Back in January, Synchrony shut down my Venmo visa card. Luckily I had gotten a card for my wife back in late December since she was targeted for the double cashback aka 6% at grocery for 6 months. Shockingly she got a $20K CL. In January, I think I took it pretty easy since the card took like a week to a week and a half to arrive. I don’t know; I prob did $30K or so and got paid out on it when my first statement closed.
Figuring I only had 2 months left, I decided to ramp things up and was spending about $20K a week on the card. Well, Synchrony didn’t like that and 3 weeks into February, when I called in, they told me my card was closed. I think I had spent around $50K-$55K, which is also what I did when I got shut down. Still no letter in mail yet and surprisingly I can still see the card in her Venmo profile (whereas mine disappeared, which is how I found out I was axed.) No word on whether we’ll get paid out on the bonus; I’m guessing NO.
Lesson learned – seems like it wasn’t the number cycles that will do you in (I cycled a lot more since I only had a $6K CL,) but rather the total spend in a month. That’s my guess anyway. If anyone was able to do over $60K in a month on their Venmo cc and still stayed alive, I’d love to know about it. By the way, when they axed me, they said it was because I was at risk of not being able to pay my bill, and they also took out my Rakuten card too.
I don’t mean this comment to be rude. But half of your posts involve you getting shut down for doing an insane amount of MS and/or other forms of gaming the system. It does affect all of us, because the banks crack down on everyone for the sins of a few gamers who go overboard to the degree that you do. If you’re constantly getting shut down you can only blame yourself, not the banks.
Do you think this is 2012? You think these banks don’t know what MS is by now? How about this – how about the banks impose a limit on how many rewards you can earn at certain stores… this way it’s clear to everyone what the limit is and no one gets shut down?
Banks don’t want to penalize big spend customers with legitimate transactions. That’s why they often don’t list caps. You know this…..No big deal. We Ms’ers take what we can, and move on when we get caught. There’s no need to act like you have no clue why you got shut down. You cost the bank money, a lot of it, and you weren’t paying interest either. You were unprofitable.
Other high spending customers who carry balances and pay interest are profitable to the bank so they don’t want rewards caps which means the customer will stop spending on the card.
Thanks Bob. I had no clue.
Asked and answered. Realize, here in the USA, we are allowed to post opposing views, at least for now. Polite, direct, clear, and respectful views posted that you don’t like b/c you disagree, do not deem the other to be a troll or for you to post an impolite response. Or, maybe you’d rather we act like Russia, where any voicing of opposition is met with handcuffs?
They did this to me with my Amazon card that I had for seven years. 10k line, never late, never over. Then they closed all of my synchrony bank accounts. 12 in total!
Sycrony bank is so bad they have done this to more people than u know . Then keep hitting us with interest. We will never pay it off. And never missed a payment. Actually I payed them off twice . They shut me down. Oh well I don’t want to do business with a Co. That can’t give me a reason of why.
@Donna, is that the entire story, the bank is charging you fees, interest, etc., for no valid reason? Wow, if fully accurate, sorry for your experience. Based on decades of holding dozens of cards, I have always found that the reason for a fee/interest is always there – it’s math, or a date issue, it’s on paper, and it’s easily determined. And interestingly, every mistake I’ve made by mixing up card payments, a delayed payment, whatever, has always been waived by the card’s bank, including this one (hold their Verizon card). Suggestion – paying the $100 well worth it if all other avenues exhausted.
@DJG – I agree completely. I have ZERO patience for manufactured spend (not using on legit purchases but recycling gift cards, for example), cycling card limits (will get you shut down by many card companies) and generally gaming the system.
There is NO REASON anyone spends $20-$30K at a grocery store in a month, let alone in a week! Unless you are buying for the US army or a pro football team you are loading up on gift cards. Obviously you are finding a way to convert them back to cash since I doubt you could fade spending $20K a week. That is SO WRONG on SO MANY levels.
I can only hope the IT systems get even more sophisticated and claw back any awards, shut down accounts and block any new applications from people that do stuff like this.
Shame on you!!
Why you mad bro? If i pay back my credit card, this doesn’t affect you AT ALL.
@Vinh, your activity most certainly does affect others. Actions at your level of what would be labeled abuse by the companies provides them insight into what rules/policies, etc., they will change – impacting all of us. While you don’t mention how you liquidate, let’s assume it involves conversion to money orders – perhaps you have an in with some clerk – but if you don’t, how many other folks’ time have you wasted – and how many thousands of hours – waiting in line behind you at WM, grocery store, etc. while you liquidate? Sure, the individual direct impact isn’t obvious to you b/c you don’t want to find it, but rest assured, it’s there, it’s meaningful, and it’s a negative impact, and it’s lasting.
Doug, you dont think these banks know what MS is by now in 2022? How about instead of blaming me you blame the bank for not imposing a limit on rewards at grocery stores and then it’s clear to everyone what the limit is and no one is shut down or surprised.
Lol and I know you didn’t just blame me for the time people wasted in line at WM. How about you save that energy for all the grandmas who write checks in line or people who don’t know how to zipper merge in traffic. If you don’t want to hear about MS and shutdown stories, then I suggest you stop reading the blog.
@Vinh, all I did was address your words, “this doesn’t affect you AT ALL.” Your rant in return, not a bit of it is denial.
Dude… WHY THE HELL do you care? Does it hurt you if Vinh and maybe his wife are scoring points that you won’t because you are too afraid to take a chance?
So he spends $$$$… BFD. Lighten the hell up. I mean, did you come here just to troll his page? What do you get from that, anyway?
As they should.
Synchrony is calling me everyday to pay a 100$ balance that I have on my card. They’re telling me that I’ve been sent to collections and need to pay in full now…. my sister is also having the same issue with them. They are doing too much. They even closed my other synchrony accounts that I had no balance on…. they only want people that keep balances and only pay the minimum.