 15 years, and that card appears on my report 5 times and all 5 entires impact my AAoA.

taxi818 · ‎05-10-2016

Entries have nothing to do with it. Open date is only thing that matters and that is factored in.

CreditDunce · ‎05-10-2016

If they are reporting the original open date, loosing your card could help your AAoA if the card is older than your AAoA. Even if your AAoA is over 15 years, 4 closed and one open 15 year old TLs will not hurt.

It isn't so nice for someone with a brand new account.