I just wanted to recount a really terrible experience I had with Synchrony Bank today that is line with other things I'm reading in the community and elsewhere. I was approved 2 months ago for a small credit line with them. I was excited because I felt this would an easy way to pay for AirBNB's when my family does small out of town trips. The first month I set up to make autopayments and then logged in after the first payment was supposed to have processed because I didn't get an email or anything confirming it had been paid. There was no payment made. I quickly made the payment, paid the late fee, and checked everything again to make sure the autopay was set up. I assumed I had made an error. Today I logged in to check that October's payment had processed and again, no payment made. Again, I quickly make the payment and pay the late fee. At this point my balance is $430.00 out of $1500. Then I check the dashboard and it says my credit limit has been reduced to $810.00 and it is telling me the account is delinquent! I call customer service and after wasting 30 minutes on the phone with someone who couldn't tell me anything about my account, the agent forwards me to his manager who informs me that the credit limit was cut the night before, reason unknown. I was very upfront about the issues with the auto-pay and asking for helping in trying to get this fixed so it didn't happen again and the agent tells me she cannot help me. She tells me that if I want the credit back, I have to apply for it and maybe I'll get approved. At this point, I log on and check my credit and my credit score has dropped 26 points because they reduced my credit limit and this is because the percentage of what I owe to my credit limit now appears very high because they cut my credit line in half. The agent has no idea why I am being told that the account was delinquent; this only happens typically when accounts are 60-90 days overdue and both payments were made within a couple of days of the payment date. I paid off half of the balance immediately and I will pay off the other half next month and then cancel the account before any further damage can be done. I know canceling will have a negative effect on my credit but I feel as though I have no choice now as I can't trust Synchrony act in good faith with regard to my account. In all, I am expecting to see between a 35-50 point reduction in my credit score over an account that only bumped my score about 10 points when it was awarded to me. I have been working so hard the last year to keep raising my score because I was hoping to get a mortgage. I'm absolutely crushed that this happened and I no longer have any trust that PayPal is offering me financial products that will serve me. I have been with Paypal since they began and I have had good experiences but this latest incident, coupled with a few other disturbing experiences in the last 2 years is causing me to rethink placing financial trust in them and the products they offer. I'm really starting to feel that if Paypal wants to make business partnerships with shady actors like Synchrony Bank that maybe I just can't rely on their products any more. I'm fully aware that Paypal doesn't care if I take my business elsewhere; caring about individual customers is just not part of corporate planning, but I did want to share my experience with others to perhaps spare them from having similar damage done to their credit and to let others know they aren't alone if this happened to them.
