Is there a store CC that is worth it to you?

[maylips]

We have one basic CC that we pay off each month - I'm a "spender," so I have to play games with myself and one of those is not juggling a bunch of CC and lose sight of the balances.

That being said, it seems Gap CCs are handy for getting regular discounts with online purchases - and that's how I do most of my shopping. If you have a Gap card, or any other store card that you use to get discounts/coupons/rewards, which one would you say is totally worth it for someone like me?

Just curious.

[Nyfeara]

The only one that I use regularly is Kohl's. Any others are very hit or miss for me.

I also noticed on the Kohls statement this month that it lists an amount to pay to avoid finance charges. I'm not sure if this was a new thing or not, but definitely nice to have it there clearly spelled out.

[MMMommy]

I have a Banana Republic Luxe Card (Luxe if you spend a minimum within one year). It gets you free shipping, free basic alterations, and you accumulate reward certificates. As far as I know, you accumulate rewards on it for shopping at any of the Gap Inc. stores (Banana Republic, Gap, Old Navy, possibly Athleta and Piperlime, but I'm not sure about those two). I get promos mailed for Gap, BR, and Old Navy.

I also have a Bloomie's card, which I was told I would get free shipping from any store or online if you spend $150 or more. Not a compelling perk, in my opinion. So unless you shop heavily at Bloomie's, I don't think this is a "must have."

I don't have a Macys card, but I think Macys would be a good one to have b/c of their special cardholder discounts and savings passes.

[hillview]

ONLY one I have is Nordstrom's
/hillary

[connor_mommy]

Amex for Costco and almost every where that will take it.
Alaskaa Air for the companion tickets and for places that will not take Amex.
Gap for their free shipping and bonuses.
Nordy's--just because I've had it since I was 18. It's the old school type that will only work at Nordy.
Macy's (used to be the Bon Marche in the Pacfic NW) for the same reason as Nordy, just because I've had that one since I was 16 and for their discounts.

[lilhilly]

My Gap and Kohls cards are definitely "worth it" (neither have any fees, FWIW). Because I spend at least $800 at Gap, ON, BR, piperlime, and/or Athleta each year, my Gap Silver card gives me free shipping on online orders of any size, which is a big plus. And yes, you get lots of extra discount codes and there are cardholder reward certificates. Kohls cards give you their periodic 30 percent off discounts and most of their free ship codes are only for cardholders.

I also have a PB card, which I barely use, and a Macy's card, which I only have because I was buying a sofa there last May and they were offering an extra 10 percent off if you opened a card. I never use the card, so I'll probably end up cancelling it.

[wellyes]

Kohl's sends me 15%+ off coupons on all purchases every month. It's the only store card I have.

[wifecat]

We have several cards that are not worth it - Nordstrom's, Lord and Taylor, Amazon

Worth-it ones: Banana Republic (great sale fliers, birthday coupons, useful for all the Gap-owned sites), Victoria's Secret (I only use this card like twice a year and get lots of free underwear with it), and I just got the Kohl's card and think I'll find it to be very useful.

As for us as spenders - we pay off everything right away, so take my info with a grain of salt. I literally pay the Victoria's Secret bill as soon my stuff arrives and I'm sure I'll keep it all because I hate finance charges.

As for a real credit card, we use Chase Freedom because we get 3% back on the 3 categories we purchase the most stuff in (like groceries, dining/entertainment, etc) and 1% back on the rest. When we have $200 in reward credit, we can request a $250 check from Chase, so we make an extra $50!

[Melaine]

Kohls seems like they have great benefits to their card.

DH refuses to get any store credit cards though, because he thinks it is bad for our credit. Not sure if he is right about that or not, but it really isn't a big deal I guess.

[lchang25000]

My Gap and Kohls cards are definitely "worth it" (neither have any fees, FWIW). Because I spend at least $800 at Gap, ON, BR, piperlime, and/or Athleta each year, my Gap Silver card gives me free shipping on online orders of any size, which is a big plus. And yes, you get lots of extra discount codes and there are cardholder reward certificates. Kohls cards give you their periodic 30 percent off discounts and most of their free ship codes are only for cardholders.



:yeahthat:I love my GAP/BR/ON card and Kohl's card!

