Synchrony Financial is a consumer financial services company headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, United States. The company offers consumer financing products, including credit, promotional financing and loyalty programs, installment lending, and FDIC insured savings products through Synchrony Bank, its wholly owned subsidiary.
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History
Synchrony traces its roots to 1932.
Prior to its 2014 initial public offering, which raised $2.88 billion, Synchrony operated as a subsidiary of GE Capital.
In March 2017, Synchrony acquired GP Shopper.
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Current operations
Synchrony is the largest provider of private label credit cards in the U.S. In 2014, the company comprised 42 percent of the private label credit card market. The company provides private label credit cards for such brands as Amazon, Cathay Pacific, CheapOAir, OneTravel, Walmart, Lowe's, Guitar Center, Gap, BP, Ashley HomeStores, Discount Tire, J.C. Penney, and P. C. Richard & Son. The CareCredit credit card, also offered through Synchrony Bank, is for healthcare procedures or services such as dental, veterinary, cosmetic, vision, and audiology.
Accusations of deceptive practices and CFPB consent decree
In June 2014, Synchrony agreed to pay $225 million after entering into a consent decree with the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The CFPB alleged "deceptive and discriminatory practices" regarding Synchrony's consumer credit cards.
With regards to the practices that the CFPB called "deceptive," it was alleged that, while operating as GE Capital, Synchrony telemarketers had sold numerous credit card add-on services, such as debt cancellation agreements, to consumers without notifying the buyer in an upfront manner of the terms of the agreements. According to the CFPB, in many cases, consumers were unaware that they would be charged for these services.
With regards to the practices the CFPB called "discriminatory," it was found that Synchrony had discriminated against Latino Americans by excluding from two different promotional statement credit deals customers who had elected to receive communications in Spanish and customers with mailing addresses in Puerto Rico. The promotional deals were offered from 2009 until 2012 to customers with delinquent accounts and allowed them to settle their balance with Synchrony Financial by paying some amount which was less than the outstanding balance, under certain conditions. It is not known why Synchrony chose not to offer this promotion to its Hispanic customers, but the CFPB found that this practice constituted "discriminat[ion]... on the basis of... race and national origin."
It has recently come to light that Synchrony and its related Synchrony Car Care services have been closing customers credit card accounts with no notice to customers. When customers eventually find out the card is closed and contact Synchrony, they are frequently told that the credit card was closed due to inactivity even when the account is in good standing. To make things worse, when a customer asks how they can re-open the account, they are told that is not possible and they need to apply for a new account thus forcing the customer to have another hard hit on their credit report. It is being questioned if Synchrony is breaking state and federal laws when closing accounts with no notification to customers, as this can negatively effect a customers credit score then force them to pay higher interest rates.
References
External links
- Website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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