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I wouldn't otherwise consider this card, but due to a partnership with Best Buy we're able to get the card with a built-in employee discount. Via the portal provided, there's a pre-qual site and I qualified for both a secured Reward Zone card and their gold. The gold has around 75 in annual fees, the secured was 20-25, I believe. Of course knowing HSBC I wouldn't exactly trust approval being guaranteed for the gold, and I'm pretty weary of the large AF anyway.
My question is has anyone used the secured RZ MC and does it graduate or go partially secured?
Also, since they don't list all the variants of RZ cards available, only the ones pre-qualed, are there RZ cards that don't have any AF?
@vonmannstein wrote:I checked around and I guess there are 4 different Reward Zone Best Buy Cards:
Platinum - no AF and best rates
Gold - no AF and semi-high rates
Gold - AF and higher rates
Secured - AF and deposit required
stoopidmunkee -
How long did it take to graduate? What was your secured limit and what did they increase it to upon graduation? Do you still have the annual fee?
Message Edited by vonMannstein on 02-26-2009 05:37 PM
Yea there are levels of the RZMC. Actually I'm still on the secured I just got it a few months ago. I've been told by CRS from their helpdesk and also employees that they will graduate you off after a year or nine months. So I'm still waiting. Right now I'm still at 200 bucks, that's all I could afford to do with out at one time. I plan on depositing more soon. If I find out moe information about the whole graduation process I'll tell you about it.
Plus the secured RZMC is for employees only not the general public as far as I know.
The RZ MC is what they try to give rejects like me who got declined for the real bestbuy card. There really is no point in having that RZ MC unless you need to build your credit because it doesn't give you financing at bestbuy like the store card though the store card these days is garbage also unless you doing a no interest financing as they stopped the 90 day same as cash purchase on the store card.
When I was offered the POS RZ MC it came with a fee I think of around $59 with a CL of $300. Needless to say I declined that offer then was offered a $450 CL and a $29 AF which I also refused. I do hear that some cards have no AF but really, the bestbuy mastercard is useless unless you need the tradline.
Paying $75 AF on a $300 CL card is just silly to me and I would get the secure card and after your credit build just apply for better cards.
I have the RZMC with, I've been told you can graduate off of the secured card.
@vonmannstein wrote:I wouldn't otherwise consider this card, but due to a partnership with Best Buy we're able to get the card with a built-in employee discount. Via the portal provided, there's a pre-qual site and I qualified for both a secured Reward Zone card and their gold. The gold has around 75 in annual fees, the secured was 20-25, I believe. Of course knowing HSBC I wouldn't exactly trust approval being guaranteed for the gold, and I'm pretty weary of the large AF anyway.
My question is has anyone used the secured RZ MC and does it graduate or go partially secured?
Also, since they don't list all the variants of RZ cards available, only the ones pre-qualed, are there RZ cards that don't have any AF?
Also there is only one card that has a fee and the fee is 59 bucks.
Also RZMC isn't only for people who get rejected from the BBY store card. I'm an employee with BBY and I do financing and that's not always the case.
I checked around and I guess there are 4 different Reward Zone Best Buy Cards:
Platinum - no AF and best rates
Gold - no AF and semi-high rates
Gold - AF and higher rates
Secured - AF and deposit required
stoopidmunkee -
How long did it take to graduate? What was your secured limit and what did they increase it to upon graduation? Do you still have the annual fee?
@vonmannstein wrote:I checked around and I guess there are 4 different Reward Zone Best Buy Cards:
Platinum - no AF and best rates
Gold - no AF and semi-high rates
Gold - AF and higher rates
Secured - AF and deposit required
stoopidmunkee -
How long did it take to graduate? What was your secured limit and what did they increase it to upon graduation? Do you still have the annual fee?
Message Edited by vonMannstein on 02-26-2009 05:37 PM
Yea there are levels of the RZMC. Actually I'm still on the secured I just got it a few months ago. I've been told by CRS from their helpdesk and also employees that they will graduate you off after a year or nine months. So I'm still waiting. Right now I'm still at 200 bucks, that's all I could afford to do with out at one time. I plan on depositing more soon. If I find out moe information about the whole graduation process I'll tell you about it.
Plus the secured RZMC is for employees only not the general public as far as I know.
Thanks again for the info. Honestly it does sound like a pretty good secured builder card in that case. The rewards aren't too shabby either:
Purchases at Best Buy = 2 Pts / 4% Cashback
Dining/Groceries = 1 Pt / 2% Cashback
Everything Else = .5 Pt / 1% Cashback
Sheesh, I guess if you spend >$2500/year (208/mo) you're also eligible for their premier silver program. +50% reward bonus for MC members, so effectively 6% cashback on BBY purchases, 3% on grocery & dining/1.5% on other. Even if I never shopped at BBY, that's pretty hard to beat for a secured card.
@vonmannstein wrote:Sheesh, I guess if you spend >$2500/year (208/mo) you're also eligible for their premier silver program. +50% reward bonus for MC members, so effectively 6% cashback on BBY purchases, 3% on grocery & dining/1.5% on other. Even if I never shopped at BBY, that's pretty hard to beat for a secured card.
Yes, they have a pretty good offer, especially since it's a secured card. I don't know of anything secured cards have give any types of rewards.