topic Re: Store Cards in Credit Cards

Store Cards

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 02:21:10 GMT

And people say store cards are a waste of time. I've probably only spent about $700 on this card, ever. What's the best deal you've gotten with a store card?

Re: Store Cards

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 02:28:36 GMT

@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:
And people say store cards are a waste of time. I've probably only spent about $700 on this card, ever. What's the best deal you've gotten with a store card?

The Kohl's card discounts seem too complicated for me. But I did get a dinning room set from Pottery Barn that was 50 percent off and then I used the 20 percent off coupon for opening an account on top of that and also got 0 percent interest for 12 months. Got that with my scores in the low 500's so it wasn't like I had many options on better cards.

Re: Store Cards

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 02:49:54 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:
And people say store cards are a waste of time. I've probably only spent about $700 on this card, ever. What's the best deal you've gotten with a store card?

The Kohl's card discounts seem too complicated for me. But I did get a dinning room set from Pottery Barn that was 50 percent off and then I used the 20 percent off coupon for opening an account on top of that and also got 0 percent interest for 12 months. Got that with my scores in the low 500's so it wasn't like I had many options on better cards.

Yeah, I don't really get the yes2you, or I should say, I never cared to look into it. All I know is I logged in and saw $30 of those rewards and $30 Kohl's cash from a recent visit. Added the current sale and got some Levi's for free along with a couple shirts and something for my wife.

Should also mention that sometimes better cards don't give better deals. Bought some raybans from Kohl's and it was cheaper than if I used the amex offer for $50 back on $200. Plus, I got the $30 Kohl's cash that I used on this deal.

Re: Store Cards

wasCB14 — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 02:56:30 GMT

Beware of illusory savings. Easy discounts often mean the goods were initially intentionally overpriced.

I prefer a mix of Costco and price protection.

The one store card I had was Brooks Brothers, but there were really very few cardholder-only promotions. Most were open to everyone.

Re: Store Cards

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 03:03:10 GMT

i love kohls

Re: Store Cards

kdm31091 — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 03:20:06 GMT

@wasCB14 wrote:
Beware of illusory savings. Easy discounts often mean the goods were initially intentionally overpriced.

I prefer a mix of Costco and price protection.

The one store card I had was Brooks Brothers, but there were really very few cardholder-only promotions. Most were open to everyone.

And in fact wasn't Kohl's sued over this at one point? They were advertising "70% off", for example, but the item was never sold or going to be sold at the so called "original" price. It was just to make it look like a deal.

The Kohl's charge looks like a good deal for the right person and I'm not discrediting that, but I have found sometimes they don't have the best deals. I enjoy Kohl's and have gotten some nice items there, but not necessarily the least expensive.

Re: Store Cards

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 04:05:53 GMT

@wasCB14 wrote:
Beware of illusory savings. Easy discounts often mean the goods were initially intentionally overpriced.

I prefer a mix of Costco and price protection.

The one store card I had was Brooks Brothers, but there were really very few cardholder-only promotions. Most were open to everyone.

I only buy resale price maintained items from them like Levi's and Converse. That being said, they're not Fingerhut.

Re: Store Cards

FlaDude — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 04:15:07 GMT

It seems no matter how much my wife "saves" using the various Kohls discounts, we still seem to have trouble getting out of debt.

Re: Store Cards

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 04:22:12 GMT

@kdm31091 wrote:
@wasCB14 wrote:
Beware of illusory savings. Easy discounts often mean the goods were initially intentionally overpriced.

I prefer a mix of Costco and price protection.

The one store card I had was Brooks Brothers, but there were really very few cardholder-only promotions. Most were open to everyone.
And in fact wasn't Kohl's sued over this at one point? They were advertising "70% off", for example, but the item was never sold or going to be sold at the so called "original" price. It was just to make it look like a deal.

The Kohl's charge looks like a good deal for the right person and I'm not discrediting that, but I have found sometimes they don't have the best deals. I enjoy Kohl's and have gotten some nice items there, but not necessarily the least expensive.

It was Kohl's, JC Penney, Sears, and Macy's. The case was they never sold something for the msrp, that they always sold it at the sale price. Is it misleading? Yeah, but who complains about paying less than msrp? If I found some place that always sold below msrp, I wouldn't care what they're advertising, I would just capitalize on it.

And the point of the thread is that store cards are not always worthless like they're made out to be on this forum. Between the sale prices and the rewards, I saved over $100 for less than $700 total spend on the card. Thats an almost 15% return, not including the other discounts I've received in the past. I'm sure there are other store cards that can do just as well.

Re: Store Cards

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 04:25:49 GMT

@FlaDude wrote:
It seems no matter how much my wife "saves" using the various Kohls discounts, we still seem to have trouble getting out of debt.

