Synchrony Financial SYF recently made the Pay Later feature of Apple Pay available to eligible Synchrony Preferred Mastercard, Synchrony Plus World Mastercard or Synchrony Premier World Mastercard holders. The specified cardholders now have the flexibility to either utilize their credit card's standard terms or take advantage of a promotional offer featuring fixed monthly payments at checkout.

To utilize a Synchrony Mastercard with Apple Pay, cardholders must first add their card to Apple Wallet. When making purchases online or in app, using Apple Pay on an iPhone or iPad, customers can select their Synchrony Mastercard. If eligible, they can select the Pay Later option to view available promotional offers. They can then choose their preferred option and complete the fast and convenient checkout process with Apple Pay.

Apple Pay offers a secure, private and convenient payment experience for its users. When using a Synchrony Mastercard with Apple Pay, transaction details remain confidential, as Apple does not store any information associated with the user's purchases.

Synchrony plans to extend the option to pay for eligible purchases using fixed monthly payments to a broader range of Apple Pay users within its portfolio of co-branded cards. Later this year, customers will also gain the ability to view and redeem rewards from eligible Synchrony-issued cards while checking out online or in app on iPhone and iPad with Apple Pay.

Therefore, the ulterior motive of Synchrony behind the recent announcement remains to offer a greater level of choice and flexibility to its customers at the time of checkout. The availability of a suitable financing solution that removes the need to make lumpsum payments and does not exert pressure on one’s finances may boost the purchasing power of consumers.

Benefits of the Recent Move to Synchrony

The facility of providing simplified digital transactions and addressing the diversified credit needs of customers is expected to attract newer customers to Synchrony as well as retain existing ones. Increased utilization of Synchrony’s credit cards may bring growth in interest and fees on loans, from which SYF mainly earns its revenues. Interest and fees on loans advanced 10.5% year over year in the first nine months of 2024.

The well-earned reputation of SYF can be attributed to its digital and analytics expertise. A series of acquisitions and partnerships, coupled with tech investments, have strengthened the company’s digital arm. This, in turn, has fetched several program agreements with some of the nation’s leading retailers and manufacturers.

SYF’s Share Price Performance & Zacks Rank

Shares of Synchrony have gained 89.6% in the past year compared with the industry’s 24.5% growth. SYF currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

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Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks in the Finance space are Intercorp Financial Services Inc. IFS, Ameriprise Financial, Inc. AMP and Civista Bancshares, Inc. CIVB. While Intercorp Financial Services sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) at present, Ameriprise Financial and Civista Bancshares carries Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) each. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The bottom line of Intercorp Financial Services outpaced estimates in three of the last four quarters and missed the mark once, the average surprise being 36.17%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for IFS’ 2025 earnings suggests an improvement of 48.2% from the 2024 estimate. The consensus mark for revenues suggests growth of 9% from the 2024 estimate. The consensus mark for IFS’ 2025 earnings has moved 0.7% north in the past 60 days.

Ameriprise Financial’s earnings outpaced estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and missed the mark once, the average surprise being 0.99%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AMP’s 2025 earnings suggests an improvement of 14.6% from the 2024 estimate. The consensus mark for revenues suggests growth of 7.6% from the 2024 estimate. The consensus mark for AMP’s 2025 earnings has moved 0.4% north in the past 30 days.

The bottom line of Civista Bancshares outpaced estimates in three of the last four quarters and missed the mark once, the average surprise being 7.72%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CIVB’s 2025 earnings suggests an improvement of 8.2% from the 2024 estimate. The consensus mark for revenues suggests growth of 6.4% from the 2024 estimate. The consensus mark for CIVB’s 2025 earnings has moved 1.5% north in the past 30 days.

Shares of Intercorp Financial Services, Ameriprise Financial and Civista Bancshares have gained 28.2%, 45.8% and 21.8%, respectively, in the past year.

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