Consumer complaint received 2019-05-24
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: GA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: Store credit card
Issue: Trouble using your card
Sub-issue: Can't use card to make purchases

Complaint:
I am writing to officially lodge a complaint against Synchrony Bank. Synchrony Bank is the credit issuer for several of my credit card accounts : JCPenney, Lowes, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX and Old Navy.  Synchrony Bank has randomly over the period of the last 2.5 weeks decreased my credit limits and or closed my account with them with no notice. Case in point, the credit limit on my Lowes account up until this month was {$3500.00} and this month without notice they decreased my credit limit to {$1500.00} which left me with {$170.00} in available credit basically maxing out the account and showing that I am not a credit worthy consumer. I had made a payment on my account of {$310.00} on XX/XX/2019 which left me with ample credit on my account to make the purchase on my account I was making on XX/XX/2019. I made a purchase in one portion of the store on XX/XX/2019 for XXXX and then went into another portion of the store to get the rest of the items that that I needed. The total for the next purchase was over {$500.00}. Keeping in mind that my credit limit was {$3500.00} I knew that I had ample available credit to make my purchase, so I swiped my card and it was declined. The person at the register told me to swipe the card again so I did and it was declined again. I was extremely horrified, embarrassed and humiliated that this card kept getting declined, so I put the purchase on another credit card which I was not planning on doing because it then left me with no available credit on that card. I lost the ability to have the 5 % discount and the option of being able to pay off the purchase over a 6-month period on that purchase by not being able to use my Lowes credit card, in addition I now have to pay off this {$500.00} + purchase immediately in order to have available funds on this account and keep my account in good standing with XXXX XXXX. This has caused an extremely negative impact on my credit worthiness and rating.

Two days after the incident with Lowes, I received an alert from my credit monitoring company informing me that my XXXX account was closed without notice. The alert asked if I had closed the account and stated that if I had not to confirm with the credit grantor that this was not an error. I then logged into my XXXX account which is managed via Synchrony Bank to see what was going on. And it showed that I did not owe them any money, but that I also had no credit available to use. I was totally confused at this point as this account had a XXXX balance but you randomly decide to close the account again without notice, again credit a negative effect on my credit score, credit worthiness and credit rating.

Three days after the alert from the credit monitoring company I received a letter from Synchrony Bank informing me that my credit limit had been decreased on my XXXX account from {$4000.00} to {$1300.00} which left me with {$48.00} in available credit. Again, without any notice to me, the same bank ( Synchrony Bank ) made a random decision and it has created yet another negative impact on my credit rating, credit worthiness and credit score. 

XX/XX/2019, I received a letter in the mail again from Synchrony Bank on behalf of JC Penney informing that they have again decreased my credit limit on this account. My credit limit was {$5000.00} and now it is {$2700.00} which left me with {$85.00} in available credit and maxing out my credit card. This again has reflected in a negative impact on my credit score, credit worthiness and credit rating. 

XX/XX/2019, I received yet another notification from my credit monitoring company that Synchrony Bank closed my XXXX card, again with no notice which also had absolutely no balance owed on it. This will also have a negative impact on my credit score, credit worthiness and credit rating. 

I feel that I have been targeted by Synchrony Bank for absolutely no reason. I also feel that this has been unfair and unjust actions by Synchrony Bank which will take me a long time to recover from without the assistance of an organization such as yours. I am a homeowner and small business owner who takes her credit very seriously. I work extremely hard for everything that I have and to have my livelihood and credit impacted by one company in such a harsh way is not just unfair but also illegal in its tactics. My credit score prior to the actions by Synchrony Bank was just under 700 and now, according to the latest letter that they sent me on behalf of JC Penney, I am sitting at a XXXX. I am requesting an investigation into this matter and would appreciate your assistance in getting this completed. I fear that the actions of Synchrony Bank with have a trickle-down affect with my other credit grantors which would place me in an impossible position which could ultimately end up forcing me to file bankruptcy which could have serious implications for my business.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation