Walmart Suing Synchrony Financial For Breach Of Contract – Seeking $800 Million In Damages

In July Walmart announced that they would be ending their co-branded credit card & store card partnership with Synchrony Financial and partnering with Capital One. Walmart has now filed suit against Synchrony Financial alleging breach of contract. Walmart is seeking damages for an amount to be proven at trial, but estimated to be no less than $800 million. Synchrony has stated that “the assertions are completely baseless and without merit, and we intend to vigorously defend our position.”

Hat tip to WSJ via DDG

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alvinroast
alvinroast (@guest_668027)
November 5, 2018 13:33

I don’t have a dog in this fight, but I’ve had pretty good experiences with both companies overall.

Walmart was my regular MO stop before the latest local shutdown. The staff there were always a pleasure to deal with. The best being in HA. I’m hoping to make a MO run there in a few weeks.

Synchrony has two great things: Cathay Pacific and a big button on the site to close your account hassle free.

MinM
MinM (@guest_667672)
November 4, 2018 18:12

I used to work for SYF. They are a completely immoral company who preys on the uneducated consumer. Their head of Credit Modeling once told me that they love to extend credit to those with low credit scores because that’s where they make their money. People with good credit pay on-time and don’t carry balances. These people are no better than loan sharks and probably do owe Walmart $800 million. They probably deserve to be shut down for their lending practices.

Randy
Randy (@guest_667695)
November 4, 2018 18:50

How do you think credit card companies can afford to give us $200+ for opening the credit card? They rely on charging interest to those who carry a balance and fees at the register. Morality has no place in this business. Don’t like it, stop getting sign up bonuses.

Davy
Davy (@guest_667702)
November 4, 2018 19:14

Did you not know the comapny’s business model? You had to ask? GE didn’t try to build a premium credit card company. 90% of their cards are store cards for financing clothing and appliances. It’s a step above payday loans and rent-a-centers. Of course their business is built upon the bottom tier of creditors. There is a reason they try to sell every customer on a payment protection insurance plan on every customer service call or mailing.
Tr average person signing up for a Synchrony card is excited to get a 2-liter Igor soda or pumpkin at Walmart, $6-12 off $60 in clothing at Gap, or $100 off a $500 car repair. And usually pay interest on the purchase without paying attention to the rates. Of course they’re corporate loan sharks. Hope it didn’t take you too long working there to figure that out. A simple bit of pre-interview research should have turned that up.

barrytuneup
barrytuneup (@guest_667708)
November 4, 2018 19:50

they also run the Ebates credit card that gives an extra 3% back if you use the card.They do pay the 3% plus 1% at some sites but after a payment from online banks clear in 1 day..they dont release credit line for about 10 days. They claim they are waiting for the payment to clear. Bottom rung company. But MSers do well with it.

MickeyMouse
MickeyMouse (@guest_667636)
November 4, 2018 17:42

What exactly did Synchrony do to breach contract???

Did they refuse to transfer owed debt to Cap1? Or…?

NinjaX
NinjaX (@guest_667718)
November 4, 2018 20:12

read the various news articles. they will explain the complaint.

diggs
diggs (@guest_667803)
November 5, 2018 01:39

Here’s a WSJ article (w/ paywall bypassing link):
http://facebook.com/l.php?u=https://www.wsj.com/articles/walmart-files-lawsuit-against-credit-card-issuer-synchrony-financial-1541113289

Note 1: No Facebook account required
Note 2: Click “Follow link” button
Note 3: Link may need to be opened in an Incognito/Private/InPrivate browsing window

Interesting paragraph from article:
“Loan losses on Walmart cards increased after Synchrony converted some consumers who had Walmart store-only credit cards to Walmart co-branded cards, according to people familiar with the matter. Much of that activity occurred roughly between 2011 and late 2016, one of the people said. Synchrony converted those cards in part to boost card usage and revenue, but losses increased and ate into the revenue Walmart expected to receive, the person said. As of this spring, loan losses stood at around 9% of outstanding balances on the Walmart cards, the person said.”

