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Synchrony Bank and OneMain Goodwill Success

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delvisn
Member

Synchrony Bank and OneMain Goodwill Success

Firstly I want to acknowledge everyone on here for the amazing advise shared within the threads of this forum. I owe a debt of gratitude to countless of you who I've read so many posts from over the years. This being my first post, I want to pay forward the help I've received in getting my financial life in order.
 

Back in 2019 when Synchrony bank aquired Paypal Credit, my account up until then was a hidden tradeline with one 30-day late from May 2019. A couple of months after the aquisition, my account began reporting to all three bereaus and my worse fears became reality. You see I had been working hard for the previous 10 years digging myself out of the depths of a financial hole that I got myself into around 2008-2009. 

 

I had many charged off accounts, collections, repos, judgments, you name it. I had every derogatory mark you can think of. During those years I managed to pay off my debt, I also for some time I employed Lexington Law to help clear up most of the stubburn accounts and late payments that I couldnt negotiate off my reports. Yes I know I could have done the same thing Lexington Law did for free but to be honest at that time I felt hopeless and didnt even know where to begin.

 

Fast forward back to 2019. I managed to clear all negative marks from all 3 reports, I had decent credit scores (mid 650s average) and even managed to collect a few mid-tier credit cards including Chase Sapphire Preffered, Citi Double Cash, Discover It, and even an Amex Gold Card. I also had several store cards and ofcourse a Paypal Credit account. 

 

Now for the bad news, in October 2019 my credit score took a nose dive. That one 30-day late from May 2019 cost my 55-60 points! I couldnt believe it, all that hard work and now its all ruined. It may sound a overly dramatic but I felt like my life was over. A couple of days after the shock wore off I came accross some posts on here that talked about folks having success removing late payments and other negative items with goodwill adjustment letters. I also remembered that Lexington Law used the same tool to help my in the past. 

 

After scouring through the countless posts, I found enough information to begin putting together my action plan. I thought about sending my letters via snail mail but my anxiety wouldnt let me do it. Instead I called Syncrhrony Customer Service and began pleading my case there. To my surprise the reps I spoke with were friendly and willing to submit my request with no hesitation. About a week later I got alerts on myfico account that the 30-day late payments were removed! I thought to myself, well that was easy..too good to be true. About a month later though the late payments were back on! I tried calling again and went through the same process with similar results, the lates came of and a few weeks back they returned. This went on from Oct 2019 - January 2020.

 

In January 2020 I decided to change my approach. I though again about sending my goodwill letters via snail mail but I refused to wait that long. I had already wasted months and I was growing more and more uncertain that this would work. I decided to go back on here and search for more information. I found a post (I wish remembered the user that posted so I could give them credit) that shared contact information for their executive officers, I quickly drafted an email with my goodwill request.

 

To my surprise I recieved a call from the office of the President at Syncrony Bank saying that they recieved my request and would investigate further. The very friendly woman that called assured my that she would call back with a decision. 2-3 days past and she called back, when I saw the number my heart jumped up to my throat as I embrassed myself to hear the bad news. She started off by explained that the information reported to the bureaus from the dates in question was accurate and their for could not be changed blah blah blah by then I zoned out as I began to slef distruct! She paused and said "However, in the interest of customer service we will remove the derogatory information as a one time courtesy". I couldnt believe it! I was besides myself, I jumped out and asked her to repeat herself as she laughed and said yes we will grant your request and will submit the updates to the bureaus today and should take 30-60 days to reflect. Yes! I was over the moon happy as I awaited the results. About a week later my scores jumped right back to where they were, I even received a letter in the mail confirming what was discussed on the call.

 

Fast foward to March 2021 and I have a loan with OneMain Financial that I took out in August 2020. Iog on to my account to make my payment and I noticed that the payment due amount is $0. Not thinking much of it assuming that I must had paid I logged out and went on with my day. April 6th came around and to my shock I get an alert form myfico that my Experian score dropped 65 points due to a missed payment. I jump out of bed and log on to see what this could be, It must be a mistake I told myself in disbelief. 

I quickly realised that it wasnt a mistake, I checked my OneMain account and sure enough I missed the payment. I immediately got on the phone with them to find out what happened. It was 6am at the time and their offices didnt open until 9am. I began hyperventilating, having flashbacks of 2019. I pulled myself together and told myself "I got this, I got this". When I got to work I called them again, this time I spoke to a rep and demanded an explanation. They stock to their script stating that I missed my payment and there was nothing that could be done. I almost lost it, I asked to detail each payment I made and dates they were made. We combed through my loan and bank statements matching each of the transactions. It turned out that when I logged on in March and saw the $0 payment due was infact wrong. They coudlnt explain it but all signs pointed to that I missed the payment and that was that.

 

I immediatetly contacted their Executive Office of Customer Care. I sent emails to each of their C-level executives and every other email I could find online. about 2 days after my email blitz received call from their office, the lady was very lovely and asked my about my situation. I told her that about the glitch on the site, the conversations and names of the people I spoke to over the phone before her. We spoke for almost an hour and I explained everyhing in detail. She looked up my account and said there was nothing much she could do because I didnt make a payment for March but in good faith she would investigate the website glitch further and get back to me.

 

A couple of days later she called back and said that they were not going to be able to approve my goodwill request because the information being reported was accurate that they are required to do so by law. I politely thanked her for her time and hung up. I took the next couple of weeks to rethink my approach and what my next steps would be. I considered using Lexington Law again but figured I'd give it another shot after I made a few months of ontime payments. Maybe then they would forgive my mistake I thought to myself.

 

Three weeks later I called my local Onemain branch and asked to speak to the manager. I explained the issue to him and asked for any help. I even made a double payment to show how serious I was. he explained that there was nothing he could do other that re-age my loan so that I could skip a payment which I declined. He also told me that in all the years he worked there the company never honored goodwill requests. For some reason that comment fueled me to try again so when I got home that night I shot off another email, this time through their customer support secure message portal on their website.

 

The next day I recceived a reply that my inquiry was recieved and would be forwarded to their Executive Office of Customer Care. Three days later I get a call from the same lady that called me a couple weeks back, she even remember me. I thought "Great, here we go again" however, this time she said that after reviewing my case, she found that I infact had been misinformed by them and that she was going to approve my request! About 5 days later May 14, 2021, I received alerts that the 30-day late payments were removed!!

 
 

If you made it this far, I want to say thanks for reading. I hope this helps someone feel motivated enough to keep fighting. 

 
2 REPLIES 2
AllZero
Mega Contributor

Re: OneMain and Synchrony Bank Goodwill Success

Congratulations on your GW successes! Thank you for sharing your story.

Message 1 of 3
babygirl1256
Senior Contributor

Re: Synchrony Bank and OneMain Goodwill Success

Congrats on your Synchrony Bank and OneMain goodwill success . . . this forum has provided the same awesome support to me -and- certainly contributed to my credit rebuild!

Starting FICO 8 Score in 06/2019: EQ-625, TU-649, EX-640
Current FICO 8 Score in 06/2021: EQ-796, TU-806, EX-812
Goal FICO 8 Score in 06/2022: EQ-825, TU-850, EX-850
Message 3 of 3
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