Synchrony: Financing Better Lives, One Customer at a Time

For nearly 100 years, Synchrony has made financing accessible to more people, making it easier for them to build credit and achieve their financial goals responsibly. Whether to get their kids braces, put new tires on the family car, buy a suit for work, or pay for veterinary care for their pets, our financing solutions offer people choice and the confidence to buy what they need.

Every day, we hear from customers who tell us how Synchrony products have helped them pay for a wide range of things that matter to them to bring out the best in their everyday lives.

For example, Brittany W. is a CareCredit cardholder which is accepted at more than 270,000 locations and growing. The CareCredit credit card is accessible to people with varying credit histories to help them access a wide range of health and wellness for themselves, their families and pets.

In home heating and cooling we have many offerings to finance home needs, including Rheem’s Residential KwikComfort® Credit Card, a financing option dedicated to helping consumers pay for heating, cooling and water heating systems. These systems can be expensive. According to BankRate, a new HVAC system, including installation can cost between $5,000-$12,000 — so, financing is often important. By offering dedicated credit limits for future home improvement projects, convenient payment options, a simple application process and fast credit decisions, the card helps consumers purchase products and services that might otherwise be immediately unaffordable.

Phillip Eastwood, owner of Synchrony partner Tipping Hat, a provider of plumbing, heating, electrical and other services, told us about Tammy, who needed a new furnace, water heater and air conditioner. With an extremely tight budget, Tammy relied on Synchrony financing. He said, “Without it she wouldn't have been able to get these things done to make her home a healthier, safer and more comfortable place.”

We are proud to be the nation’s largest issuer of store-branded credit cards and other flexible financing solutions. One in four adults in the U.S. use a Synchrony product through our more than 400,000 merchant partner locations, including many small- and mid-sized businesses and health and wellness providers. Due to our broad reach, a Synchrony credit card is often a person's first credit card. This can help them build their credit so they can access financing for things like car repairs and home furnishings.

We are guided by three principles:

1. Credit accessibility. We offer a full credit product suite that enables us to make credit accessible to people with varying credit histories, even for those with little to no credit history. Our cutting-edge credit decisioning system — called SYF PRISM — uses our large network of proprietary and partner data to provide a better picture of a consumer’s creditworthiness than the credit score alone. By identifying those who deserve more — or less — credit than the credit report would suggest, SYF PRISM helps people finance things that matter to them while aiming to protect them from becoming overextended.
2. Financial Inclusion. We are committed to financial inclusion, which is why we joined the U.S. government's Office of Comptroller Currency's Project REACh. Through this program, we have used our expertise to qualify people for their first credit accounts. The financial institutions participating in Project REACh have already originated more than 100,000 new consumer accounts — and Synchrony has approved more than half of them. Within a year of getting their first Synchrony credit card, more than 50 percent of Project REACh participants moved to a prime credit score, demonstrating our belief that given access, many who have historically been locked out of the credit markets are creditworthy.
3. Financial Health. Our commitment to financial education ensures that our customers have the knowledge and tools to manage their credit wisely. That’s why we have a longstanding partnership with the National Foundation of Credit Counseling to provide our customers with financial counseling, we joined Operation HOPE, the national Financial Literacy for All (FL4ALL) initiative and we committed $20 million through our Education as an Equalizer philanthropic program to promote financial literacy among other impactful actions.

We are proud of the role we are playing to help build a more inclusive, stronger U.S. economy one customer at a time by responsibly providing equitable access to credit.