Synchrony cutting and closing every single one of my accounts...

[NRB525]

Getting back on topic...

OP, I am concerned that BofA closed both of your accounts. That doesn't just happen out of the blue.

Some specific information please, to get a more specific understanding of your profile.

Can you list out your cards, which bank and what the limit is on each, and how much the last statement balance reported (not what it is today).

What are your FICO scores from here?

You really need to go to a credit report (Free Credit Report search) and get your true Transunion file. Look closely at all the entries, because with these Reason Codes, Balance Chasing, and Closing of Accounts, you have something wrong in your file. I went through balance chasing and closing of accounts from 2009 through 2013. It isn't fun. My banks didn't like the high utilization. It may be utilization in your case, but from the earlier text, we can't tell. That's the reason for the request that you please list out the accounts, limits and balances.

[Loquat]

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@sarge12 wrote:

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@AverageJoesCredit wrote:

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@sarge12 wrote:

Just as a general rule, I adopted a strategy on credit cards that has worked well for me. Absolutely never do I even consider store credit cards, and only apply for premium cards, and avoids Comenity, and Synchrony. I treat all cards as if they were charge cards and always PIF, usually before statement cut date. I refuse to allow any credit card issuer to have the power to throw my utilization into a tailspin at their discretion. If any issue arrives I can and will close the card with no major impact...because I do not carry balances. I have about 20 or so revolving accounts or credit cards, but if they closed them all, I would be fine...but that is unlikely. It is a simple concept to just live within my means, and never pay on credit for something I would not or could not otherwise pay cash for. It is ridiculous that it took over half my adult life to learn this.

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Great for you Sarge.What works for you doesnt necessarily work for others. Store cards aren't evil , they may not be premium, but for some their value is as premium as a CSR or a Centurian Card. Credit cards come in all kinds , as do we  . But I wholeheartedly agree we should try to live within our means but that , Dear Watson, sometimes is easier said than done for many

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+100....but that is why I said it has worked well for me!!!! I, in no way would suggest that it is the only strategy that could work, and the opinion I have about store cards is to at least some degree shared by lenders unfortunately. This is especially true on manual review for 3B mortgage pulls...being evil is not the point...store cards are less respected by many lenders. Also, I personally think the Centurian card is very over rated, and is mainly just to boost someones ego.

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At one point I had several store cards.  And while I'm not disagreeing some lenders may care about store cards, in my experience I haven't met one nor has my store cards created a problem.  The lenders in my situation cared about my DTI ratio, my overall credit profile, down payment, and how much money I make.  If a lender ever suggested or hinted at my closing a card to obtain a loan I'd laugh and walk away.

Exposure of any kind can be too much.  While you may think that having a lot of exposure to Sync and store cards is bad...I'd say that same methodology applied to having lots of Chase and Amex cards as many of us around here have more than a few.  I'm not a huge fan of store cards but they certainly have their place.  I'll be the first to admit that you'd have to pry my Lowes card out of my dead hands as that card has been a blessing time and time again when it comes to home improvements and general toys that I want.

Kitchen remodel - $5k interest free, bathroom well over $8k, interest free, and thinking about purchasing a new decked out Weber grill and if there's another round of 24 month/no interest then I'm certainly going to get it.  Sure I could have paid in full for these purchases but if I can borrow someone elses money interest free for 2 years I'm all over it.

[Loquat]

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@AverageJoesCredit wrote:

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@sarge12 wrote:

Just as a general rule, I adopted a strategy on credit cards that has worked well for me. Absolutely never do I even consider store credit cards, and only apply for premium cards, and avoids Comenity, and Synchrony. I treat all cards as if they were charge cards and always PIF, usually before statement cut date. I refuse to allow any credit card issuer to have the power to throw my utilization into a tailspin at their discretion. If any issue arrives I can and will close the card with no major impact...because I do not carry balances. I have about 20 or so revolving accounts or credit cards, but if they closed them all, I would be fine...but that is unlikely. It is a simple concept to just live within my means, and never pay on credit for something I would not or could not otherwise pay cash for. It is ridiculous that it took over half my adult life to learn this.

