Sync closed 4 accounts!

[coldfusion]

Synchrony has been especially twitchy with accounts for the last year.  Emperically if you have several Synchrony cards and either of the following applies you appear to be at increased risk of having all of your Synchrony cards closed with no opportunity for reconsideration:

Aggregate credit limit of roughly on the order of $75K-$100K across all your Synchrony cards but with comparatively minimal usage.

Recent credit seeking activity by adding multiple new tradelines and/or requesting CLIs on Synchrony cards.

There was a master thread started on the topic right about this time last year and while that thread has been locked and closed it's still relevant and there have still been individual threads created here from members who discovered that all of their Synchrony cards have been closed.

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Master-Synchrony-Account-Closure-Thread/m-p/6119157

[MrDisco99]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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Then there's the Sync-run PPMC. It's a decent $0 AF, 2% back credit card, and certainly one of the few (only?) $0 AF, 2% back cards available to people who haven't quite reached the end of building/rebuilding their credit. But the login interface sucks. You'd think that, between Sync's expertise in issuing credit cards, and PayPal's expertise in managing online payments, that they'd be able to figure out a first-rate, or at least decent, card management interface. But... they haven't. Then there's the FTF. The PPMC started out with a standard 3% FTF. Then Sync eliminated it, and folks flocked to the card. Then Sync reimposed the 3% FTF. Yet even weeks after the 3% FTF was reimposed (and certainly months after Sync first decided to reimpose the 3% FTF and notified cardholders), we've had reports on here of multiple Sync CSRs, and even supervisors, assuring cardholders (incorrectly) that the FTF was still $0.

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This was the only card of theirs that was on my radar, specifically for the 0% FTF.  I never got arround to submitting an app even though they bugged me constantly via email.  I'm glad I waited.  I would've been pretty upset if I'd blown a HP on this card only for them to undo that feature.

Nothing else they have interests me, especially after hearing stories like OP.

[Trini88]

Terrible. This story definitely tells me to never apply for one of their cards. I hope my VS card never gets snatched up by them 😪

[Shooting-For-800]

Sync has more than one 2% cards.

I have the Premier WMC and it's been great.

Not saying they are a Godsend.

People have problems with all banks including Citi, Chase, and even Amex.

GL OP!

[Anonymous]

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@Taurus22 wrote:

This forum is but a small corner of the world that we can actually see the repeat of stories pour in.....makes you wonder about the true percentage of people that this affects, that we never hear about, simply because they are not members here. SyncB will never find a place in my profile. Defend them all you want.

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Possible, but common sense would suggest that that really isn't the issue.   People here are far from representitive: they are far more "aggressive" about credit (getting cards, getting CLI/APRR etc), often have a rebuilding past and thus just appear more risky.   Plus, MyFico isn't the only source, if lots of customers were getting unfairly treated by an issuer, mainstream media would also report.

Equally, we don't hear all those stories from non-members about the time that that great Sync company sent them lots of free money because they are great customers.   Or cured their medical conditions.....

That said, it's possible that if you are a typical MyFico credit person, you may want to be more cautious with Sync rather than X.   But over time, lots of Xs have also been implicated so a hard and fast rule is difficult.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Taurus22 wrote:

This forum is but a small corner of the world that we can actually see the repeat of stories pour in.....makes you wonder about the true percentage of people that this affects, that we never hear about, simply because they are not members here. SyncB will never find a place in my profile. Defend them all you want.

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Possible, but common sense would suggest that that really isn't the issue.   People here are far from representitive: they are far more "aggressive" about credit (getting cards, getting CLI/APRR etc), often have a rebuilding past and thus just appear more risky.   Plus, MyFico isn't the only source, if lots of customers were getting unfairly treated by an issuer, mainstream media would also report.

Equally, we don't hear all those stories from non-members about the time that that great Sync company sent them lots of free money because they are great customers.   Or cured their medical conditions.....

That said, it's possible that if you are a typical MyFico credit person, you may want to be more cautious with Sync rather than X.   But over time, lots of Xs have also been implicated so a hard and fast rule is difficult.

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^This! I think Sync's preferred customer is one that utilizes their products frequently. Sync pushes their available financing options and I imagine they make a lot of money from customers that fail to pay the entire balance before the promotional period ends. This forum is a very small subset of credit card users, most consumers outside of this space don't have a clue about utilization padding. My guess is Sync has an algorithm that runs to see if you utilize offers/credit limit or if you push a few small charges through every 3 months to maintain a 5 figure CL with little to no use. The average customer that does this with one account is likely not a red flag, but if someone does this with multiple cards and their limits are in the 6 figures Sync probably catches on pretty quick.

I will say, I certainly do not agree with Sync's tendency to close all accounts when they detect activity they don't like. I think reducing CLs would be a much better way of handling those situations.

[MileHigh96]

Sync did me dirty last year. I didn't realize how many of my cards that they had their fingers in, but out of the blue they closed every single card I had with them. No notice or warning, just closed them all. Now granted, I did have a LOT of their cards, but I had never missed a payment on any of my credit cards ever. They really screwed my credit up bad.

