A Synchrony store card is hurting your credit?

Who Synchrony is and what it reports

Synchrony Financial describes itself as one of the nation’s premier consumer financial services companies. Through Synchrony Bank, it offers private label (store) credit cards, dual and co-brand cards, general purpose cards, promotional financing and installment loans. Its brands include CareCredit for health and wellness costs, Synchrony HOME and Synchrony Car Care, and its partners include retailers and platforms such as Lowe’s, Sam’s Club, JCPenney, Amazon and PayPal. Synchrony reports 70.7 million active accounts as of December 31, 2025.

Many people don’t think of a store card as a bank account. But each one is a line of credit that Synchrony reports to the credit bureaus, with its own limit, balance and payment history. Several store cards with small limits can drive up your utilization, and a single wrong late payment counts the same as one on any other card.

Synchrony’s record with federal regulators

Synchrony Bank was formerly GE Capital Retail Bank and changed its name on June 2, 2014. On June 19, 2014, the CFPB announced a consent order requiring the bank to provide about $225 million in relief. The CFPB found that telemarketers deceptively marketed debt cancellation add-on products sold with GE store-branded credit cards, and, in a related Justice Department settlement, that the bank excluded consumers who preferred Spanish or had Puerto Rico addresses from debt relief offers. The order included a $3.5 million civil penalty. According to the CFPB, the bank fulfilled its obligations, including at least $259 million in redress, and the CFPB terminated the order on May 12, 2025.

That order was about marketing and discrimination, not credit reporting. It does not tell you anything about your account, but it is part of the public record on how the bank has treated store card customers.

Errors that show up on Synchrony store cards

Store cards create their own kinds of reporting problems:

• Accounts opened without consent. Store cards are often opened at a checkout counter or online checkout in minutes. An account you never agreed to, or one opened by an identity thief, should not be on your report.
• Payments not credited. A payment made in the store, to the retailer, or through the wrong portal may never reach the Synchrony account, producing a late mark.
• Deferred-interest surprises. On “no interest if paid in full” promotions, interest from the purchase date can be added back. If that charge was added in error, the resulting balance or late payment may be inaccurate.
• Program changes. When a retailer’s card program moves between banks, the same account can be reported twice or with the wrong status.
• Paid or closed accounts still owed. A store card you paid off and closed can keep showing a balance.
• Disputed medical charges. A CareCredit balance tied to a provider bill you disputed may be reported as delinquent without noting the dispute.

How to dispute a Synchrony account

1. Pull all three reports from AnnualCreditReport.com and save dated copies. Note every Synchrony-issued account.
2. Dispute with each bureau reporting the error. Use the Equifax, Experian and TransUnion dispute channels. Say exactly what is wrong, for example “not my account” or “payment of $X on [date] not credited,” and attach proof such as receipts, bank statements or a payoff letter.
3. You may also dispute directly with Synchrony. Use the contact options in your account or on your statement and keep copies. A direct dispute alone does not give you a right to sue, so do not skip the bureau dispute.
4. For identity theft, file a report at IdentityTheft.gov or with police and ask each bureau to block the account under 15 U.S.C. § 1681c-2.
5. Watch the clock and keep the results. Bureaus generally have 30 days to reinvestigate (§ 1681i(a)(1)), and Synchrony must finish its investigation within that period (§ 1681s-2(b)(2)).

Why the bureau dispute matters: consumers cannot sue a card issuer for inaccurate reporting under § 1681s-2(a). The private claim is § 1681s-2(b), and it is triggered when a bureau notifies the issuer of your dispute.

Your FCRA rights

• Furnisher investigation (§ 1681s-2(b)). After notice from a bureau, Synchrony must reasonably investigate, review what the bureau sends, report the results, and modify, delete or block information that is inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable.
• Permissible purpose (§ 1681b). A company may pull your credit report only for a purpose the statute allows, such as a credit application you actually made.
• Identity theft blocking (§ 1681c-2). Bureaus generally must block fraudulent information within four business days of receiving a proper request. Synchrony has separate duties under § 1681s-2(a)(6), but there is no private claim on that provision.
• Bureau duties (§§ 1681e(b), 1681i). A bureau that keeps reporting the Synchrony error after your dispute may face its own claim.

What you may recover

For a negligent violation, you may recover actual damages, such as credit denials, higher interest and emotional distress, plus attorney’s fees and costs (15 U.S.C. § 1681o). For a willful violation, you may recover actual damages or statutory damages of $100 to $1,000, punitive damages as the court allows, and attorney’s fees and costs (§ 1681n).

Get a free case review before your deadline

An FCRA claim generally must be filed within two years after you discover the violation and no later than five years after it occurred (15 U.S.C. § 1681p). If a Synchrony store card is wrong on your report, or was never yours, gather your reports, disputes and results letters and request a free case review. FCRA Attorneys has offices in Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Los Angeles and Atlanta, handles FCRA cases in federal court nationwide, directly or with local counsel, and works on contingency: no fee unless we win.

Questions about suing Synchrony Bank

Can I sue Synchrony Bank over my credit report?

Possibly. Synchrony is a furnisher of credit information. If you dispute a Synchrony account through Equifax, Experian or TransUnion and Synchrony fails to reasonably investigate and correct inaccurate data after the bureau notifies it, you may have a claim under 15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2(b).

I never applied for this store card. What can I do?

Dispute it with each credit bureau as not yours, and if it was identity theft, file an identity theft report and ask the bureaus to block it under 15 U.S.C. § 1681c-2. If a card was opened by pulling your credit without your authorization, the FCRA's permissible purpose rules in § 1681b may also be relevant. A lawyer can review which claims fit your facts.

The store card shows a different name than the store. Is that an error?

Not necessarily. Store cards are issued by a bank, so the account may be reported under the issuing bank's name rather than the retailer's. What matters is whether the account belongs to you and whether the balance, status and payment history are accurate.

What does it cost to hire FCRA Attorneys?

Nothing up front. We handle FCRA cases on contingency, so there is no fee unless we win, and the FCRA allows a successful consumer to recover reasonable attorney's fees and costs under 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681n and 1681o.

Related reading

• How to Dispute Credit Report Errors With Equifax, Experian and TransUnion
• An Account on My Credit Report Is Not Mine: What Now?
• How to Remove a Late Payment From Your Credit Report, and When You Can't
• Examples of FCRA Violations, Matched to the Section of the Law They Break

Sources

• Synchrony Financial investor relations: company information
• CFPB enforcement action: Synchrony Bank (f/k/a GE Capital Retail Bank)
• CFPB press release: CFPB Orders GE Capital to Pay $225 Million in Consumer Relief for Deceptive and Discriminatory Credit Card Practices (June 19, 2014)

Updated November 2026. This page is general information, not legal advice.