@CreditCrusader wrote:
@policebox wrote:I'm in the same situation.
Just logged in to check my transactions on my PayPal Cash Back MC. Credit limit to $0. Checked all my other Synchrony accounts, all closed.
Lost the following:
PayPal Cash Back MasterCard $10,000
Rakuten Cash Back Visa $10,000
Chevron/Texaco Card $10,000
Ashley Homestore $25,000
Amazon Prime Store Card $10,000
Their reason was that something on my credit report indicated I was high risk, but yet the representative wouldn't tell me what that reason was. Nothing has changed on any of my reports except for opening a mortgage recently.
I've had these accounts for years, no late payments, always pay in full (usually before the statement cuts). Only 1% overall utilization. No baddies. 800+ FICO scores. No change in income. Not financially affected by COVID-19.
I'll never use another one of their products again if this is how they treat someone who was zero risk to them.
Due respect to Synchrony, but that's a load of nonsense.They're not doing this due to changes in your credit profile and risk.
They're reducing their exposure so that they can swoop back in once the trillions the Fed is going to feed the financial sector starts finding its way to lenders to accompany the 0% interest rates. In 6 months, it will be so easy to get a Synchrony-backed store card they'll be giving them away.
As for me, I'll NEVER do business with Synchrony...and my dearest wish for them is that retailers who use them will drop them like a bad habit and use Comenity or Capital One instead. This is the second time in two years that Synchrony has done something like this. It's high time they pay a price.
It's funny you mentioned Comenity.... That's who started closing all of my cards in Fall of 2019, not Synchrony. I had several of their cards, many with a zero balance or under 10%. I moved out of the country, due to a job change, and when I did, I moved my due date on several of my cards to fit my new pay schedule (which mind you is a service in the online dashboard of the account). Well evidently that was a huge mistake. Next thing I know, anything with zero balance closed immediately. Anything with a balance they dropped my credit line to just above the balance. Every payment I make they simply drop the credit line to just above the balance, they have done this every single month since then. When I pay each card off, they of course, close it. So my utilization is horrible every single month. Even when I try to keep my other cards under a decent amount, there just more of their cards then anything else. We are coming to the finish line though, I will have nearly all of them paid off in the next month or so. I am hoping that once they are all paid, and all closed, and the other brands/banks I have, will be a lower utilization, that my score will go back up. I literally cried when they did this. I was paying on time, they were not maxed out or anything. Literally all I did was change my due dates. Synchrony I had not had many issues with until after the issues with Comenity. I only have Amazon, Chevron/Texaco and HSN. They were fine, and then one month, I paid $400 on Amazon... my balance at the time was $700ish, of a $800 line. I was planning to make a large purchase for the rewards, as soon as the payment cleared they dropped my credit line down to $440. Mind you no lates or anything. Its been sitting at $440 since April 2020. I don't think they will ever raise it back up. I pay more than the minimum, I use it regularly, I have tried asking for CLI, its always no, with the excuse of utlization. Until I finish paying off Comenity, that utilization will be a nightmare. My HSN, they dropped from $800 to $500 and my Chevron/Texaco they dropped from $1000 to $860. They dropped them all roughly around April 2020, when the pandemic started to really take over. Mind you, my job/income stayed the same thankfully, but they felt I was a risk. I'm thankful they havent reduced them anymore, but each month, I double check my limits, just to make sure they are the same. I have trust issues now. 
@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
@CreditExpressNJ wrote:Well i joined the party no one wants to join today.. Synch closed all my accounts.. PPC, Amazon, and Car Care none had balances except PPC.. Im starting to wonder if this is a new protocol if maybe you included them in a Chapter 7 because I am looking at my moms profile and she has quite a few Synch and large balances but this has not impacted her and that is the only difference between her and I.
Well I'm happy I didnt have too many cards with them although I loved my PPC. But, the time would have come sooner or later I honestly didnt want to deal with Synch anymore.
