Best Buy Reward Zone MC: Plan A or Plan B?

[Anonymous]

Just got my BB RZMC today. Its the gold card with no AF and 22.99% APR (default APR of 29.99%). I cant seem to find anything related to Plan A or Plan B in the disclusures and stuff, so which plan is it?

got booted for asking for a CLI at activation so I'm guessing i'm on Plan B :-D

[moonman]

The plan A and B i believe is on the Best Buy store card not the Mastercards.

[Anonymous]

you really sure? I found the Plan A and Plan B stuff on some other forum and it was the MC not the store card (not sure if I should post the link here). Heres a little excerpt:

"The following applies to “Plan A”: Standard variable APR is 20.99% with a default variable rate of 25.99%. The grace period is 23 days. There are no annual fees. The minimum finance charge is $2.00. There is no transaction fee for purchases. For balances of $100 or less, the late fee is $10.00. For balances between $100.01 and $500.00, the late fee is $29. The late fee is $39 for all balances over $500.00. There is no over the limit fee.

The following applies to “Plan B”: The APR is a variable 24.34% with a default rate of 29.99%. The grace period is 20 days. There is no annual fee. The late fee for balances of $250.00 or less is $35. If the balance is over $250.00, the late fee is $39. There is no over the limit fee. Which plan you get is based on your credit history."

[blacklotus]

First of all Plan A or B if you carry a balance with those APR's you will soon be on Plan C!

Anyways I am STILL waiting for my BB RZMC but I know my APR is 17 point something PLUS PRIME RATE no AF.  So I think your info on Plan A maybe applies to only Gold card?  Another loophole is there are two tiers of Gold from what I see one with AF and one without AF which complicates things...

They must have some pretty good economists making these credit models at HSBC!

EDIT:  I was also offered a regular MC with $39.00 AF but an APR of 15 point something!

[Anonymous]

I dont carry balances but word has it that people on Plan B are pretty much done i.e they'll never get a CLI, ever!. I'll be doomed if I have to live with $100 limit forever!

Platinum cards are always Plan A,  so yes that info only applies to Gold cards. One thing I do know is that Gold cards with AF are always Plan B and still theres that A and B thingy for the ones without AF. Kinda confusing, right?

[blacklotus]

Yes it is very confusing!

Anyways I think the goal of this card is to establish some credit history with HSBC so in the future you would qualify for the Store Card for a large durable goods purchase like a new refrigerator.

Also I think this card would be a good way to get a normal HSBC card if you are rebuilding.

EDIT (2):  With a $100 CL and $39 AF I could still see myself getting this card- but only for about a year to build credit history with HSBC then cancel this card and app for either Best Buy Storecard or HSBC unsecured...

I still like this card mainly because of rewards system.

[Anonymous]

Well, I'm actually new to credit (4.5 mo history) and my total revolving credit is around $1k, but still $100 limit is kinda insulting, LOL. Thats why I said I'll be doomed if I were on Plan B.

[blacklotus]

Low credit lines?  Been There Done That.  What gets you in trouble is if you use these cards like normal credit cards which they are not designed to be.  Also never use it for emergencies- saving $100 for a rainy day is not that hard.

I still like this card and overall do not think HSBC is all that bad and they seem to be able to work with people with limited credit...

BTW My highest CL now is my Citi Platinum MC at $4600.00 so I wouldn't have apped for this unless I saw some value in it...

[moonman]

There is a thread somewhere i read that mentioned only the store cards with the A and B plan with no growth for the plan B but with plan A you get  cli's, if there is one for the MC sorry for the lack of incorrect info.

[blacklotus]

I bumped a thread for you that details my progress since apping for this card.

I wouldn't worry so much about increasing your CL as increasing your Fico's.  Increased CL do not increase Fico's. Increased Fico's increase CL.