We have several clients who had a JC Penney account for several years, were recently issued new cards and their credit reports post a new JCP account. The downside is the new account/card has a new OPEN date, thus the credit scores are lowered. The reason this occurred is because GE Capital has become Synchrony Bank. Many credit card accounts will see this change including Walmart and Gap. Your card number and open date should remain the same. This change should not reflect in a new account being opened. Having an aged account with your creditor is beneficial to your scores. New accounts lower the scores, because until you prove your use of the account, creditors don’t want you to take on too much new credit. If you have an existing account that is now reporting an incorrect OPEN date, contact your creditor or submit to Equifax, Experian and Trans Union to correct this.