If it was a protocol to cancel all ones cards because they included them in bk7 one wouldnt get any cards from that lender imo. Sorry about your closures. I still have mine but i find PPC the most useless Sync card, loosely, i own. No matter where i try to use it noone accepts it. Always get a mysterious error and when i switch to PPMC as payment method, mysteriously approved
True. But can't put any reason to why they would do such a thing. I know its someone here that has not included them in BK7 but its just so wierd that they do this and thats the only difference I can figure between my mom and I. Because like a lot of others they stated HIGH Risk for me. Theres nothing that changed with my credit profile either besides that I opened a few students loans but even that is a long way off as those were reporting for a while. I think Synch has no justified reason they are just doing this because they can. But, that is fine they made a decision I was going to make eventually and will not be getting my business back at all for this madness. And yea I use to have PPMC before BK7 but after I kind of trimmed the fat had way more than what I needed in credit so never bothered to reapply glad I didnt with what they just did.
@CreditExpressNJ wrote:
@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
@CreditExpressNJ wrote:Well i joined the party no one wants to join today.. Synch closed all my accounts.. PPC, Amazon, and Car Care none had balances except PPC.. Im starting to wonder if this is a new protocol if maybe you included them in a Chapter 7 because I am looking at my moms profile and she has quite a few Synch and large balances but this has not impacted her and that is the only difference between her and I.
Well I'm happy I didnt have too many cards with them although I loved my PPC. But, the time would have come sooner or later I honestly didnt want to deal with Synch anymore.
If it was a protocol to cancel all ones cards because they included them in bk7 one wouldnt get any cards from that lender imo. Sorry about your closures. I still have mine but i find PPC the most useless Sync card, loosely, i own. No matter where i try to use it noone accepts it. Always get a mysterious error and when i switch to PPMC as payment method, mysteriously approved
True. But can't put any reason to why they would do such a thing. I know its someone here that has not included them in BK7 but its just so wierd that they do this and thats the only difference I can figure between my mom and I. Because like a lot of others they stated HIGH Risk for me. Theres nothing that changed with my credit profile either besides that I opened a few students loans but even that is a long way off as those were reporting for a while. I think Synch has no justified reason they are just doing this because they can. But, that is fine they made a decision I was going to make eventually and will not be getting my business back at all for this madness. And yea I use to have PPMC before BK7 but after I kind of trimmed the fat had way more than what I needed in credit so never bothered to reapply glad I didnt with what they just did.
@CreditExpressNJ were the "few" student loans opened before or after your last two synchrony apps? If so, what was the time frame?
Also, that's a major difference from your mom's profile; not just the bk. One student loan does pose a risk, but a few?
@Anonymous wrote:It's funny you mentioned Comenity.... That's who started closing all of my cards in Fall of 2019, not Synchrony. I had several of their cards, many with a zero balance or under 10%. I moved out of the country, due to a job change, and when I did, I moved my due date on several of my cards to fit my new pay schedule (which mind you is a service in the online dashboard of the account). Well evidently that was a huge mistake. Next thing I know, anything with zero balance closed immediately. Anything with a balance they dropped my credit line to just above the balance. Every payment I make they simply drop the credit line to just above the balance, they have done this every single month since then. When I pay each card off, they of course, close it. So my utilization is horrible every single month. Even when I try to keep my other cards under a decent amount, there just more of their cards then anything else. We are coming to the finish line though, I will have nearly all of them paid off in the next month or so. I am hoping that once they are all paid, and all closed, and the other brands/banks I have, will be a lower utilization, that my score will go back up. I literally cried when they did this. I was paying on time, they were not maxed out or anything. Literally all I did was change my due dates. Synchrony I had not had many issues with until after the issues with Comenity. I only have Amazon, Chevron/Texaco and HSN. They were fine, and then one month, I paid $400 on Amazon... my balance at the time was $700ish, of a $800 line. I was planning to make a large purchase for the rewards, as soon as the payment cleared they dropped my credit line down to $440. Mind you no lates or anything. Its been sitting at $440 since April 2020. I don't think they will ever raise it back up. I pay more than the minimum, I use it regularly, I have tried asking for CLI, its always no, with the excuse of utlization. Until I finish paying off Comenity, that utilization will be a nightmare. My HSN, they dropped from $800 to $500 and my Chevron/Texaco they dropped from $1000 to $860. They dropped them all roughly around April 2020, when the pandemic started to really take over. Mind you, my job/income stayed the same thankfully, but they felt I was a risk. I'm thankful they havent reduced them anymore, but each month, I double check my limits, just to make sure they are the same. I have trust issues now.
Sorry to read of your issues with Comenity Bank @Anonymous.
