topic Re: Lowes, Home Depot and Target. in Credit Cards

Lowes, Home Depot and Target.

expatCanuck — Sun, 18 Dec 2022 16:34:54 GMT

Hi folks.

I'm inclined to add Lowes, Home Depot and Target cards in 2023.

Any thoughts as to order of acquisition (I seem to recall reading that the Lowes underwriter is INQ-sensitive) or, alternately, reasons why I might *not* want to add them?

Re: Lowes, Home Depot and Target.

M_Smart007 — Sun, 18 Dec 2022 17:00:46 GMT

Hi @expatCanuck ,

IMO, I do not think Lowe's is inquiry sensitive,

you can follow the bread crumbs (links) back to my 27/24 (new accounts) [Approval,] with 24 TU Inqs.

They (SYNCB/Lowe's) usually pull TU

I personally would app for Lowe's and Home Depot first (they are likely to pull different bureaus and not see each other.

Would app for Target last....this is just my opinion, and may not reflect the general consensus view(s) of this forum

Good Luck on your mission Jim, should you decide to accept it?.

This tape will self destruct in 5 seconds.

Re: Lowes, Home Depot and Target.

SUPERSQUID — Sun, 18 Dec 2022 18:55:27 GMT

@M_Smart007 wrote:
Hi @expatCanuck ,
IMO, I do not think Lowe's is inquiry sensitive,
you can follow the bread crumbs (links) back to my 27/24 (new accounts) [Approval,] with 24 TU Inqs.

They (SYNCB/Lowe's) usually pull TU

I personally would app for Lowe's and Home Depot first (they are likely to pull different bureaus and not see each other.
Would app for Target last....this is just my opinion, and may not reflect the general consensus view(s) of this forum

Good Luck on your mission Jim, should you decide to accept it?.
This tape will self destruct in 5 seconds.

I agree, app for target last. Target approved me in oct/2020 with ficos in the low 600's, Many inqs, and I bankrupted TD bank for 8k less than a year before that.

Re: Lowes, Home Depot and Target.

Aim_High — Mon, 19 Dec 2022 01:20:26 GMT

@expatCanuck wrote:
Hi folks.
I'm inclined to add Lowes, Home Depot and Target cards in 2023.

Any thoughts as to order of acquisition (I seem to recall reading that the Lowes underwriter is INQ-sensitive)

... or, alternately, reasons why I might *not* want to add them?

<heads off to Lowes for lump charcoal>

While I don't currently have any of those cards, @expatCanuck, I think the above advice from @M_Smart007 and @SUPERSQUID seems reasonable (although I barely read M_Smart007's reply before it self-destructed! Lol )

I'm going to go in a slightly different direction with my advice. I'll start out with noting that you don't appear to have any store/retail cards right now, but you plan to add three next year? So my question would be what is the intent? Do you organically shop at all three of these stores regularly to take advantage of specials or discounts? Are you adding both Lowe's and Home Depot because you regularly shop at both or because you are planning some major purchases for home remodeling? Or is the intent to take advantage of adding some additional CL utilization padding or for other reasons?

Personally, I divested myself of most store/retail cards a few years ago since I feel they are more trouble than they are worth, but there are times where they can be useful. The one I make an exception for right now is my Costco card since it doubles as my membership card, I shop there at least monthly, and it's a Visa network card that can be used other places. Store/retail cards seem to have easier approvals in many cases. However, your profile already appears well developed and doesn't need them for building credit. From my experience, if I didn't shop frequently at the store (or didn't remember to bring along their card to use), my store cards have tended to get closed by lender much faster than generic bank cards. So I found it annoying when I would go to use the card and find it had been closed. On the other hand, remembering to use them/manage them can become a chore. When it comes to home improvement stores, for most consumers I would think one or the other of Lowe's or Home Depot would fit best unless they are frequent shoppers at both stores or doing a major remodel. In my case, I shop much more often at Lowe's and I admit I have thought of adding it for that reason. I've also found store/retail cards helpful for when I wanted to use special financing for major purchases like furniture or applicances, but I chose to close them when I didn't anticipate further usage.

If your purpose is adding all the cards for their rewards value, I would suggest comparing the potential rewards to what you carry now and see if the incremental increase is worthy of applying for, carrying, and managing an additional account. You already get a baseline 2% back with either your Citi DC or PF PCR cards, so subtract at least 2% from whatever rewards you would earn based on anticipated spend. If you chose the Home Improvement - Furnishings category with your Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards, you could get at least 3% on up to $2500 per quarter or $10K annually and use the card at both Home Depot and Lowes with a single card. (With Preferred Rewards program, that could even go up as high as 5.25% on up to $10K.) You also have rotating category cards (Discover, Chase Freedom Flex, Affinity CU Visa) that may periodically provide up to 5% back at home improvement stores or Target.

