Synchrony account closure

[UncleB]

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@FinStar wrote:

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@DenverFox wrote:

Hi everyone,

I have some late-breaking information I wanted to share. When I called in and inquired about the closures, they said it likely had something to do with my FICO which I knew was not true. I just received the 4 account closure letters today and indicated after account review they have decided to close my account. The explanation on each is as follows:

"Activity on account(s) with SYNCHRONY BANK indicative of high risk of failure to repay"

Just to recap, there has been no recent activity on my accounts. Historically, I have gone in to all of them every 3-5 months and requested a CLI (soft pull) and they have bumped them. They had recently bumped by CareCredit to 20k.

The limits and cards they closed all had a zero balance and perfect payment history. They are as follows:

Care Credit - 20k

Lowes - 35k

Discount Tire - 10k

Amazon - 10k

In the end, the only reasonable explanation is I had them do CLIs multiple times a year against multiple cards without actually needing or using the higher limit.

Hope this helps. The good news is since the balance was already zero, it didnt hurt my score at all when it reported. 

Brian

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Thank you for providing some DPs with your experience @DenverFox.

Outside of SYNCB, have you had any historical higher than normal balances on your other CCs (i.e. prolonged or stagnant, whether due to BTs or standard transactions)?

You mentioned that an agent had relayed (although not confirmed with certainty) something about your scores - have they deteriorated or remained constant for the past 6-12 months?

It's certainly perplexing, but it is possible, although no one knows for sure whether the repeated CLI attempts may have been tracked for a period of time.  So, for context, in a period of 12 months, for all your SYNCB accounts, what is the aggregate total you were approved as far as CLIs?

I cant recall the last time I tried...well, not since I hit their max exposure cap back in mid-2017.  Then it made it worse with the PPC transition (but it had to go...and traded it for the Belk MC 😜).   @UncleB was the big influence on that one, well because...he has one and I shop there 🤷‍♂️

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LOL, my Belk card is my second oldest card at (nearly) 14 years, and my Lowe's is my oldest account at (nearly) 16 years... I didn't intend for my two oldest accounts to be Synchrony accounts, it just worked out that way.  I would be very disappointed if Synchrony were to shut me down, but so far everything is fine.

I took the upgrade on my Care Credit to the MasterCard version a couple of years ago and I didn't mind having to start over with a new account since the PLCC was only a couple years old, but I admit if they offer to upgrade my Belk I'll have some serious thinking to do. 

I currently have Lowe's ($20k), Sam's Club MC ($20k), Belk ($5k), and Care Credit MC ($15k).  For my income the combined credit lines are significant but I've had them for a while (at least a couple of them, anyway) and I'm hoping they leave me alone.

Also, this might have nothing to with anything, but back when the "Blue Envelopes" (i.e. 4506-T requests) were going around one of the things that many recipients had in common was having an AU (not every time, though).  I don't know if that's a common denominator this time or not, but I figured I would mention it.

[GApeachy]

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@UncleB wrote:

Also, this might have nothing to with anything, but back when the "Blue Envelopes" (i.e. 4506-T requests) were going around one of the things that many recipients had in common was having an AU (not every time, though).  I don't know if that's a common denominator this time or not, but I figured I would mention it.

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Awww, poot-n-nanny...I just added Dh.  Welp, that solves it for me.  If I get shut down we'll just blame dh...yeah, he'll never know He's my shutdown dp 

[Anonymous]

I received one of the closure notice from synchrony for the JCPenney card. Same closure reason as to what RSX received, "Activity on account(s) with Synchrony bank indicative of high risk of failure to pay". Um okay. The balance on that card is $800 (16% util), PPC (33%), Amazon prime (3%), and 76 gas card has been PIF since I've started this thread. 

when I found out they closed all the accounts, I was quick to cut up all the cards and tossed them into the dumpster (weight lifted off shoulders) 

But to all of you who have many synchrony bank cards... I guess lay low for a while. Because who knows how long they will continue to do this! 

But really though... I am okay with the closures. Just wished I had beat them to closing the cards first. They did help me tremendously during my rebuild years which helped open doors to the much better cards out there. Now if Target was backed by Synchrony I may feel different LOL...