[catpagmo]

I have a Nordstrom Visa and I use it for everything. For every 2000 points you earn, they send you a $20 credit to use in the store. I earn 3 points per dollar at Nordstrom, and 1 point per dollar everywhere else. Several times each year, they have double/triple points days. I usually earn at least one, sometimes two, $20 credits per month. Sometimes, I save them up and put them toward something really nice. I always pay my bill in full each month.

Love it! They have the best customer service at their credit office, too.

[DrSally]

Kohls. I didn't know how many extra discounts you could get with it.

[elektra]

We have a Macy's card and a Bloomingdale's card. We opened each one at a point when we wanted to make a large purchase (mattress from Macy's, expensive watch from Bloomies) and so the offer of the 20% off or whatever it was when you opened the card was a lot of money.
We do get good coupons for Macy's now too. However it was really that initial $ off that made them worth it. We don't use those cards much at all.

[scrappypeanut]

I have carried Gap (which is a great card) but I spent way to much money so I closed it. I now spend much less. Great perks though!

We had Macy's, thumbs down on that one.

I now have PBK and I am sorry I never signed up for it sooner. For every $250 you spend, you get a $25 gift certificate. Any one purchase over $1000 gets you an automatic 10% off. Plus every so often they send you $25 off your $50 purchase coupons. If you shop at PBK, PB, WS or WE this card is worth it. Highly recommend this card.

[Jo..]

Kohls. Worth its weight in gold.

[ThreeofUs]

Kohl's and LLBean, both for the savings I get from them.

[happymom]

Macy's. Totally worth it for me.

[rachl500]

we have a BR Luxe card. Used to be so worth it when BR was down the block. I would order a lot and return what I didn't like. Now, it's about a 20 min drive so I don't order so often. They have nice perks though.

Been considering the Kohls card....

[missym]

Kohls. Worth its weight in gold.

:yeahthat: I never buy anything at Kohls without a discount + sale or clearance, and I feel like I get some really good deals.

I also have a Victoria's Secret cc, which I keep only because they send me coupons for free panties every once in a while, and a $10 coupon once a year. Eventually you'd think they would cancel it since I never charge anything to it.

[mg1278]

I have a Gap card, and I like the rewards and the extra sales for cardholders. If you shop at Gymboree, I think the Gymboree Visa is a good deal. You get an automatic 5% discount on all Gymboree purchases - which is after any sale discounts and coupons. You also get points on non-Gymboree purchases which turn into gift cards.

[Mom of XX&XY]

Kohl's is the best. Not only for the coupons, but I think if you paya percentage of your balance like 50% (it tells you on your statement ) you don't pay a finance charge. So its a free loan!

[vludmilla]

Gap/Banana Republic silver or luxe...only for the free shipping. We always pay it off in full every month.

[scrooks]

Kohls and Macys.

Both are worth it to me. Good discounts.

[katydid1971]

I have Gap for reasons mentioned earlier, Macy's, they often have extra 15% off with their card and send coupons in the mail frequently, Gymboree for 5% off and coupons once in awhile, and Fred Meyer, you can earn $.15 off per gallon on gas, its where I do most of my shopping and get my gas 90% of the time. I only use these at the stores that issues them and ALWAYS pay everything off each month. I use online bill pay so its as easy to pay 10 bills as it is to pay 1.

[lealowe]

Children's Place has been a pain. Since I've signed up, I forget about the deadline and get late charges and phone calls. Also, if you return something, they delay the credit (can take up to a month) so that you have to pay finance charges before the credit shows up. I've paid it off and am about to close it.

Gap is great. Wish we had a Kohl's in our small town (judging by all the great recommendations).

My other card is a Belk--only department store we have. I like it because if you pay for something with it, they can look up the receipt. I'm terrible with keeping up with small pieces of paper so that's a benefit. If you have four kids and are ADD like me, that's a good benefiit. Otherwise, if you're organized, probably not worth it.

[lilhilly]

. . . I always pay all my cards in full every month, so I can't comment on whether the cards I recommended are good for those who don't! Sorry I wasn't clear about that.

[sewarsh]

I have BR Luxe (LOVE! Earn lots of cash back, get free ship & get loads of coupons all the time).

Also,
- Macys (i think worth it for the coupons)
- Nordstrom (not worth it although I lvoe the store)
- Costco AMEX (use for ALL purchases & get BIG cashback from this at end of year)

I would really like to open a Homegoods/TJ/Marshalls credit card b/c i spend SO much at HG since we moved into our new home last year & you earn rewads, but unfortunately we froze our credit (for secuirty purposes - found out day after closing the seller spent time in prison for fraud & embezzelment).