Just some ideas and thoughts. Good luck with however you decide to proceed!

Re: Lowes, Home Depot and Target.

Anonymous — Sun, 18 Dec 2022 22:18:13 GMT

For Target, unless you are buying expensive electronics there, I would go for the debit card, and link it to a secondary bank account. Same 5% off etc, one less cc app and card on your report.

Re: Lowes, Home Depot and Target.

Anonymous — Sun, 18 Dec 2022 22:26:29 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
For Target, unless you are buying expensive electronics there, I would go for the debit card, and link it to a secondary bank account. Same 5% off etc, one less cc app and card on your report.

You could do the target debit + us bank shopper cash rewards by choosing Lowe's and Home Depot. This is if you can stay under the quarter cap of 1500 and don't mind the 95 annual fee(no fee first year).

Re: Lowes, Home Depot and Target.

digitek — Sun, 18 Dec 2022 22:31:48 GMT

Target has a debit card that offers the same 5% off and deals as the credit card. Unless you actually want to carry a balance on the card a lot of people go that route instead of getting another credit card. I've got the debit card and it's linked in their app and I use that at checkout in their app.

Amex has a Lowe's business card that I also have. It's 5% off just like the Synch card, but also give us 2% back as points that you can use for Lowe's gift cards at 1-to-1 so kind of like 7% off. Can get Amex offers on it and soft pull CLI to big numbers. Not on your personal credit report, which can be good or bad depending on how you see it.

Just some other options for you to consider.

Re: Lowes, Home Depot and Target.

wasCB14 — Mon, 19 Dec 2022 03:43:57 GMT

If you can PIF and don't need any of the business purchase order tracking features, is there really anything special about any of the HD cards...personal or business?

I use them and Lowe's for some things but increasingly find the product selection of both chains limited. I spend more buying directly from product manufacturers.

Re: Lowes, Home Depot and Target.

Mdowning30 — Mon, 19 Dec 2022 12:39:21 GMT

@digitek Im interested in the Amex Lowes Business card myself, but i think i have 1 or 2 more revolver spots left so i need to choose wisely.

Re: Lowes, Home Depot and Target.

xenon3030 — Mon, 19 Dec 2022 16:49:03 GMT

How much do you expect to spend at these stores per quarter? Do you have large home renovation?

If the expenses are reasonable with the typical cap of ~1.5k-2.5k/quarter, you may choose the typical general cashback cards that give ~3-5% and for some of them, you may need to use the store pickup to get the cashback (BOA CCR, Discover, CFF, Amex BCE, digital wallet, PP, ...).

Re: Lowes, Home Depot and Target.

expatCanuck — Mon, 19 Dec 2022 17:31:26 GMT

Thanks to all for the thoughtful replies.

My goal is to maximize cashback. I may spend $500-$1000 in a given year at HD or Lowes, absent appliance purchases (rare). Target is much less. And I typically pay in full before a statement cuts or, at the outside, before the balance on a given monthly statement is due.

So the incentive for the store cards is the 5% back. I currently use my PenFed or Citi DC, which gives me 2%.

If there are other (non-retail) cards that'll give me 3% or more, I'd welcome knowing about them.

Re: Lowes, Home Depot and Target.

wasCB14 — Mon, 19 Dec 2022 18:11:32 GMT

If you spend $300 a year at Lowe's, a 5% discount is $15. A plain 2% card would give $6, so your marginal savings is just $9. At that level of spend, it could take decades to save more than you'd get from a $200 or $300 SUB on a plain cash back card.

I use a Lowe's card (Business Amex), but I'm buying for a commercial-scale apartment building. And not even I bother with a HD card.

Re: Lowes, Home Depot and Target.

M_Smart007 — Mon, 19 Dec 2022 18:15:38 GMT

@expatCanuck, Here was the main reason I applied,

(Click image to enlarge)

as well as the normal 5% back.

I needed a new washer and dryer for the lake house, figured I'd save $100 bux.

I think a few are failing to consider this.

I also enjoy the $35K Utilization padding

Re: Lowes, Home Depot and Target.

xenon3030 — Mon, 19 Dec 2022 18:46:32 GMT

@M_Smart007 wrote:
@expatCanuck, Here was the main reason I applied,
(Click image to enlarge)
as well as the normal 5% back.
I needed a new washer and dryer for the lake house, figured I'd save $100 bux.
I think a few are failing to consider this.

They are not failing in any consideration . Such store cards have some occational perks like this while it might not worth to apply for a specific store CC for various reasons. Otherwise, I need to have 20+ separate store cards such as HD, Lowes, Kroger, Macy's, express, Target and so on, on top of my 20+ personal cards. It is simply not worth here, unless I expect e.g. a major home renovation...

With my general cards, I am getting ~5% at each of these stores. For home development, BOA CC might be the best card giving 3-5.25% with 2.5k/quarter cap (depending on the premium rewards tier).