I will never ever do business with Sync again because of what they did. And it sucks because they had some great cards with great promotional terms. I used their Care Credit card regularly at the vet's office with all of our dogs because of the great promo deals. But never again.

[Anonymous]

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@MileHigh96 wrote:
out of the blue they closed every single card I had with them. No notice or warning, just closed them all. Now granted, I did have a LOT of their cards, but I had never missed a payment on any of my credit cards ever. They really screwed my credit up bad.

I will never ever do business with Sync again because of what they did. And it sucks because they had some great cards with great promotional terms. I used their Care Credit card regularly at the vet's office with all of our dogs because of the great promo deals. But never again.

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Exactly. It's this kind of behavior that we see from Comenity, from FNBO, from Sync that we don't typically see from the likes of AmEx, BofA, BB&T, Cap One, Chase, Citi, Discover, Goldman, HSBC, TD, etc. Even Elan and U.S. Bank, which are particularly (over)sensitive to even occasional, bona fide gift card purchases, are generally more reliable than Comenity & co.

Folks keep saying, "but Sync & co. offer credit cards with great APRs and rewards!" They do! They do indeed. That is not, and has never been, the complaint. Heck, many of Sync's CCs offer better rewards than any of BB&T or PNC's cards, AFAIK. That's why myFICO'ers have often advsied folks to get the PPMC, whereas folks here have pretty much never advised anyone to go for a BB&T card.

Folks also keep saying, "but EVERY ISSUER takes AA! EVERY ISSUER is profit-oriented! EVERY ISSUER has disgruntled (ex-)customers!" And of course that's true too. No issuer is perfect; every issuer has taken (arguably unwarranted) AA; every issuer has (arguably unwarrantably) closed accounts; every issuer has (arguably unwarrantably) issued CLDs. But a consistent theme that's emerged, again and again and again, is that Sync & co. are more ruthless about taking AA. And, to be fair to Sync & co., they probably have to be more ruthless than, say, Citi in view of the average creditworthiness of their customers. But still, that's not a good outcome for the customer - especially the customer whose credit is strong enough that they could choose to do business with Chase instead.

The typical customer expects AA if they suddenly start falling behind on payments; or if their utilization suddenly spikes from 10% to 90%. The typical customer does not expect to lose multiple CCs in one fell swoop without so much as a "by your leave" for merely not spending enough on said CCs to suit the issuer's taste.

As a closing note, I take some exception to the characterization of myFICO'ers as particularly "credit-risky." If it was true that myFICO'ers were "subprime" borrowers, the prime lenders wouldn't touch myFICO'ers with a ten-foot pole. The fact that lenders, even picky lenders like Chase and Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank, love myFICO'ers shows we aren't "subprime" or particularly "risky." And even with credit-seeking behavior, I don't think most myFICO'ers credit-seek that aggressively. Yes, there are some on here with 30 credit cards and a million dollars in credit; but I'd venture to say that isn't remotely representative of the average myFICO'er. I think <10 cards is far more common, and many non-FICO'ers easily get up to the same number of cards simply by getting suckered into applying for mediocre store card after mediocre store card (that's how my parents were when I was a kid).

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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As a closing note, I take some exception to the characterization of myFICO'ers as particularly "credit-risky." If it was true that myFICO'ers were "subprime" borrowers, the prime lenders wouldn't touch myFICO'ers with a ten-foot pole. The fact that lenders, even picky lenders like Chase and Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank, love myFICO'ers shows we aren't "subprime" or particularly "risky." And even with credit-seeking behavior, I don't think most myFICO'ers credit-seek that aggressively. Yes, there are some on here with 30 credit cards and a million dollars in credit; but I'd venture to say that isn't remotely representative of the average myFICO'er. I think <10 cards is far more common, and many non-FICO'ers easily get up to the same number of cards simply by getting suckered into applying for mediocre store card after mediocre store card (that's how my parents were when I was a kid).

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Well, according to https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/average-number-of-credit-cards-a-person-has/ and other sites, the average US card holder has between 3-5 cards.   And, IMO, the vast majority of people on MyFico have more, the minimalists being a small percentage.   And people here do attempt to "grow" cards just because, which again is not something people in the normal world would do (if they even know about increasing limits, do it when there is a need).   And a lot of the forum have had some sort of BK in the past, although I don't know if this is a significant percentage.      So I think this IS a more risky population that those at large.   Sure, people get great cards all the time, but being more risky as a population certainly doesn't translate into no-one here ever gets a card.

As a reality check, discuss your credit card life with some non-members, it really isn't remotely normal.   Which isn't bad, but it DOES look unusual to the issuers.

[Bradac56]

This Synchrony bashing seems fairly myopic. 

Sync is a small margin, high issue company (*very high approval rate to questionable clients*) which results in allot of risk so claw backs happen regularly - as in every year.  People with 3+ cards with them are always on the cutting block that is just how the company works. 

If you go app happy with them or hold large balances long term with anyone you really do not understand there business model and should stay away from there products.