I do not have a retail card. I have just under 12 months new credit. Is Nordstroms the way to go. No BK's either. ......Janice
Do you shop there? Does the rewards program work for you? It's really simple - only take cards that give you (hopefully) more than you give them. Example - I pay off my Macy's card (Pres. Club Visa) just about every month, but by using it a lot, I get free alterations, 3% reward certificates (6% on some days) + 1% back when I use it as a regular Visa. That all added up to about $400 worth of "benefit" (about $180 in alterations, $220 in reward coupons) to me in the last year. I revolved twice, and paid $20 or so in finance charges. I come out ahead, so it's a good deal. Some retail cards I know of with reward programs- Nordstrom (1% back on store account, 2% on Visa) Federated (3% back on store accounts, 1% back on Visa - Bloomies, Macy's, Rich's, Lazarus, The Bon, Goldsmith's, Burdines) Sears (up to 3% back on store account, ?? for MasterCard) Field's ($20 back for every $500 you spend) Carson's ($20 back for every $500 you spend) Good luck- mj
Depending on where you live, different retail cards are easier to get than others. Where I live, it's Macy's. I haven't tried after my BK, but it was the first credit card my wife was able to get. She showed her Visa check card (debit card) and an out-of-state learners permit (she's a relatively recent immigrant) and was approved. At the time, shw was only give a $100 limit, but since than she has received retail cards from Victoria's Secret, Nordstorm and Chadwick's and an LLBean Visa from MBNA. And Macy's raised her limit to $800 at the holidays -- about six months after she orginally got her card.
