I am looking to add a retail card to the mix, and am sure that others would find this info to be valuable. So, I'm starting this thread: "What retail card is the best and why?" (What does it give you in terms of benefits that make it worth while as opposed to using bank card, APR aside) Thanks!
I have a Sears card as my one retail card - had it since '96. I haven't seen a huge benefit before now because I've never owned a home until now, but I guess if I needed any major services(siding, gutters, painting, lawn equip, etc) for my home, I know I could put it on my sears card. Same for automotive repair. That being said, I'd probably never take my car to Sears though because their prices are surely higher than some smaller repair shops. I don't have one, but if I were to ever get another store card, it might be Walmart. Simply because there are Walmart Supercenters everywhere where I live at. I can buy stuff for the house, do auto maintenance, buy food, clothes, etc. Just about anything I'd need to survive in a crunch, I could obtain from Walmart. That's what I would look for in a store card.
It depends where you shop and what you're looking for. Personally, I prefer the May Company cards (Hecht's, Foley's, Robinsons May) for most of my professional clothes shopping, because they often give an extra 15 or 20% off of even sale prices for using the card. If you need a lot of appliances or major stuff like that, Sears will often give you 0% for some period of time. I also like Wal*Mart. They also occasionally have specials where if you buy a certain amount at one time (not one item, but total for that sale) you can get 0% for some period of time. I love Wal*Mart and buy a lot of stuff there. While I could use my Visa and get miles, the Wal*Mart card has a different billing date and spreads my payments out a bit. Wal*Mart is issuing new cards with more benefits, like getting up to $20 cash back when you buy something. That will be great, because they're open all night many places, so if I'm somewhere that doesn't have a branch of my bank, I can get a little cash without ATM fees.
I'd definitely add Home Depot to the mix. They frequently have no payments/no interest for 6 months and usually give a 10% off coupon upon approval. Btw, ever since I bought my house, Home Depot has been a second home to me
I love my lowe's card as I get frequent deals for 0% interest for a year or so...promotional offers are nice I have had my target guest card since 98 and started at 300cl and it's now 900cl...so increases are good to get thru them...I don't carry a balance on it so the interest rate doesn't matter but it is high (21%)
I have Nordstrom as my only retail card and they are really good. I pay it off every month (online) so I don't mind about 21% APR. I can earn 1 point for every dollar spent and then redeem it for gift certificate. They report correctly to all CRA's. My initial CL was $1000 and they pulled Experian. The card itself looks really cool.
I was at Wal-Mart recently (a rare occurrence) and picked up a Chase Wal-Mart MC application. Unbelievable!! Low retail APR, regardless of the APR for other purchases. The same 0% deal for some large purchases. And balance transfers, not just cash advances. It isn't exactly a retail card in the sense some others intended here, but it's a superior alternative to the Wal-Mart retail card.