Joe
Joe (@guest_668052)
November 5, 2018 14:21

Shocker! The suckers signing up for WM CC took their newly converted co-branded CC, ran up a bunch of debt, and now sync has to write it off as bad debt uncollectable? Never would have guessed that from Walmart shoppers!

NinjaX
NinjaX (@guest_667624)
November 4, 2018 17:28

wtf. i thought Sync would sue WM for the breach. not the other way around given WM told Sync to fuck off and went with cap1 instead. very interesting.

but i guess its time to app the WM CC. your almost guaranteed to get approved now based on the reasons why WM left in the first place.

Jr
Jr (@guest_667621)
November 4, 2018 17:26

Hope syncrony wins.

Parts Unknown
Parts Unknown (@guest_667623)
November 4, 2018 17:28
  Jr

I hope they both lose.

Vic
Vic (@guest_668341)
November 5, 2018 21:22

I don’t know how that works but sounds like a plan

K
K (@guest_667654)
November 4, 2018 17:51
  Jr

I absolutely do not.

In March of this year I took my car to Meineke to get my brakes fixed. There was an offer to sign up for a credit card and get a 100 dollar discount. I signed up, and never received my card or any information on how to pay the bill.

I went back to the Meineke situation in June and explained the situation. I ended up finally receiving my bill in the mail for double the initial purchase and Synchrony had repeated the brake charge. They said that I had to contact Meineke to get it removed and it took over 4 months of phone calls with Meineke and Synchrony to get the duplicate charge and months of interest payments removed.

cowsareverywhere
cowsareverywhere (@guest_667673)
November 4, 2018 18:14
  K

Lol signing up for a credit card for a $100 discount, what are you doing on this site?

Ac
Ac (@guest_667678)
November 4, 2018 18:23

Doc posts info on all kinds of deals that can net you a few bucks to big bucks. So your question is irrelevant

Jan
Jan (@guest_667764)
November 4, 2018 22:26
  Ac

Signing up for a credit card and taking a hit on your credit score is not worth $100. Especially not when you can get three times that for just opening up a checking account without a hard pull.

Bill
Bill (@guest_667794)
November 5, 2018 00:16

Relating a new credit card to a new bank account is not always consistent. Most checking accounts involve a soft credit pull, but there is almost always a request for ChexSystems or similar report, which is a credit inquiry, just of a different type.
Each credit profile is different, but inquiries don’t always hurt more than $100. Since there’s no tax due on the $100, this could be worth close to $150 on a bank account bonus which incurs income tax.

Elmer
Elmer (@guest_667912)
November 5, 2018 11:08

“almost always a request for ChexSystems or similar report”??
Not nearly true.
Also, 50% tax on a bank bonus?
If you’re paying at a 50% tax bracket on a bank bonus, with that income and resources (and if you’re playing this game), you should easily be getting $300-500 for a credit card bonus.
I get there are different reasons for people to be doing different bonuses, but those are excessive examples.

K
K (@guest_667899)
November 5, 2018 10:46

Lol, my credit score has only gone down once in the last 18 months despite signing up for 11 cards in that span. The only month it went down is because I had a huge auto bill at the end of the month and it was as pending on the website for days so I couldn’t get the balance down.

Thanks for the concern though.

Snorlax
Snorlax (@guest_669027)
November 7, 2018 13:09
  K

The only problem with that is, at some point credit card issuers start denying you if you have too many new accounts, no matter your score.

Ron
Ron (@guest_668315)
November 5, 2018 20:15

Why be a dick ??

Snorlax
Snorlax (@guest_669025)
November 7, 2018 13:07

Guess its worth it if you’ve exhausted all other sign up bonuses?

I won’t usually waste a new account for less than $200 though.

JL
JL (@guest_667769)
November 4, 2018 22:52
  Jr

I hope whichever company is in the right wins

Could you explain why you hope Synchrony Financial wins? Do you have any insight on this case that indicates that Synchrony Financial’s case is stronger than Walmart’s case?