Harris Teeter Credit Card

[shadanat]

I received an email this morning from Harris Teeter (grocery store) informing me of their World MasterCard. I'm not sure if other grocery stores are going to follow this trend but I'm amazed.

The card is issued by US Bank. There is a reward system and no annual fee. I didn't read it in detail because I rarely shop at this store. If you are interested, the link is below

https://www.htmastercard.com/credit/offer.do?redirect=39666&lang=en

[Anonymous]

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@shadanat wrote:

I received an email this morning from Harris Teeter (grocery store) informing me of their World MasterCard. I'm not sure if other grocery stores are going to follow this trend but I'm amazed.

The card is issued by US Bank. There is a reward system and no annual fee. I didn't read it in detail because I rarely shop at this store. If you are interested, the link is below

https://www.htmastercard.com/credit/offer.do?redirect=39666&lang=en

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I was looking over the US Bank website the other day while checking prequalify status, and saw that card. I get my prescriptions at HT so this is certainly of some interest, though I'm not sure it's enough to make me come out of the garden for. We'll need to start collecting data points on FICO scores, SL's, etc.; I'm betting the minimum FICO scores won't be excessively high since this is a co-branded card and the issuers will want to try to attract the widest possible base of customers.

I haven't gotten any emails from HT yet. Was the offer prequalified/preapproved, or just marketing?

[shadanat]

It’s just a marketing email

[Anonymous]

I think US Bank has had a Kroger card for many years.

[shadanat]

I don't have a Kroger near me. I didn't know that grocery stores put out credit cards so I am amazed at this.

[Anonymous]

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@shadanat wrote:

I don't have a Kroger near me. I didn't know that grocery stores put out credit cards so I am amazed at this.

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Harris Teeter is a Kroger brand name, so I guess the real question is why there wasn't a HT card before now. That being said, Target and Walmart, which nowadays are into the supermarket business in a big way, have well-known store (and co-branded major) cards, as well as Costco (Citi Costco Anywhere), Sam's Club and BJ's Warehouse, but they're not specifically supermarkets as such, and of course Amazon now includes Whole Foods in 5% cash back on their Prime Visa. After a Google search, Giant Eagle, as far as I know, is the only supermarket chain other than Kroger/HT that has a branded credit card.

Considering the competition listed in the previous paragraph, though, I wouldn't be altogether surprised if more major chains like Safeway begin to offer credit cards sometime in the next few years.

[pipeguy]

Kroger purchased Harris Teeter in 2013 finalized the merger in early 2014. 

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2014/01/29/kroger-completes-25-billion.html

[Pikaboo-icu]

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@shadanat wrote:

I don't have a Kroger near me. I didn't know that grocery stores put out credit cards so I am amazed at this.

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I don't have Kroger near me either but I do have Fred Meyer and they are the same, I believe Kroger is the parent co.

US Bank is the issuer of my Fred Meyer Visa. 

[SBR249]

I saw the Kroger card the other week (I spend part of my time in an area with a large Kroger footprint) and the rewards program is pretty atrocious. I think it's something like 0.5% back on all purchases, 1% back on spend at Kroger, and 1.5% back on purchases of Kroger house brand products. The reward is given in form of points (1pt = 0.5%) which can be used at Kroger I think. 

[Anonymous]

There are better credit cards than this one to use for grocery stores, including HT