Synchrony Bank

[imoldernu]

Wondering if anyone has experience with Synchrony Bank and the Optimizer Account system. Formerly GE Bank, and before that MetLife Bank.

Am not too happy with their Customer Service operation or the On-line website, but maybe just my problem. Typically has relatively higher interest rates on CD's etc, but before continuing would appreciate hearing from anyone who is banking there.

 

[phil1ben]

I have been using them for a 1 year CD which is currently paying 1.23%. Have not had an issue but not much need for customer service either. I log on check that interest is posted and log off.

 

[savory]

I have some CDs. No problem so far.

 

[dallas27]

They back my Amazon card


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[imoldernu]

Perhaps best to let this one go...
Suggest that before making commitments that one might want to check out customer reviews for the bank. Many, many websites that rate bank customer service. Most reviews say it's easy to sign up, but check out the service, afterwards.
Today's telephone call was 39 minutes waiting for a person, and no help even after another 15 minutes. They don't seem to understand traditional IRA's.

I took a $10,000 withdrawal, which shows on my on-line account but no indication of what happened to the money or where it went. The Rep couldn't tell me anything about it and suggested I write to the bank.

Will keep you updated if and when there is a resolution to this. At this point I'm not a happy camper.

 

[wolf]

Perhaps best to let this one go...
Suggest that before making commitments that one might want to check out customer reviews for the bank. Many, many websites that rate bank customer service. Most reviews say it's easy to sign up, but check out the service, afterwards.
Today's telephone call was 39 minutes waiting for a person, and no help even after another 15 minutes. They don't seem to understand traditional IRA's.

I took a $10,000 withdrawal, which shows on my on-line account but no indication of what happened to the money or where it went. The Rep couldn't tell me anything about it and suggested I write to the bank.

Will keep you updated if and when there is a resolution to this. At this point I'm not a happy camper.

Keep us posted. I only have savings acct with them. So no issues.

Thought about opening CD's and IRA with them. Will wait till you update
your situation. Good luck.

 

[StikyBoots]

I have a BP card that gave 5% cash back on BP fuels up until Synchrony took over BP's credit cards. It has not been a smooth transition from Chase to Synchrony, its been about two weeks without online access but I did get am email today saying that the online access is available.

Another interesting thing, Synchrony has beem running adds on thw FM radio stations here in Kansas City looking for call center employees. So maybe in a month or two the hold times will be reduced...

 

[bingybear]

I just set up a couple accounts.... not funded yet. Use explorer to set up the account. They had issues with Chrome... noted that some fixes were in the pipeline. Not doing IRAs... HYS and CD only.

 

[Earl E Retyre]

I opened an account about a month ago, for a 5 year CD since it offers 2.25% with a 6 month withdrawal penalty. Seems like the best option out there for CDs. I was actually thinking of opening some more. But I have never had to deal with customer service. As long as they stay in business, post interest correctly and assuming I can easily withdraw whenever I want, I guess it does not matter. The thread does concern me a bit though ...

 

[Debinnov a]

I just set up 4 different 5 yr CDs. Pretty straight forward but they lost one of the four account confirmation forms that I sent in (all 4 were in the same envelope). Resent it and no other issues.

Sent from my KFTHWA using Tapatalk HD

 

[Dreaming of Freedom]

They are always hiring....even when they were GE Financial. They must have a lot of staff turnover.

 

[bingybear]

When I was setting up my accounts and noted some of the data was wrong on the confirmation page... I called CS. After a couple questions they routed me to the correct CS people.... Biggest hassle was making sure DW data was correct... they would not talk with me about it until DW verified her security data and gave her OK to talk with me about it. You'd expect this.

It is a little surprising they did not have more browsers working reliably.

I'm not overly worried with this. Just setting up HYS & CDs, so should not be a lot of interaction.

 

[hlfo718]

Sounds like bad CS for a few extra basis points. Not worth it to me. Sticking with Ally and Amex for now.

