Consumer complaint received 2020-08-26
Company: SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL
State: MO
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: Store credit card
Issue: Closing your account
Sub-issue: Company closed your account

Complaint:
Synchrony Bank closed all my accounts without warning. 

On Monday, XX/XX/XXXX, I received a notice from XXXX XXXX  that my XXXX old XXXX account was shown closed. It had no balance and had not been used for quite some time, though there was a {$25.00} charge for Hotel card/service that is a yearly thing in XX/XX/XXXX, so really, there was activity within the 14 months XXXX said it normally looks at things. I was very upset, frustrated and confused - no answer, certainly nothing satisfactory. They took {$2500.00} of credit line that we used on vacation and we were planning on having tires put on a vehicle in XXXX when we are on staycation. At that time I thought it was XXXX alone but realized the next day on XX/XX/XXXX it was Synchrony. 

Guess what, got home on Tues XX/XX/XXXX and in the mail is a letter from Synchrony Bank saying there was no activity so they closed it. Mind you, the credit monitoring group knew before the cardholder, that is ludicrous. In today 's age of cell phones, text messages, email, etc, this was avoidable. 

This was horrifying enough, then later on XX/XX/XXXX went to pay for an item from an XXXX auction and my payment was declined. I thought how is that, went to sign into my PayPal account and it said my XXXX card account was closed. I then realized it as also backed by Synchrony so I signed into every account and found my Citgo ( low balance, not heavily used closed due to they are out of area so use them for trips and once in awhile cash ), BP/XXXX ( used once or twice a month ), Amazon card ( used regularly ), XXXX, XXXX, QVC, JCPenney, Sam 's Club and Phillips 66 accounts all closed, all used pretty regularly and paid on time. They all carry significant balances and have had them for years and years, especially JCP, Citgo and BP. 

I understand now that a credit card company can just close your account without warning, why for the life of me I can not understand, regardless of its standing. The account could have been locked from use but the card holder could have been given a chance to ask and use any rewards earned within a posted window, minimum of 72 hours or maybe even a week. I have a hard time understanding how you can spend years amassing points/rewards to use for holidays, trips, etc and they come and steal all of that without warning. They aren't giving the consumer anything, everyone pays interest for use so those rewards programs are the bait for cardholders to use that card over perhaps another one. I lost over {$500.00} in PayPal, {$100.00} in Amazon and about {$60.00} in Sam 's, most of which was earmarked for holiday use. I see that as thievery, pure and simple, nothing fancy just a business bulldozing the everyday person and from all the boards I know I am not alone, though that doesn't ease my anxiety or irritation. 

The laws need to protect the consumer and each person deserves full transparency. Credit card companies should be bound to notify any cardholder of an account being closed and why. I am sure in the next week or so I will get 9 more snail mails with reasons, so the non-use was untrue when they went in and closed very active, up-to-date accounts. 

Truly, buyer beware.

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