The problem is you only get like a week to use the discounts or you lose them. This was just really good timing. I had just spent $150 and my yes2you rewards happened to show up at the same time as the sale starting. A Kohl's trifecta.

Re: Store Cards

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 05:03:18 GMT

Is this coincedence why the receipts on the thread everyone paid with AMEX or was there a deal? heheh

Re: Store Cards

UncleB — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 05:11:10 GMT

A couple of times I've done quite well with my Lowe's card, especially one time when the 5% was doubled to 10% for a holiday weekend.

That adds up when you're talking about a riding mower or a refrigerator.

Re: Store Cards

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 05:17:54 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Is this coincedence why the receipts on the thread everyone paid with AMEX or was there a deal? heheh

Nah, I only have a $300 limit and just made a $150 purchase the week before so I put the $9 on my amex. Lol. Plus I need to hit spend for my SUB.

Re: Store Cards

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 08:52:00 GMT

@UncleB wrote:
A couple of times I've done quite well with my Lowe's card, especially one time when the 5% was doubled to 10% for a holiday weekend.

That adds up when you're talking about a riding mower or a refrigerator.

Is this like taking a ride on the Reading Railroad and if you pass go collect $200?

Re: Store Cards

HeavenOhio — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 13:07:08 GMT

I don't think we've condemned all store cards. Kohls, Target, Lowe's, Home Depot, and possibly Menards have been cited as worthwhile cards.

We do point out that for a store card to be worthwhile, one has to shop there frequently. The last thing you want to have to do is make a purchase that you woudn't have made otherwise in order to keep a store card active.

Many of us have also suggested staying away from store cards as builder cards. They can hinder the acquisition of more useful major cards. Rather, one should build with major cards and consider store cards afterwards.

Then there's the matter of store cards lowering the LexisNexis score used by insurance companies to determine rates for customers in 47 states. (California, Hawaii, and Massachusetts prohibit the practice of using credit to determine rates.)

As far as Kohl's itself, the pricing structure is way too confusing for me, particularly with Kohl's brands that can't be purchased elsewhere. If it's something like a pair of Levi's, that's no problem because I know what a good price is. The Ray-Ban example given on the previous page would be similar. In general, however, I find Kohl's products to be overpriced for the quality. I tend to do better with both quality and price at Macy's or Nordstrom — without the confusion.

Re: Store Cards

pizza1 — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 13:38:53 GMT

OP...
I LOVE my Pottery Barn card....Like, so much I would never give it up. I like the fact you can Either do financing or rewards back for a larger purchase, and their financing isn't a bad deal at all.

I like to save my rewards up, plus wait for "bonus" rewards in the mail, and then use them at their big sales, like the one they just had! I basically saved $140 off my $300 purchase

Re: Store Cards

Remedios — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 15:59:11 GMT

Brian, you don't need to justify your choices of cards. If you're getting value out of it and use it frequently, that's all that matters.

I guess it was time for our monthly * Store cards are evil and issued by The Satan's Bank*

Up next:

* Why do you have so many cards*

*Why do you need high limits*

*CapOne is bad*.

*My Rewards System is perfect, yours is NOT*

Re: Store Cards

UpperNwGuy — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 16:10:45 GMT

-- Don't get a store card unless you plan to shop often at that store and hopefully get discounts for using their card.

-- Don't get store cards as credit builders.

-- Never carry a balance on a store card. Most of them have very high APRs.

Re: Store Cards

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 16:18:21 GMT

I have Target and wife has Kohls.

Target is good for 5% back instantly, but we only put $40-60 every other month on it. Limit is $2800 and we have had it for 8 years. I have updated income several times. No biggie. It's all what you want. There is no "wrong" for everyone.

I would not cancel it, but if I did not have it, I would not apply for it now.

I recently applied for the new Shell Fuel rewards card (just the gas card, not the Mastercard). I use almost exclusively Shell. It pays 30 cents per gallon for the first five fillups (that's why I signed up), but then drops to 10 cents a gallon, I also pays 10% in Shell store for non-fuel items, up to $10000 a year. I am debating whether to keep it after promo, but 10 cents off instantly at pump is cool, even though AMEX BCP is better with 3%.

Re: Store Cards

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 22:11:29 GMT

@Remedios wrote:

I guess it was time for our monthly * Store cards are evil and issued by The Satan's Bank*

Up next:
* Why do you have so many cards*
*Why do you need high limits*
*CapOne is bad*.
*My Rewards System is perfect, yours is NOT*

I really haven't seen that third one much recently. Maybe time for a revival. And "Amex CLI" needs to be on that list.