The Research & Writings of ALISON D. GILBERT

  • • BLOG •
  • • EBOOKS •
  • • VIDEOS •
  • • RESOURCE DIRECTORY •
  • • CONTACT •
Menu

Credit Card Closings, CREDIT CARD WORLD, The ALISON D. GILBERT Blog

CREDIT MONITORING ALERT: ACCOUNT CLOSED

September 23, 2019 No Comments

 

YOUR ACCOUNT HAS BEEN CLOSED

‘Account Closed, SYNCHRONY NTWRK’. This is the credit monitoring alert I received on September 23, 2019 from two of my weekly lists for credit card account activity. CreditSesame posted one of them and WalletHub posted the other one.

Account-Closed
Credit Monitoring Alert from CreditSesame.com

Account-Closed
Credit Monitoring Alert from WalletHub.com

WHAT DID AN ACCOUNT CLOSING MEAN?
These and other questions raced through my mind. The only thing that was clear was that one of four Synchrony cobranded credit card accounts were involved. The reason was that the symbol ‘SYNCHRONY NTWK’ was included. Other than that, I did not know which card had been closed. In fact, my biggest concern was not which card it was but how this would affect my credit score.

My concern involved several credit card score factors. First of all, as a result of a credit card closing, I would have less available credit. That could affect my ‘available credit ratio’ credit score factor. I could lose points on my credit score because this ratio is one of six major factors in determining one’s credit score. But let me not get ahead of myself. Before anything else, I had to figure out which card had been closed.

account-closed
Details of account closing notice from CreditSesame.com

WHAT ACCOUNT HAD BEEN CLOSED?
Since I couldn’t tell from the details provided in the closing notice which card had been closed I had some searching to do. In fact, all that was clear was that it was a Synchrony card. That meant it was a co-branded card. In fact, this was the third time a co-branded card had been closed:
First was my Best Buy card co-branded with CitiBank
The Second was my Lane Bryant card co-branded with TD Bank
And now one of my cards co-branded with Synchrony Cards
account closed
The Synchrony Network card that was cancelled.

THE SEARCH

I went online. One by one I checked each Synchrony cobranded account. When I came to the ‘Welcome Home’ Synchrony card, I received a response that no such account existed. Right there was my clue.

THE EVIDENCE

To be certain, I called them. Sure enough, their response was that the card had remained inactive for too long. Since I had not used it since February 3, 2017, two and a half years, they were entitled to close it without any written warning or final notice. Actually, they do not have to provide any. Instead, I had been responsible for the account closing. This is because I had not paid attention to the cobranded card closing game.

THE COBRANDED CREDIT CARD CLOSING GAME
Then I remembered that this was exactly what had happened with two of the other times there had been a card closing. A pattern began to emerge with these co-branded cards, USE IT OR LOSE IT!.

In fact, inactivity is the death knell for a co-branded card, because:
These cards are primarily designed for making large purchases to be paid over a long period of time without interest. But, the card company does earn interest when the account can’t be paid on time. In addition, this kind of purchase needs to be made on going to keep the co-branded card alive.

Account closed
The infographic explanation from WalletHub of ‘Why My Credit Score Changed’.
THE EFFECT ON MY CREDIT SCORE

Fortunately, even though I have had a few closings, my credit score seems to have lost only a few points, if any. As a matter of fact, I still have a credit score of over 800. Besides that, I don’t think the ‘length of time factor’ was hurt either. Lastly, I am relieved to have one less card to worry about. Everything should return to my best score within a month or two. But this account closing reminds me of how ‘high maintenance’ a co-branded credit card can be.

account closed
There are Six Primary Credit Card factors in the major FICO® scoring system as illustrated by Credit Karma®
SOURCES & RESOURCES

What To Do When An Issuer Closes Your Credit Card
Your Credit Card Could Be Closed Due to Inactivity
CreditSesame.com
WalletHub.com
Synchrony HOME Card
Network vs. Co-Branded Cards
Your Credit Card Account Has Been Closed
FICO’s 5 Factors: The Components of a Credit Score
How We Got Perfect Credit Scores

If you enjoyed this article, Get email updates (It’s Free)

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • More
  • Reddit
  • Pocket
  • Print
  • Email

Related

account closedage of credit cardavailable credit limitco-branded credit cardcredit card inactivitycredit score decreasecredit score factorshigh maintenance credit cards
Previous Post Next Post

You may also like

September 21, 2014

How to Get Rid of Fruit Flies

July 3, 2016

PART ONE: Invitation To A Graphic Memoir, The Charrette Corporation Chronicles

April 30, 2014

Mid-Century Modern Freak | Harry Seidler | Australian Modernist Architect

Looking for a Post or Topic? Search for it here.

Blog Stats

  • 24,082 hits

Follow Us

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 5,921 other subscribers

About ALISON D. GILBERT

current activities

Alison D. Gilbert is a native New Yorker writing about a variety of non-fiction topics. Many of them have required in-depth research and primary source interviews.

Her writing is based primarily upon her passions and interest in the following topics:

NOTEWORTHY PEOPLE & BUSINESSES | DECORATIVE ART & DESIGN | HEALTHY FOOD & INDOOR FARMING | NATURAL HEALING REMEDIES | FINANCE & SURVIVAL | MUSIC & DANCE | SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING AND MORE!

Alison D. Gilbert's writing formats include eBooks, manuscripts, blog post series, and individual blog posts on her own blog and other people's blogs.

Visit www.alisondgilbert.com for details.

WEBSITE PAGES

  • • BLOG •
  • • EBOOKS •
  • • VIDEOS •
  • • RESOURCE DIRECTORY •
  • • CONTACT •
  • • BLOG •
  • • EBOOKS •
  • • VIDEOS •
  • • RESOURCE DIRECTORY •
  • • CONTACT •

The Research & Writings of ALISON D. GILBERT

Social Media Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.