 

[roninop]

We have been very pleased with Synchrony. We have a jumbo CD @ 2.35% and the monthly dividend is e-deposited into my checking without fail. We also have a HY MM and moving funds from VG > Synchrony > Local Bank has worked flawless. All deposits by mail have gone through without a problem.

I actually love their website, it's simple and easy to work with. When we set all this up we worked with a CS rep. who did a great job of walking us through
the process.

That's been our experience.

 

[imoldernu]

An update:

I don't think that my dealings with Synchrony should go farther than my own experience. I did make some mistakes, which I have detailed below.

My original mailed request (the only way to obtain an IRA distribution is through mail) was on May 5. In the past, with GE and Metlife (Synchrony's predecessors), the transfer of money was made without incident in 6 days. On My 15th, with no word from Synchrony either on the website, by mail, or by email... I called, and after a 39 minute wait, was told. We cannot complete this transfer because it is incomplete. This despite my calling for help before I even sent the request, and walking through each step. My "helper" forgot to tell me to add a check mark in one of the boxes. "So put the check mark in!" (me... after answering the many security check questions.)... Can't do that! (the rep). So yes, my big mistake. On the 15th refiled the forms. On the 22 the game began "we have your request... it's being processed" ... me... "just to be sure, please let me talk to your supervisor." 25 minutes... supervisor... "Sir... your form was filled out incorrectly".............. and you can guess where it went from there... sure.. they had the 2nd request... will be processed today.
On the 25th... no transfer... Called... this was the 59 minute call. "Oh yes sir... this is being processed"
On the 27... 20 minute call... Went through the "improper filing" thing again, and then they found it again... but had no record of my DW's request (sent in the same envelope).
On the 28... DW's withdrawal was transferred, but no record of mine.
On the 29th... after checking on-line at 4PM... no transfer. Another call.
At 4:45 PM, the transfer was made.

A Phyrric Victory!
.............................................
That's the basic timeline... In the meantime:

Blocked on Chrome after one key mis-stroke. My fault. Means a call to the bank to unblock.
Reset password didn't work. From the rep, on-line ... our website is sometime 'glitchy' with Chrome. Another call.
On the automated call system there are two tiers of questions, to get to the IRA customer service site... and then, instead of an IRA rep, a "how can I direct your call" person. Me... "I don't want to be kept on hold" she... "Oh no sir, I can see there is no one in the queue." 15 minute wait... lousy music, and every 30 seconds the "Your call in important to us... A representative will be with you shortly" . Yeah.. 18 times in 15 minutes.

Oh yeah... Two more things...
1. There are three contact mailing addresses... one for payments, one for "general" and one for "expedited". I guessed wrong and used "general" which cost a day.
2. The contact page says use the "secure email" on the first page. There is no mention of "secure email" on the first page. There is an envelope symbol. My bad... So in between the calls I was sending emails to try and explain my problem. Five Emails... No response. No reply... THEN... I find out (No notice of this anywhere), that if you send an email to them, they do not reply to your own email address, but rather on their own... The "secure email".
No matter... the responses that came back (that I didn't think to look for) were "Please call our Customer Service Department".

BTW... because I thought that my experience would be deleted from the customer service records, I checked with the last tech, and she verified that there had been that many contacts. I figure it must not bother anyone that a customer would have to call or write that many times, without looking into the problem.
......................
If I sound bitter, it's because I was counting on receiving the distribution to pay six major bills on time... House Taxes, Campground taxes and insurance, Car insurance, nursing home insurance, and a few other major bills that all come due at about the same time... Just what I thought was part of our normal cash flow, turned into what may be some penalties.

Your experience will not be as bad as mine... don't forget to check that box. I don't believe that one person's experience should taint a company's image, but this just went beyond the pale.... and as a general rule of thumb, for any company that you plan to do business with... search Google for reviews and ratings, and try more than one rating website. I surely wish that I had done my homework, and will be more cautious in the future.