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Great for you Sarge.What works for you doesnt necessarily work for others. Store cards aren't evil , they may not be premium, but for some their value is as premium as a CSR or a Centurian Card. Credit cards come in all kinds , as do we  . But I wholeheartedly agree we should try to live within our means but that , Dear Watson, sometimes is easier said than done for many

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I agree wholeheartedly with you AJC.  The thought of everyone living within their means just isn't going to happen I don't care how you spin it.  And having major cards are great but like I just mentioned in a previous post, I value my Lowes card far more than I do *some* of my majors.  Show me a major that is going to continuouslly allow me to upgrade my castle (what I refer to my home as) interest free 2 years at a time...over and over again.  I can't think of any.  Besides opening lots of new accounts to take advantage of balance transfer promos or short interest free periods, I can't think of one who would fit my need of updating my castle as often as I like to do.  If one can't tell, I truly love my Lowes card and spend way too much time there.  

[Anonymous]

I agree with the others who advise the OP to get copies of their complete 3B (Experian, Equifax and Transunion) credit reports. Just looking at the FICO scores won't cut it, nor will being aware of overall utilization (as important as that is) or knowing that you're current on your payments. Having a long history of high utilization on several cards, even if you PIF from time to time, can be seen as a red flag depending on what factors issuers are relying on to review, particularly in combination with other factors that may not be apparent at the time. And keeping utilization under 30% (28.9% is the more precise percentage figure usually given; 8.9% or less overall is generally considered "excellent", though you can still have overall excellent utilization if you happen to have more than that on one or two cards at any given time) is one of the basic things of good credit management.

[sarge12]

Even though pulling a 3B is good advice, even that could fail to reveal what has them jittery. Credit report is a snapshot in time. If their issue is something in your history with them that has since been changed it could not show in a current report. If say on one of your Synchrony accounts they saw very high utilization or someone there in error keyed in such, your current report could look OK. The fact that Bankers Trust also saw something would suggest that this is not the case though.

[steelers1]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have maybe 20k in Synch lines. I use them, I pay them off or keep them around 30-40%. Around 4 months ago I started to notice that everytime I made a payment, they would cut my credit line close to the balance. For example TJMaxx card, CL is 2.8k, used maybe 2k for new furniture, paid down to 1.2k mid month, boom, credit line decreased to 1250. Make another payment of $700 the following month, boom, CL is 607 now. The same happened to virtually all of my Synch accounts.... 

Why don't they just close them? Why are they sucking me out and slowly killing me. Walmart chopped, Kanes chopped, TjMaxx chopped, Sams Club chopped, and more... 

I realize my exposure might be high, but I use these cards and pay them well. Additionally, my credit in general is actually pretty decent. I'm not over utilized, and I have zero negs, and I've never done Synch wrong.

Is Synch starting to feel the pain of lending to anybody and everybody? Are they tightening up and/or is this an indiciation of the economy starting to "collapse"? LOL

I should mention, they are also doing this to my wife, closing cards. She uses and PIF every month. Never carries balances, or if she does, it'll be a hundred of less on a card that has pretty high lines. She has impecable credit, nearly perfect, lost 30k+ of lines.

Letters are starting things like "Debt to Income Ratio is too high", "Too many delinquencies", something about risk, history, etc. None of the bullet points apply to us.... 

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Algorithms, algorithms and more algorithms.

Synch is probably wondering why you are carrying high interest (26% +) balances with your incomes. "Income is 224k single, 360k joint"

To carry a 30%-40% balance on a high interest store card with very good income makes you appear risky to them.

Considering your reported income and utilization on high interest store cards it makes no sense financially.

I'm sorry this happened to you.

[HeavenOhio]

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@NRB525 wrote:

Can you list out your cards, which bank and what the limit is on each, and how much the last statement balance reported (not what it is today).

@Anonymous, listing the cards, banks, reported balances, and limits for both you and your wife would be helpful, both for you and for others who'd like to learn from your experience. The fact that you've each been subject to adverse action from two banks indicates that something's going on that isn't readily apparent. You really want to do what you can to keep other banks from doing something similar.

And as others have mentioned, grab your full TU report. While utilization can cause adverse action, it's usually coupled with something else on one's report.

30–40% in and of itself isn't likely to be be an issue if your statements cut at that level and you pay the statement balances in full. However, if you revolve that balance, charge some more the next month, and only pay down to 30–40%, banks are going to see risk.

