What the heck is going on with Synchrony?

[kdm31091]

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@Imperfectfuture wrote:

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@kdm31091 wrote:
Any lender can and does ask for verification or tax forms. You're applying for credit. An unsecured loan basically.

If you don't want to provide the info, that's fine. But diversification isn't the issue. Lenders have the right to ask for these documents. These are financial transactions at the end of the day.

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They do not have the right to share, sorry.

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Where did I say they have the right to share? I said they have the right to ask for verification/tax forms. You are applying for credit. They want to know you will pay your bills. Equally, you have the right to not provide the information if you choose.

As for sharing with third parties, not really sure if it's allowable or not, but I know with every CC I get there's a long list of disclosures on what can and can't be shared. People should probably read those instead of just assuming it is one way or the other. I surmise from the disclosures I've gotten that at least some level of  this  "sharing" is legal.

If you want to avoid any potential information sharing, you basically have to go off the grid and not apply for anything, as none of this is unique to Synchrony.

[Appleman]

Maybe LexisNexis is actually behind the requests?

My thought process: LexisNexis knows that Synchrony took a hit for increased defaults. They provide Synchrony a list of people who have not had their income verified via another lender or has data that falls out with some algorithm.  LexisNexus tells synchrony that this subset of customers should be under additional scrutiny.

Synchrony makes the request and LexisNexis gets the data (making their service more valuable).

With the amount of data coming in, they can spot trends before there is an understanding of the correlation.

[SnowBowl]

I just checked all 3 Synchrony accounts this morning and all looks good so far.  but I decided to have a chat with them, I thought I might share it on here..  she was telling me they are considering putting 5 Synchrony accounts limit , so if you have 5 Synchrony accounts already opened you wont be able to open 6th. She did assured me that I wont have to worry about my 3 accounts, we will see, I thought it was interesting about 5 accounts limit so thats why I am posting about it.

EDIT: Forgot to add one thing, I didn't ask her about 4506-T thing, too darn chicken to ask

[Anonymous]

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@SnowBowl wrote:

I just checked all 3 Synchrony accounts this morning and all looks good so far.  but I decided to have a chat with them, I thought I might share it on here..  she was telling me they are considering putting 5 Synchrony accounts limit , so if you have 5 Synchrony accounts already opened you wont be able to open 6th. She did assured me that I wont have to worry about my 3 accounts, we will see, I thought it was interesting about 5 accounts limit so thats why I am posting about it.

EDIT: Forgot to add one thing, I didn't ask her about 4506-T thing, too darn chicken to ask

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That would make sense to me, if it happens.  If they approve many many accounts and continually give very high CL, then that increases their risk. Interesting add, SnowBowl. Thanks.

[ohreally7654]

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@SnowBowl wrote:

I just checked all 3 Synchrony accounts this morning and all looks good so far.  but I decided to have a chat with them, I thought I might share it on here..  she was telling me they are considering putting 5 Synchrony accounts limit , so if you have 5 Synchrony accounts already opened you wont be able to open 6th. She did assured me that I wont have to worry about my 3 accounts, we will see, I thought it was interesting about 5 accounts limit so thats why I am posting about it.

EDIT: Forgot to add one thing, I didn't ask her about 4506-T thing, too darn chicken to ask

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Very interesting, thank you for sharing this with us!

[ohreally7654]

As an aside, for anyone who has had their accounts recently frozen, you will likely see that synchrony has just reported all of your current balances to the bureaus. This makes me really I am always so careful to not allow balances report. But now they've reported $83 on my SAMs, $120 on my Walmart, $90 on my Amazon and $25 on my Banana, mid-cycle. Thank you, yet again, Synchrony. Your accounts are just the gifts that keep on giving. 

[Anonymous]

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@ohreally7654 wrote:

As an aside, for anyone who has had their accounts recently frozen, you will likely see that synchrony has just reported all of your current balances to the bureaus. This makes me really I am always so careful to not allow balances report. But now they've reported $83 on my SAMs, $120 on my Walmart, $90 on my Amazon and $25 on my Banana, mid-cycle. Thank you, yet again, Synchrony. Your accounts are just the gifts that keep on giving. 

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Geez! So sorry this happened.

[ohreally7654]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@ohreally7654 wrote:

As an aside, for anyone who has had their accounts recently frozen, you will likely see that synchrony has just reported all of your current balances to the bureaus. This makes me really I am always so careful to not allow balances report. But now they've reported $83 on my SAMs, $120 on my Walmart, $90 on my Amazon and $25 on my Banana, mid-cycle. Thank you, yet again, Synchrony. Your accounts are just the gifts that keep on giving. 

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Geez! So sorry this happened.

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Thanks Musiclover--yeah I'm pretty much done with Synchrony at this point. I am diversified enough with other lenders that it's just not worth it to me to do business with them after this. 

[Anonymous]

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@ohreally7654 wrote:

As an aside, for anyone who has had their accounts recently frozen, you will likely see that synchrony has just reported all of your current balances to the bureaus. This makes me really I am always so careful to not allow balances report. But now they've reported $83 on my SAMs, $120 on my Walmart, $90 on my Amazon and $25 on my Banana, mid-cycle. Thank you, yet again, Synchrony. Your accounts are just the gifts that keep on giving. 

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I'm sorry this happened, ohreally.

Synchrony has had a tendency of doing this midcycle reporting from time to time even for customers who do not have their accounts frozen. Several of us noticed last September, October and November that on occasion (seemed to be no rhyme or reason to it), when you had a balance on a card, Synchrony would report the balance midcycle to the credit bureaus. It is rather annoying if you have a $300 balance you plan to pay off by the due date, and then it gets reported midcycle.

The midcycle reporting has happened to a few of us earlier this year as well.

Legally a creditor can update the credit report anytime they choose, which includes reporting midcycle. I don't agree that they should be doing this, however.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@ohreally7654 wrote:

As an aside, for anyone who has had their accounts recently frozen, you will likely see that synchrony has just reported all of your current balances to the bureaus. This makes me really I am always so careful to not allow balances report. But now they've reported $83 on my SAMs, $120 on my Walmart, $90 on my Amazon and $25 on my Banana, mid-cycle. Thank you, yet again, Synchrony. Your accounts are just the gifts that keep on giving. 

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I'm sorry this happened, ohreally.

Synchrony has had a tendency of doing this midcycle reporting from time to time even for customers who do not have their accounts frozen. Several of us noticed last September, October and November that on occasion (seemed to be no rhyme or reason to it), when you had a balance on a card, Synchrony would report the balance midcycle to the credit bureaus. It is rather annoying if you have a $300 balance you plan to pay off by the due date, and then it gets reported midcycle.

The midcycle reporting has happened to a few of us earlier this year as well.

Legally a creditor can update the credit report anytime they choose, which includes reporting midcycle. I don't agree that they should be doing this, however.

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Also, they are so slow to post payments. If I schedule a payment ahead of time, they do fine, but if I pay a charge online during the day, it has taken up to four days for it to show paid.