Synchrony and Comenity Credit Insurance Program - Burned My Fico Score

[Anonymous]

Hello,

What recourse do I have to repair my credit from Synchrony and Comenity insurance programs making late payments towards my accounts?  I was signed up with the program for over 7 years and used the programs successfully once or twice when laid off or under doctors care.  They paid on time and as promised until December of 2018.  I was approved for the insurance payments, they made a few payments and then stopped paying.  I contacted each bank and the bank and I called the insurance programs and they still didn't pay.  About 4 Synchrony cards were paid late for 3-5 months and the same with Comenity cards for a total of around 8 accounts paid late during the same period of time.    I had a 700+ credit score.  After the delinquent reporting my major bank cards did the following:  reduced my limits to exactly what I owed, closed my accounts with balances, and Synchrony and Comenity - guess what they did?  They closed all my accounts while still reporting me delinquent although their program caused the problem. No matter how many phone calls I made and letters I sent with accompanying relevant information to Synchrony and Comenity they continued to report even when I disputed through the credit bureaus. I contacted the CFPB which stopped the delinquent reporting and cleaned up the Comenity/Synchrony accounts late last summer.  But, I lost my credit accounts/limits of over $7500 for each tradeline, and my hight limits of over 15K with other banks.  I just received a payment from the insurance program for one of the Synchrony/Comenity accounts which has been closed for months - 14 months after being approved for the insurance payments.   

My credit is ruined.  From 700+ to under 560.  Any advice/suggestions?

[K-in-Boston]

I contacted the CFPB which stopped the delinquent reporting and cleaned up the Comenity/Synchrony accounts late last summer. 

If these have been cleared up, what other factors are leading to your scores being so low?  Are there additional late payments, collections, or charge-offs?  Barring any other negative factors, that alone should have caused your scores to rebound.  As for their non-payment causing you to lose other tradelines or have them greatly reduced, that is a civil matter that would likely best be discussed with an attorney as to whether you have any recourse.

[FinStar]

OP, did SYNCB or Comenity send any correspondence as to any errors in processing your credit card insurance claims? Any reasons cited for the delays, if any? Were your balances for any of the impacted cards greater than the coverage they'd normally pay out or the length in coverage?

While it appears that the CFPB may be have intervened at some point to fix some of the issues; unfortunately, the closed accounts with SYNCB or Comenity cannot be re-opened. I'd look to see what recourse you might have or see whether other lenders/options might be available to rebuild your credit file.

Are there any other negative items that remain on any of your CRAs?

[Anonymous]

Hello,

Thanks for your response.  The other factors leading to the score being so low are the tradelines that were reduced to the exact amount I owed, so instead of being 30% under for utilization, I became 90-100% on quite a few cards.  So, all open credit cards have high utilization, others are closed with high balances or a balance, and the cards with no balance were closed because lenders wanted to avoid risk.  All of this despite the lates being cleared up have left a credit mess that I am trying to rebound from.

[Anonymous]

In the responses I received from Syncrhony and Comenity, both stated they had no involvement with the actions of their credit insurance program.  The credit insurance program did not return my emails - I can see that they've received them but have not opened them.  The program provided no reason - when I called the program with Synchrony Paypal, Amazon, and Walmart on the phone with me to provide assistance and also stop the negative reporting, the insurance program simply told them the account would be paid after they finished processing on their end and they weren't sure when that would be.  The insurance was supposed to pay on a monthly basis and after three months pay the entire balance of the card from the date of loss.  However, the insurance program skipped payments and or did not pay for months on some accounts.  When the balance of the card was paid, they did not pay the interest which is also a part of the contract - this reported negatively as well.  

There are no collections, charge-offs, or lates except those mentioned above. 

[Anonymous]

If the lates are still on your reports I would continue down the path you started with the CFPB. They seem to be in your corner. File another complaint about the lates.

As for the lowered limits the only thing you can do is keep paying them off. They will continue to balance chase you if you do not get those lates removed. Once everything is paid off you can look to get credit limit increases.