Consumer complaint received 2021-11-11
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: AZ
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Closing your account
Sub-issue: Company closed your account

Complaint:
Hello, I am writing to report an issue with Care Credit ( Synchrony Bank ). 

I received notification via my credit monitoring service yesterday ( XX/XX/XXXX ) that my Care Credit card account has been closed. I have been a cardholder for at least 12 years and have a card that does not expire until XXXX. I called the customer service phone number and spoke to an initial representative and after a 45 minute hold, spoke with a manager named XXXX. 

When I called Synchrony Bank to ask why the account had been closed I was told that it was closed 5 days ago due to inactivity. My last activity on the card was XX/XX/XXXX. The representative stated that their terms and conditions state they can close an account for any reason. The representative also confirmed that their policy is to send a pre closure notification 3 months in advance. I have received zero correspondence from Care Credit and only found out about the account closure from XXXX XXXX. The representative also confirmed that there was ZERO notice sent to me before closing the account and stated they can not reopen accounts. I did then ask to speak with a manager and spoke to XXXX. She told me that they do notify " some '' customers via pre closure notice but could not tell me how it is decided who will be notified and who will not. She then argued with me stating that XXXX was 5 years, chided me for not using the card recently, and indicated that some other department can reactivate my account but did not name that department or transfer me there. XXXX then told me that the " only '' way I might get my account reinstated is by logging on to my account and sending a secure message. After 75 minutes on the phone our call ended and I tried to login. Once I logged in I was notified that my " account information is not available online '' and I was directed back to the same customer service phone number I called earlier. I do believe that the customer service rep likely knew that I would not have access online and was simply trying to get me off the phone. 

If I had received the appropriate notice that apparently " some '' customers are sent, I would have used the card in order to prevent this closure. I do understand that under the Credit Card Act of XXXX that they do not need to notify consumers of closure, however if it is protocol within the company to notify cardholders 3 months in advance and that did not happen in this instance ( for whatever ) reason, then the appropriate solution would be to reinstate the account and then give appropriate notice. 

Lastly, Since this was a longstanding account with {$0.00} balance, this action harms my credit by lowering the length of credit history and increases my percentage utilization of credit cards. Now, due to the company 's failure to follow their own protocols, I have a negative report on my credit. I am concerned because I am buying a house and this negative credit incident may affect rates. I do believe that this incident reflects predatory business practices.

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