Reader Mailbag
Every time we send out the weekly blog email, we invite our readers to send ideas for future posts our way. Every now and then, a reader takes us up on that! 😊
Hereâs one question that weâve been meaning to answer for a while (but were waylaid by one of the craziest market cycles in history!):
âI just bought some lawn stuff from Home Depot. They offered me $100 off if I applied for a credit card. Would this be a good thing to do? What does Home Depot get out of it? How many cards should I have? How does this affect my credit rating?â
Excellent questionsâand even I fall prey to this pitch; ironically this weekend, this happened:


In my defense, the sales clerk asked me if I wanted to âjoin the club and save $50ââshe did not offerânor did I clarifyâwhat exactly I was signing up for. And, now I have a new Mastercard.
From a big picture, store credit cards are not all bad. Stores love themâthey tend to encourage shoppers to spend more per visit, and card holders tend to visit more often to get more rewards/savings/points. Store credit cards encourage brand loyalty and discourage price comparison shopping. So, retailers want you to have their card in your pocket!
But, there are some good reasons why a store credit card would make sense:
- Discountsâcards like the Target RedCard, which offers 5% on every Target purchase, can make sense if you are already a loyal shopper at a store, and are disciplined enough to pay your balance in full every month.
- Easier accessâstore credit cards typically come with lower limits, and most have lower underwriting standards. Additionally, store credit cards report to the three main credit bureaus. So, if you are looking to start or rebuild your credit and cannot get approval for a traditional card, then a store credit card may be a good first step (again, provided you pay your bill in full every month).
- Other perksâfree shipping, early access to sales, extra return time are common perks of a store credit card.
Generally, loyal shoppers that pay their store credit card bill in full every month may benefit from one of these cards.
On the other hand, retailer credit cards:
- Have high feesâannual fees, late payment fees, and high interest rates make these cards awful cards to carry a balance onâŚyou may end up spending more in fees than you earn in rewards
- Low credit limitsâthis can be a problem if you carry a significant balance on a low limit card. If you use more than 30% of your available credit, then it does negatively impact your credit report.
- The deferred interest trapâdeferred interest on big purchases is not the same as 0% interest. Deferred interest means that if a large purchase is not paid in full by the time the promotional interest free period ends, then all of the back interest becomes due immediately.
- Pressure to spendâif you already have a problem with spending at your favorite store, then a store branded credit card is likely to make overspending more tempting.
- Too many store cards can impact your creditâevery time a store pulls your credit report to open an account for you, it is considered a âhardâ inquiry on your credit report. More than 2 or 3 of these will begin to negatively impact your credit score.
So, as with most things in life, there is no one answer. If you are well organized, can pay your outstanding balance every month on time, and be judicious on how many store credit cards that you carry, they can be good tools. On the other hand, if you struggle to stay within your budget, have a hard time paying off debt, or plan to carry a balance, then a store credit card is absolutely not for you.
If you happen to open a card (like a Cabelaâs Club card accidentally) that you realize you should not carry for the long term, then you should cancel the card as soon as you have paid the balance in full. Simply call the credit card issuer and request that the card be closed at the consumerâs request. With the notation that you were the one that closed the account, this should not negatively impact your credit score.
And, while I do plan on doing just that with my Cabelaâs card, the enjoyment of a beautiful day and new fishing lures was worth the adventure:
Sarah, Thank you for this, it was about what I thought. Now that you are taking the kids fishing, the next step is frog gigging
Ha! I don’t take them fishing–they wander off to local creek. I can’t stomach fishing, so doubtful I could handle frog gigging!
Sarah, I’ve found that if you don’t use a store cand for a year or so, the store will deactivate the card. Will that affect your credit score?
It canâmainly because it increases your credit utilization score (which would happen if you closed it yourself), but also if the account is marked as âclosed by issuerâ, then it can be viewed as a negative on a future credit review.