rycoop wrote:
I agree Concorduser!! Stupid WalMart.
Soooo... I wonder how hard it is to get a Sears card. Someone told me it was hard and that they decline A LOT... I don't want the sears Mastercard.. I just want to get a store card TL so I can try to get my scores up. Does anyone know who sears pulls and what your score needs to be?
Thanks!
The Sears store card is weirdly difficult to get. I've heard story after story of people with great scores, and even with the Sears MC, who can't get the store card for love nor money.
Sears is handled by Citi. For my Sears MC, they pulled TU.
If you want to have a retail card for your mix of credit, you might look into the Best Buy store card. Be sure to apply in person or on the phone, because I understand that the online app will steer you toward the BB MC, which is icky. There are two tiers, and you want the one that offers 3 months same as cash, etc.
The BB store card tend to start with $1K credit limit and go up, because their stuff is expensive nad you need higher CL's. It is handled by HSBC, but I don't read as many cranky posts about it as about other HSBC products.
Try whogavemecredit-dot-com for the scores. They seem pretty forgiving of lower scores, although my son with scores in the low 700's only got $1K to start, because he has such a thin file.
Other store cards that people seem to love here are Home Depot (handled by Citi), Kohl's (handled by Chase), and Nordstrom, which has its own bank for CC's.
I'm not absolutely convinced that you have to have a retail card for your credit mix, but if you do, here's what to think about:
- get a card where you actually shop
- check into the bank behind it --how well do they treat their customers?
- be prepared to PIF any balances --store cards usually have really high APR's
- find out how easy it is to pay your bill --I think it's JCPenney's where if you pay at the store, it takes a week or more for the payment to post. How weird is that?
* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007