Re: Lowes, Home Depot and Target.

bigseegar — Mon, 19 Dec 2022 18:46:02 GMT

@expatCanuck wrote:
Thanks to all for the thoughtful replies.
My goal is to maximize cashback. I may spend $500-$1000 in a given year at HD or Lowes, absent appliance purchases (rare). Target is much less. And I typically pay in full before a statement cuts or, at the outside, before the balance on a given monthly statement is due.

So the incentive for the store cards is the 5% back. I currently use my PenFed or Citi DC, which gives me 2%.

If there are other (non-retail) cards that'll give me 3% or more, I'd welcome knowing about them.

I have them all. The Home Depot card remember is Citi so their guidelines some what come into play. But it does not give you 5% off as you said. Only the Lowe's and Target do that.

Re: Lowes, Home Depot and Target.

DakotaM — Mon, 19 Dec 2022 19:20:02 GMT

The Citi Custom Cash has home improvement as one of its 5% categories too. It is only on $500 per month of purchases, but it sounds like you don't have a very high spend so it might work well for you. You can get multiples through product change too.

Re: Lowes, Home Depot and Target.

Aim_High — Mon, 19 Dec 2022 21:28:56 GMT

@expatCanuck wrote:
Thanks to all for the thoughtful replies.
My goal is to maximize cashback. I may spend $500-$1000 in a given year at HD or Lowes, absent appliance purchases (rare). Target is much less. And I typically pay in full before a statement cuts or, at the outside, before the balance on a given monthly statement is due.

So the incentive for the store cards is the 5% back. I currently use my PenFed or Citi DC, which gives me 2%.

If there are other (non-retail) cards that'll give me 3% or more, I'd welcome knowing about them.

Thanks for the clarification, @expatCanuck. Similar to @wasCB14 pointed out above, your specific savings on $500 to $1K annual spend would be 3% of $500 ($15) or $1000 ($30). As I've discussed in previous posts about >the Pareto Principle (80/20 rule)< and the Law of Diminishing Returns, we all can set our rewards threshold where it best balances the rewards payback versus the time and complexity of managing additional accounts. Personally, I set my incremental returns threshold much higher for additional cards. I've had some situations where I had the potential to earn even $100 or so annually with additional cards but elected not to add or maintain them. For one thing, when I think about saving that amount of money, I consider how many ways I waste that amount of money (or more) by my other choices in life. However, that's a whole other topic and more related to personal finance.

A couple of us have pointed out the Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards card, which you already possess. What are you currently using it for in special category and does it get less than $1K annual spend? This could be the most simple answer to your problem and would give you 3% (or up to 5.25%) at both Lowe's and Home Depot, while having those two cards would only give you 5% at Lowe's (but nothing at Home Depot except special financing, to my understanding.)

For Target, you say you spend even less than $500 annually there, so again I would question whether that spend merits an additional card when you already get 2% back on other cards. I like the Target Debit card idea suggested above unless you want the credit to report. That gives you the 5% return while not affecting your credit report.

The Lowe's $100 SUB pointed out by @M_Smart007 could be a valuable piece of the puzzle, but it requires spending money to gain the (up to) $100. It doesn't sound like you have a large purchase pending.

You have a CITI Custom Cash already also, and that one was mentioned as an option. It could even be used exclusively for that home improvement spending in selected months for the 5% back, depending on your needs. @Anonymous's mention of the US Bank Shopper's Card might also be a simple one-card option since it would give you 6% rewards at any two of those three retailers, plus 3% back on gas, ev-charging, warehouse clubs, and home utilities albeit subject to an annual fee beginning in year two.

Overall, I think if you want to pursue the discounts strategy, there are several ways to proceed besides those three separate accounts. Hope you've found the answers you were seeking.

Re: Lowes, Home Depot and Target.

FireMedic1 — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 19:39:05 GMT

Loews SP CLI vs HD HP CLI. Hmmmmmm

Re: Lowes, Home Depot and Target.

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Dec 2022 10:18:08 GMT

@expatCanuck wrote:
Hi folks.
I'm inclined to add Lowes, Home Depot and Target cards in 2023.

Any thoughts as to order of acquisition (I seem to recall reading that the Lowes underwriter is INQ-sensitive) or, alternately, reasons why I might *not* want to add them?

<heads off to Lowes for lump charcoal>

Get that Lowe's Card so you can purchase a Snow Blower as you may need one! Of course a chainsaw would be useful to cut down the Cherry Blossum Trees

Re: Lowes, Home Depot and Target.

NoMoreE46 — Wed, 21 Dec 2022 19:55:58 GMT

FYI, if you do decide to pursue these cards, Lowes will be the highest max CL of $35,000.

The max for the Target MC is like $17,000. I don't know about the Citi/HD card.