Synchrony Preferred World Mastercard®

Synchrony Preferred World Mastercard® Review

Synchrony Preferred World Mastercard® is a credit builder rewards card for those with average or near-prime credit. The card is much lighter in features than Synchrony’s other two proprietary credit cards but excels in that it features no annual fee and Mastercard protection for extra peace of mind.

Pre-qualification and Preapproval

Like many issuers nowadays, Synchrony offers an online pre-qualification process for their credit cards. The same applies to this card, although the pre-qualification is really for the top-end Synchrony Premier World Mastercard®, a 2% back credit card for excellent credit scores.

The bank also sends out pre-sorted “preapproval offers” for its other credit cards, the Synchrony Preferred Mastercard included. These types of credit card offers are based on credit score information from other banks and the leading credit bureaus – Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion. These companies sell consumer credit profiles to banks like Synchrony to help them identify potential applicants for their products.

Here are Synchrony’s other cash back credit cards:

	Synchrony Preferred	Synchrony Plus	Synchrony Premier
Annual fee	$0	$0	$0
Cash back rewards	See terms	Unlimited 1% back	Unlimited 2% back
Credit needed	Average to good	Good	Excellent

Limited Features

Perhaps the biggest letdown with the Synchrony Preferred World Mastercard® is the complete lack of features. Beyond no annual fee, the card is limited in its reach; beyond building credit on purchases anywhere, Mastercard is accepted worldwide. There are no sign-up bonuses with the card, very limited rewards (savings with select merchants), and no 0% APR offers to be found. Instead, this is a no nonsense credit builder card designed to help you advance to better cards down the line.

Petal Cards Offer Stiff Competition

Perhaps the Petal credit cards are the best comparison for the Synchrony credit cards. Petal also issues three credit cards for differing credit profiles, with a clear route towards better credit health, limits, rewards, and more. Here are Petal’s credit card offerings:

	Petal 1 Card	Petal 1 Rise	Petal 2
Annual fee	$0*	$59*	$0*
Credit limit	$300 to $5,000	$300 to $3,500	$30 to $10,000
Rewards	2% to 10% back at select merchants	2% to 10% back at select merchants	1% to 1.5% cash back on all purchases; 2% to 10% back at select merchants
Path to credit limit increase?	✅	✅	✅
*Terms apply

Petal also provides greater credit access thanks to its proprietary CashScore credit scoring alternative. CashScore looks at alternative data points to approve credit card applications, including your monthly bank balances and bills.

Other Card Features

For a World Mastercard, the Synchrony Preferred World Mastercard is extremely limited for the card type. That’s not to say it’s useless or bereft of benefits. It offers no annual fee, for example – always a welcome perk. Additionally, cardholders enjoy EMV chip technology (including mobile wallet compatibility with Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, and more), and cell phone protection when paying the bill with the card.

There are also the usual basic Mastercard protections and security features, including:

Synchrony Ratings

How does Synchrony Bank compare with other banks? Here is a selection of ratings for the issuer from experts:

Should You Apply for the Synchrony Preferred World Mastercard®?

There are things to like about the Synchrony Preferred World Mastercard® – namely the lack of an annual fee and the addition of a very handy online pre-qualification process. Despite that, the card really doesn’t offer much that you couldn’t get elsewhere – and probably offers less, to be honest.

The card features a $0 annual fee, but the rewards are confusing – at best.  The Petal 2 Visa® is also targeted towards average or fair credit scores, features no annual fees, and offers up to 1.5% cash back on all eligible purchases if you make your first 12 on-time monthly payments 1% back on all other purchases.

Another option is something like the Mercury Mastercard or the Upgrade Cash Rewards Visa® might make sense, as both offer decent rewards and no annual fee (in many cases with the Mercury Card; sometimes it may charge a fee). It’s worth noting that Mercury requires a preapproval offer to apply, while Upgrade does not.