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How easy is it to be approved for a Staples or a Shell card with new accounts? What CRA do they pull?
Staples is Citi. I have found them to be hit or miss. YMMV
For Shell, go to fuel rewards and look at their MC. You can get 10 cents off per gallon if you spend X amt. They have a non-CC loyalty card, as well. If you're buying Shell, at least get their discount.
Back when I lived near Kroger (oh gawd, he's going to tell us another Kroger story ), I would buy Shell gift cards, get the 4x (or even 7x) pts for the giftcard, then use the pts for the Kroger gas discount.