By Connor Hart

Higher gas prices aren't dissuading consumers from spending, Synchrony Financial CFO Brian Wenzel said.

The lender, which provides financing for purchases such as appliances and car tires, on Tuesday said the average transaction value for gas climbed 17% between February and March, as the war in Iran sharply raised global energy prices.

"Consumers may be unhappy with higher gas prices," the chief financial officer said in an interview. "But they haven't altered their behaviors at this point."

The trend is consistent with past periods of rising energy costs, he continued, where it can take several months of sustained increases to meaningfully affect consumer behavior. Synchrony has modeled multiple scenarios for the rest of the year, including some cases where prices remain elevated for longer periods and others where the impact is short-lived.

At this point, though, Synchrony isn't worried about its ability to withstand elevated prices, Wenzel said, citing stable credit performance and continued customer growth.

Credit grades have remained consistent across all income cohorts, Wenzel said, adding that Synchrony is seeing fewer accounts entering delinquency now than before the Covid-19 pandemic.

"That means consumers are most certainly managing their balance sheets better than they did back then," he said.

Synchrony's allowance for credit losses as a percentage of quarter-end loan receivables fell to 10.42% during the recent quarter, compared with 10.87% a year earlier.

Meanwhile, strong spending during the first quarter drove Synchrony's total purchase volumes 5.6% higher, to $42.98 billion. Profit climbed, as both high- and low-income consumers continued to buy across categories, including an uptick in discretionary purchases.

Despite worries on Wall Street over the K-shaped economy, Wenzel noted that Synchrony is seeing the most pressure on middle-market consumers, or those with FICO credit scores between 650 and 720.

"That consumer is feeling a little bit more pressure," he said. "They're probably not getting as much wage growth as you see at the bottom end, but they have the same affordability issues with housing, utilities, gas and groceries."

Synchrony, once part of General Electric, posted a first-quarter profit of $805 million, compared with $757 million a year earlier. Quarterly earnings came in at $2.27 a share, ahead of the $2.20 a share that analysts polled by FactSet expected.

Write to Connor Hart at connor.hart@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 21, 2026 12:50 ET (16:50 GMT)

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