What Synchrony and Comenity both have in common is that they'll hand out a pile of cards and raise limits to generous amounts. After that, their computers will feel remorse and either balance-chase or shut people down entirely.

Comenity in particular has been known to approve a new card and shut everything down a few days later. In contrast, Chase has been known to approve and close. But that tends to happen when their card has been acquired as part of a spree involving new accounts from other banks. Comenity will approve one of their own cards, then turn around and decide you have too much.

Chase and AMEX were mentioned above as banks who'll hand out multiple cards. But when exposure starts to hit its ceiling, they tend to reallocate limits rather than approving and closing.

[imaximous]

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@HeavenOhio wrote:

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@NRB525 wrote:

Can you list out your cards, which bank and what the limit is on each, and how much the last statement balance reported (not what it is today). 

30–40% in and of itself isn't likely to be be an issue if your statements cut at that level and you pay the statement balances in full. However, if you revolve that balance, charge some more the next month, and only pay down to 30–40%, banks are going to see risk.

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I have a question about this. How do banks know whether you're revolving a balance or not? Let's say, I charge 40% of my CL, then pay it all off after statement cuts and balance gets reported. Then, next month, I charge about the same or maybe more, and so on. Always PIF after balance gets reported. Is there somewhere in the reporting system that tells banks or their computers that you're paying in full to avoid any AA?

[Anonymous]

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@imaximous wrote:

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@HeavenOhio wrote:

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@NRB525 wrote:

Can you list out your cards, which bank and what the limit is on each, and how much the last statement balance reported (not what it is today). 

30–40% in and of itself isn't likely to be be an issue if your statements cut at that level and you pay the statement balances in full. However, if you revolve that balance, charge some more the next month, and only pay down to 30–40%, banks are going to see risk.

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I have a question about this. How do banks know whether you're revolving a balance or not? Let's say, I charge 40% of my CL, then pay it all off after statement cuts and balance gets reported. Then, next month, I charge about the same or maybe more, and so on. Always PIF after balance gets reported. Is there somewhere in the reporting system that tells banks or their computers that you're paying in full to avoid any AA?

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No. There is no memory of balances at all in the FICO system. All it shows as far as that goes is what your current balance is. (ETA: or I should say, what your current reported balance is.)

[Anonymous]

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@HeavenOhio wrote:

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@NRB525 wrote:

Can you list out your cards, which bank and what the limit is on each, and how much the last statement balance reported (not what it is today).

@Anonymous, listing the cards, banks, reported balances, and limits for both you and your wife would be helpful, both for you and for others who'd like to learn from your experience. The fact that you've each been subject to adverse action from two banks indicates that something's going on that isn't readily apparent. You really want to do what you can to keep other banks from doing something similar.

And as others have mentioned, grab your full TU report. While utilization can cause adverse action, it's usually coupled with something else on one's report.

30–40% in and of itself isn't likely to be be an issue if your statements cut at that level and you pay the statement balances in full. However, if you revolve that balance, charge some more the next month, and only pay down to 30–40%, banks are going to see risk.

What Synchrony and Comenity both have in common is that they'll hand out a pile of cards and raise limits to generous amounts. After that, their computers will feel remorse and either balance-chase or shut people down entirely.

Comenity in particular has been known to approve a new card and shut everything down a few days later. In contrast, Chase has been known to approve and close. But that tends to happen when their card has been acquired as part of a spree involving new accounts from other banks. Comenity will approve one of their own cards, then turn around and decide you have too much.

Chase and AMEX were mentioned above as banks who'll hand out multiple cards. But when exposure starts to hit its ceiling, they tend to reallocate limits rather than approving and closing.

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The above is precisely why I've avoided getting any other cards from Comenity than Overstock last year (and one reason why I'm considering closing it once I can do so without damaging my overall revolving credit/utilization significantly). It's also a reason why I'm still kind of wary of getting another Synchrony card, even though I'm very much interested in the Paypal 2% Cashback MC (more so now than the Marvel MC); I don't want to put too many eggs in one basket, as the saying goes.

I agree that with AA from two banks, it's really imperative to look at the full credit reports not just from the Big 3 CRA's but also from other agencies that generate credit reports accessible to consumers. Again, while the OP may be convinced that everything is in order with their financial profile and behavior, it seems entirely possible that something they don't consider a problem is raising a red flag in issuers' computers.