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@Anonymous wrote:
I’ll admit that I fell into that SCT trap. I ended up with probably 7 or 8 cards. Of course this was right when I got into extremely rebuilding my credit and of course I realized how damaging it was to my AAoA.
I’ve since closed all of them except the Victoria’s Secret one cause my wife shops there and we use it at Bed, Bath, Beyond as well.
I also kept open the Overstock one cause we do purchase from that place as well.
Everything else was just a waste of time and did more damage than good to me.
I’m in complete agreement that you should never do the SCT trick or really just shoot for all those store cards from them at all.
Hi!
You can use vs at bed bath and beyond also?!
I did not know this. I only knew about bath and body works.
@Anonymous wrote:Just wanted to mention that "rebuilding credit" never, ever, ever involves getting even 1 store card, let alone 11 or 17 or whatever.
If anyon is reading this thread who has poor or no credit at all, avoid store cards for now. It's a useless exhausting trap.
On this point I disagree 1000 %
Target Red Card 5% cash back at the register
Sams Club 3% cash back at their gas pumps
Amazon Store Card 5% cash back / store credit
Lowes Store Card many many interest free purchase options
ALL of those store cards beat the hell outta Citi 2% DC card
@Meanmchine wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Just wanted to mention that "rebuilding credit" never, ever, ever involves getting even 1 store card, let alone 11 or 17 or whatever.
If anyon is reading this thread who has poor or no credit at all, avoid store cards for now. It's a useless exhausting trap.
On this point I disagree 1000 %
Target Red Card 5% cash back at the register
Sams Club 3% cash back at their gas pumps
Amazon Store Card 5% cash back / store credit
Lowes Store Card many many interest free purchase options
ALL of those store cards beat the hell outta Citi 2% DC card
I think that ABCD2199 wasn't saying all store cards are bad, just don't use them for the purposes of rebuilding credit (and certainly don't go wild with the SCT when you are in the rebuilding phase).
Personally, I don't evaluate store cards any differently from other cards when considering applying: are the net rewards from this card at least as big as any other I can reasonably expect to get.
So, if the rewards are good at a store that you shop at frequently, a store card can be the best choice. But also consider other options, I have the Target Red debit card, but rarely use it now as I can do better buying discounted Target gift cards.
I actually like my Sportsmen's Guide card. You get an automatic 2.5% discount when paying with the cards (coupled with the 2.5% discount you get if you choose to buy the annual membership), bringing the discount to 5%. Plus, you get rewards points (generally 1%, but they have promotions occasionally), so if you are a hunter or camper and actually buy related items regularly, you get about a 6% return on your purchases.
That being said, I've cancelled all my other Comenity cards except JCrew (I wait for big sales and then buy a few pairs of boxers or whatnot to keep the card active) and Fashion Bug (which I keep soley because it was my first card post BK7).
Overstock and HSN are so overpriced on most things, I could never find anything I wanted to spend money on, so those got axed once I no longer needed the utility cushion.
Total Cards: 24 | Total Limit: $304,250
Current FICO 8 Scores: EQ: 841| TU: 815 | EX: 814
Hard Inquiries: 1
@Anonymous wrote:Just wanted to mention that "rebuilding credit" never, ever, ever involves getting even 1 store card, let alone 11 or 17 or whatever.
If anyon is reading this thread who has poor or no credit at all, avoid store cards for now. It's a useless exhausting trap.
There is no truth to this post. I got three comenity store cards to start my rebuild and it helped me a lot. Still have them open as they have big limits and no annual fees.
@Anonymous wrote:Another factor one needs to think about when applying for store cards is that most of them (certainly the ones issued by Synchrony or Comenity) don't allow balance transfers of existing balances to other cards. This could cause you awkward moments, at the least, if you got a new BT card intending to move your retail-card balance there and then found out you couldn't do it. (For that matter, some bank issuers don't allow BT's from one card issued by them to another either; this made me rethink and adjust my BT plans when I found that out earlier this week.)
I'm not sure if I understand what you're saying, but there's no issue with doing a BT from Comenity or Synchrony to another lender - I've done it myself.
All I had to do was provide the new lender the account number and mailing address, and they sent payment on my behalf (once it was electronic, another time it was a paper check). Comenity and Synchrony will just treat this like any other payment.
I also am very happy with my SCT results. I was deliberate with my choices, and disciplined with the approach. I didn't want to be, but I did a LOT of reading beforehand. I totally understand the temptation to go for everything that says yes - I was feeling it myself!
Deliberate:
Overstock because if you shop them, they do have decent deals, and they were rumored to give good SL (they do!). I always check there when shopping, and sometimes they win on price. Roaman's gives me access to the entire FullBeauty lineup, and as a fat girl my shopping choices are limited. This card is very useful to someone who can't just pop into a department store and buy...ANYthing. That card gets some natural decent use, too.
Disciplined:
PIF every month means no need to care about interest rate or balance transfer.
Results:
It was only after the SCT that I started getting other offers. I'm happy with my current lineup and plan to re-evaluate come spring/summer. That Uber card looks good - and none of this would have happened without the SCT.
Conclusion:
If you limit yourself to cards you'll actually use (and not make up reasons to use), and then use them for a while (as Comenity doesn't report for months with no activity), these store cards can be a good thing! And with the other offers that will be on the way, assuming no crazy moves with the new cards, your eggs will be in more than one basket.
Lets be a little forgiving to Comenity here
How many banks do you know that will let you have 7 of their cards let alone 17.
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I’ll admit that I fell into that SCT trap. I ended up with probably 7 or 8 cards. Of course this was right when I got into extremely rebuilding my credit and of course I realized how damaging it was to my AAoA.
I’ve since closed all of them except the Victoria’s Secret one cause my wife shops there and we use it at Bed, Bath, Beyond as well.
I also kept open the Overstock one cause we do purchase from that place as well.
Everything else was just a waste of time and did more damage than good to me.
I’m in complete agreement that you should never do the SCT trick or really just shoot for all those store cards from them at all.Hi!
You can use vs at bed bath and beyond also?!
I did not know this. I only knew about bath and body works.
As far as I know, you cannot use it at bed bath and beyond. Many people confuse bath and body works and bed bath and beyond. My family does it all the time I end up getting offered bed bath and beyond coupons from family when going to bath and body works. When I try explaining the difference it gets lost some way.
Id add that you cant actually use the VS card for BBW unless you go to the physical store. No online purchases for you.
So if youre a guy.... feels good man, whip out that pink angel card for your body spray ^_^