 

[mickeyd]

No experience with Synchrony, but when I opened my Ally online savings account a few years ago, I started with a few thousand dollars and then requested $100 to be transferred to my checking account and, a few days later, requested the same action to another savings account. I was testing their system to see how long it took them to send money to me that could use immediately. They passed the test and I have been happy with their response ever since.

When I opened the account I accepted (anticipated?) that the service would be not as good as my local bank but was willing to take the risk for the higher APY that I would be receiving.

 

[aja8888]

No experience with Synchrony, but when I opened my Ally online savings account a few years ago, I started with a few thousand dollars and then requested $100 to be transferred to my checking account and, a few days later, requested the same action to another savings account. I was testing their system to see how long it took them to send money to me that could use immediately. They passed the test and I have been happy with their response ever since.

When I opened the account I accepted (anticipated?) that the service would be not as good as my local bank but was willing to take the risk for the higher APY that I would be receiving.

I have been with Ally for a few years now. I have a savings and checking account and a 5 year CD. We have bought and sold two houses using their wire transfers, paid bills, transferred money (in and out), closed a CD, deposited checks via online, etc, etc. Never had one issue. Oh, call CS, most I ever waited was two or three minutes.

Looks like Synchrony is a "stay away from" bank.

 

[imoldernu]

After this was over, some retrospect. Why would a bank delay a cash payout?

After reading the one star reviews on five or six websites that Google brought up, I noticed a similar pattern of delay for other customers. Most brought it up as only a customer service problem. In thinking it over I wondered about what effect this "money float" would have on bank liquidity.

This in turn led to another search that brought up news on a recent SEC ruling about "redemption gate"... Rules that have been instituted to try and avoid the 2008 meltdown in banks, when customers took cash out of their money market and other supposedly "liquid accounts". The SEC rule at this point provides for a 10 day hold on withdrawals. While not "new" as in yesterday, there are some newer proposals on the table to extend some form of "redemption" gate to government equities.

(2014)

The SEC’s new rules permit some money market mutual funds to limit redemptions under certain
conditions. In particular, if a fund’s weekly liquid assets were to fall below 30%, the board of directors
of a prime (general purpose) fund or a municipal fund may either charge a liquidity fee of up to 2% on
shareholder redemptions or impose a halt on all shareholder redemptions (known as a “gate”) for no longer
than 10 days. Additionally, if weekly liquid assets were to fall below 10%, a prime or municipal fund
must impose a liquidity fee of 1%, unless the fund’s board determines that such a fee is not in the fund’s
best interests. These liquidity fee and redemption gate requirements apply to both retail and institutional
funds. Government and U.S. Treasury money market mutual funds will not be subject to liquidity fees or
redemption gates.1

There are a number of current articles that have picked up on this, suggesting that a "cash" shortage could lead to more serious bank problems for the major banks, that are still highly leveraged with underwater mortgages not marked to market, derivatives that are not easily unwound, and other major loan categories, such as college loans.

For now, put this in the conspiracy theory category, but maybe something to keep in the back of your mind. Sometimes Google can lead us astray.
....................................................................................................
If you have a few minutes, try this Better Business Bureau website from Kettering Ohio... Just one of many, many rating websites...
http://www.bbb.org/dayton/business-reviews/credit-cards-and-plans/synchrony-bank-formerly-ge-capital-retail-bank-in-kettering-oh-5001136/customer-reviews
Instead of reading them all, try just the recent ones, from April until now.
Lends new meaning to customer service... and these complaints are only for credit card problems...

.... and your own credit card could be financed by Synchrony Bank... ie.
Sams, Walmart, JC Penney, HHGregg, Lowes, or PayPal and many others.....

 

[imoldernu]

.... and your own credit card could be financed by Synchrony Bank... ie.
Sams, Walmart, JC Penney, HHGregg, Lowes, or PayPal and many others.....

... to include Amazon...
Synchrony Bank/Amazon
PO Box 965013
Orlando, FL 32896-5013