Balance chasing stinks but unfortunately that is something that many banks will do under some circumstances. I know they are just protecting their interests but it doesn't change the fact that as a consumer, it feels like they are "out to get 'ya." And obviously, the impact on your credit score isn't important to them in the least. It's just business, but it feels cold.
I wanted to highlight one sentence from your posting which is a great reminder for our community members:
"Even when I try to keep my other cards under a decent amount, there just more of their cards then anything else."
Having lender diversity is just soooooo important. Giving any single lender the ability to wreck havoc on your credit report can be dangerous. Both Synchrony and Comenity issue a lot of store-branded cards and have easier underwriting than some major bank cards, which makes them a big temptation to get carried away on, especially for anyone building or rebuilding. And both banks have a pattern of less stability than most other lenders. They seem much quicker to both give large credit limits and also to take them away with CLD or closures. As a result, we've had members who added too much of this type of card as a percentage of their overall credit.
I don't blame you for having trust issues now, but the solution is to purposefully diversify your profile to help protect you from these impacts. Yes, in some cases one lender will follow another with balance-chasing if they think you are getting in over your head, but having diversity may mitigate the damage. I would encourage you to evaluate your card lineup by lender. If you don't have a sampling of different banks and/or credit unions, that could be a good goal for the future.
The other lesson would be to keep individual utilization rates lower, regardless of the lender. IMO, credit limits can be misleading. Logic would lead someone to believe that if they have a credit limit of $1000, the lender is fine with you using all of that without worries of repayment or penalty on your credit score, as long as you are using it responsibly and repaying. In reality, the lenders and FICO both get nervous and penalize you when you use a large percentage of your credit limit. With a $700 balance on an $800 limit, that's an 87.5% utilization rate. Unfortunately, I see how that limit could be frustratingly low. If you can't CLI that account, your best options would be to make multiple monthly payments as you add new charges or to add/use a different card.
Good luck and let the community know if we can help.
@GApeachy wrote:
@CreditExpressNJ wrote:
@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
@CreditExpressNJ wrote:Well i joined the party no one wants to join today.. Synch closed all my accounts.. PPC, Amazon, and Car Care none had balances except PPC.. Im starting to wonder if this is a new protocol if maybe you included them in a Chapter 7 because I am looking at my moms profile and she has quite a few Synch and large balances but this has not impacted her and that is the only difference between her and I.
Well I'm happy I didnt have too many cards with them although I loved my PPC. But, the time would have come sooner or later I honestly didnt want to deal with Synch anymore.
If it was a protocol to cancel all ones cards because they included them in bk7 one wouldnt get any cards from that lender imo. Sorry about your closures. I still have mine but i find PPC the most useless Sync card, loosely, i own. No matter where i try to use it noone accepts it. Always get a mysterious error and when i switch to PPMC as payment method, mysteriously approved
True. But can't put any reason to why they would do such a thing. I know its someone here that has not included them in BK7 but its just so wierd that they do this and thats the only difference I can figure between my mom and I. Because like a lot of others they stated HIGH Risk for me. Theres nothing that changed with my credit profile either besides that I opened a few students loans but even that is a long way off as those were reporting for a while. I think Synch has no justified reason they are just doing this because they can. But, that is fine they made a decision I was going to make eventually and will not be getting my business back at all for this madness. And yea I use to have PPMC before BK7 but after I kind of trimmed the fat had way more than what I needed in credit so never bothered to reapply glad I didnt with what they just did.
@CreditExpressNJ were the "few" student loans opened before or after your last two synchrony apps? If so, what was the time frame?
Also, that's a major difference from your mom's profile; not just the bk. One student loan does pose a risk, but a few?
Did not realize those would play a factor but yes it was quite a few after. I'm still in school actually so i believe when i opened those I was around 15K student loans now I'm at 30K currently. But, other than that nothing has changed for me no new cards, no out of the normal usage. And as far as Mom she doesnt have student loans either so bk and student loans.. But, her total debt is also 17K between several cards but she just paid off her car so 17K is purely credit cards with her total available credit being 70K.
So, I think you might be onto something in my case. Sounds like the student loans could have made me look like high risk although very strange because it wasnt like those cards were being used. My amazon was a $300 bal of 1.2K from recent purchase and my PPC was 1.75k of 3.5K LOL very small amounts honestly. Synch just became wierd..