If any of the other closure letters differ from the JCPenney one, I will update. If you don't hear from me, all the letters gave the same reason. 

[GApeachy]

Hey @Anonymous   How are you and your mama doing?  Thanks for the update, I'm laying low.  Hate you couldn't have beat them to the punch too, but it doesn't really matter in the long run.  Is your Mama feeling pretty good for what she's endured?  Hugs to you all

[Anonymous]

My mom is doing well. She is recovering well at home. I come from a very large family so someone is always visiting her and my dad daily. My mom is definitely feeling home sick though and cannot wait to be fully back on her feet (I don't blame her). Things definitely started off a bit rocky this year but I'm still feeling pretty blessed. Woke up to enjoy life yet another day.. small aches here and there but nothing life threatening lol. My mom is still here with us (thank god). Life is good. 

Thanks for always thinking of my mom though, y'all the sweetest! ❤️

[Remedios]

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@Anonymous wrote:

My mom is doing well. She is recovering well at home. I come from a very large family so someone is always visiting her and my dad daily. My mom is definitely feeling home sick though and cannot wait to be fully back on her feet (I don't blame her). Things definitely started off a bit rocky this year but I'm still feeling pretty blessed. Woke up to enjoy life yet another day.. small aches here and there but nothing life threatening lol. My mom is still here with us (thank god). Life is good. 

Thanks for always thinking of my mom though, y'all the sweetest! ❤️

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That's great to hear! 

My mom had a triple bypass and a pacemaker placed. Two weeks after leaving hospital, she decided to give vacuuming a try.

Mothers 😒

[FinStar]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I received one of the closure notice from synchrony for the JCPenney card. Same closure reason as to what RSX received, "Activity on account(s) with Synchrony bank indicative of high risk of failure to pay". Um okay. The balance on that card is $800 (16% util), PPC (33%), Amazon prime (3%), and 76 gas card has been PIF since I've started this thread. 

when I found out they closed all the accounts, I was quick to cut up all the cards and tossed them into the dumpster (weight lifted off shoulders) 

But to all of you who have many synchrony bank cards... I guess lay low for a while. Because who knows how long they will continue to do this! 

But really though... I am okay with the closures. Just wished I had beat them to closing the cards first. They did help me tremendously during my rebuild years which helped open doors to the much better cards out there. Now if Target was backed by Synchrony I may feel different LOL...

If any of the other closure letters differ from the JCPenney one, I will update. If you don't hear from me, all the letters gave the same reason. 

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@Anonymous, echoing what others have mentioned upthread, glad to hear your mom is recovering well.

It's unfortunate that there are still some known "unknowns" as to how they arrived at their [AA] decisions.  Why certain accounts/accountholders were selected over others (and whether this is just the tip of the iceberg) is definitely perplexing as I've stated on another thread.  Hopefully, no more AA instances pour in, but if so, maybe we could dsicern some sort of pattern as to part of the root cause.  

And, while it's a disappointing outcome given how hard you worked to obtain those accounts over time, at the end of the day, they're just another lender in the seas of plenty.  Even those little rectangular bundles of joy can be replaced.

[RSX]

I logged into PayPal today to make sure the Credit Line was paid off.  It is and the portal into PPC is not showing anymore

i did see this though .......  

[AverageJoesCredit]

To me its a ridiculous reason to close accounts in good standing. Do you know how many people carry balances on Sync cards and struggle to pay them off due to interest? Make a late payment and i could understand but what a bad way to lesson risk. Ok rant over

[notmyrealname23]

Well, I'll be holding my breath now. I just got a Cathay Pacific CC by Synchrony, 40,000 miles for $2000 spend in 90 days, but the CL is only 2500. 

I have some natural planned spend (airline tickets, junior college tuition that can be reimbursed from a 529, some travel plans involving expensive tickets) but they would all push things close to 2k on a 2.5k CL; it sounds like Synchrony is super jumpy. I'm already doing some payoffs in between statements so utilization doesn't go very high- hope they don't think I'm trying to bust out (I'm not, I just want that bonus before this gets sock drawered for a year until AF time, when I ask for a retention bonus, if they say no I close the line).