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Synchrony Bank Goodwill Letter Success! But Decreased Credit Score?

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Anonymous
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Synchrony Bank Goodwill Letter Success! But Decreased Credit Score?

Hello! I sent a goodwill letter to Synchrony Bank about two weeks ago regarding a 30 days late payment from Dec 2015 on my Care Credit account. My request had previously been denied over the phone but I decided to mail a physical letter anyway. At this point my credit score was 660 (VantageScore) / 659 (FICO). 

 

Within a few days, I noticed the remark "Account information disputed by the consumer, meets FCRA requirements" had been added to my credit report and I received a letter from Synchrony confirming they would look into my case. My VantageScore jumped up to 674, although I'm not sure of any changes to my FICO since my report through Chase only updates monthly. 

 

This morning I checked my report on CreditKarma and it says that the late payment changed from "30 Days Late" to "Current" (yes!) and that the dispute remark has been removed. However, my VantageScore decreased 40 points to 634??

 

Has this happened to anyone else? And will my score jump back up anytime soon? I'm moving across the country in about a month and need to secure a car for the first time as well as pass credit checks for a new apartment. I've been trying very hard to get my score to at least 700 over the past year and I figured a GW letter was my best bet at being able to do that quickly.

 

The reason I had a 30 Day Late payment was that at the time I had been laid off from my first job and had a few weeks before securing new one during which I had no income and only modest enough savings to last in my city for about a month as a recent graduate. The natural decision in that situation is to pay rent before paying your credit card. I paid the outstanding debt as part of the following month's payment and my payment history is otherwise immaculate. I do have fairly high utilization across my accounts (75% Equifax / 52% TransUnion) but think my payment history shows that I'm trying very hard to pay off my debts ASAP as it is continually going down. I also just recently paid off a separate Capital One credit card in full. 

 

Since I know people are going to ask where I sent the letter, the address I used is: 

Synchrony Bank
P.O. Box 965030
Orlando, FL 32896-5030

 

Thank you in advance for any insight on the situation! It has me pretty anxious. 

5 REPLIES 5
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Synchrony Bank Goodwill Letter Success! But Decreased Credit Score?

After doing some more research it sounds like I was re-bucketed. This is bittersweet since I really need a high credit score fairly soon. Has anyone else experienced this and how long did it take to recover?

Message 2 of 6
rmduhon
Valued Contributor

Re: Synchrony Bank Goodwill Letter Success! But Decreased Credit Score?

Ignore the CK scores. They are Vantage 3 scores which very few lenders use and can be extremely different from your Fico scores. They are also extremely volatile. Get your actual Fico 08 scores from creditchecktotal.com using the 7 day trial. You might be pleasantly surprised, but then again it might be an unpleasant surprise but at least you'll know your true scores.
Message 3 of 6
Anonymous
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Re: Synchrony Bank Goodwill Letter Success! But Decreased Credit Score?

Thank you for the tip! I checked and my FICO score jumped from 656 to 685 (EX) / 694 (EQ) / 696 (TU). I was hoping for 700+ but that at least puts me at ease. 

 

Do you know which one of these reports is most commonly pulled in a hard inquiry? Or is it all three?

 

Also, any advice for jumping up to 700+ in a short amount of time? I might be able to pay off ~$1000 this month but that will only bring my utilization down from 75% to 71%. I should also be eligible for a credit line increase on one of my cards this month. 

Message 4 of 6
Anonymous
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Re: Synchrony Bank Goodwill Letter Success! But Decreased Credit Score?

Will you please share a copy of the letter?

 

thanks!

Message 5 of 6
Anonymous
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Re: Synchrony Bank Goodwill Letter Success! But Decreased Credit Score?

Paying down your utilization will def get your score up. Paying down debt helps credit more than most other things. I can’t say if it’ll be over 700, but I imagine with you paying it down, you’ll get close.

And getting a CLI should also help.
Good luck!!
Message 6 of 6
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