Anyways, we pay off in full each month, but you're right....if you forget a month then you have BIG late fees + finance charges to pay.

[cicada]

Do you have to be a Costco member to have the AmEx card? I am now, but never go and am contemplating not renewing next year.

[mnosky1]

Kohls and Macy's for coupons. Also Kohls returns are great if you have a card - you don't need a recipt - they just look it up for you.

[lchang25000]

Do you have to be a Costco member to have the AmEx card? I am now, but never go and am contemplating not renewing next year.

I believe you have to have the executive membership card to get the AmEx card. Maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but we were able to sign up for that card after we upgraded to the executive membership.

[kellybelly0513]

I have 3 store cards

Gap- definitely worth it. I am a silver member so I get free shipping, plus extra sales discounts and the Gap rewards.

Kohls- worth it for the extra discounts that they do almost every month.

Macy's- worth it if you are a big Macy's shopper. I used to work there so I used it a lot, now I hardly ever go to Macy's.

[lilhilly]

I believe you have to have the executive membership card to get the AmEx card. Maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but we were able to sign up for that card after we upgraded to the executive membership.

I have a regular Costco membership and the AmEx card. But I think the poster's question was whether you can keep the AmEx if you give up the Costco membership. I believe the answer is that you can, but then you have to pay AmEx's usual annual fee. If you're going to pay $50 anyway, you might as well get the Costco membership too!

[JustMe]

Kohls.

When they are having their big sales and they have the 30% off coupon they send me in the mail, I get tons of clothes for dd for $15-$20 total!

[lilye13]

Anyone that gets me free shippign is a plus like LL BEAN visa which gets free shipping/return and monogramming so it's
Old Navy- same as everyone else, free shipping and special store deals and always getting these $10 off $10 coupons after spending a certain amount. Ordered tons of stuff online when I was pregnant and back then shipping and returns were free on maternity stuff. Probably different now.

Kohl's has great deals and always sending coupons but sorta like Macy's they are always having some BIG sale going on.

just started using Gymboree and can't beat the extra 5% off and free ship offers at times.

There's others like PP that I got snookered into getting for extra % a big purchase( ie Loft, Macy's, ....)

[Fairy]

Gap, gap, gap, gap, gap, gap, gap! Free money with every $200 spent, free shipping, alot of special bonuses, 10% off every first Tuesday of the month, and you can use it at any of Gap's family of stores (which PPs have already indicated), including Athleta and Piperlime (I still like Zappos better ;-)).

[emschwar]

We've got the costco amex, which is our use everywhere card, unless they don't take amex.

I've also got the gymboree visa, which is my "oh, you don't take amex?" card. Though the lines at gymboree have been so disappointing lately I may look into a different visa.

I'm considering the kohls card. The discounts seem amazing, though I don't shop at kohls all that often right now (it's kind of out of the way, but it's not like it'd be hard to convince myself to go there if I had enough discounts). DH can't be convinced yet, but I think I'll get him to come around soon. (Also, our kohls has next to no infant sized clothes - 12-24m, and since DS2 wears that size, it's hard to find clothes for him there.)

[clc053103]

WARNING ABOUT MACY'S CARDS!!!!!

I have had one since the late 80's when I worked there in HS- I keep it to get the coupons and "when you use your Macy's card" deals. I got the bill this month- it was $63.35 new balance, but when I looked closer realized that included a $2 interest charge that "would be credited if the bill was paid by the due date"-so what I really owed was $61.25. on both the bill and coupon you send in with payment, it said the new balance was $63.35- an amount that included interest that was not accrued yet!!!!!! TALK ABOUT SHADY! If you don't really study the bill, you won't realize it and everyone is going to overpay their accounts. I called Macy's immediately and canceled my card- clearly I wasn't the first to call them out on this, the customer service rep kept saying "but it explains it on the bill" but later admitted that they were misrepresenting the correct "new balance".

As a side note, the APR on the MAcy's card is now a whopping 33%!!! I always used mine for convenience, not credit, but on the off chance you mistakenly miss the due date, you don't want to risk dealing with that!!!

[jjordan]

I regularly use Gap (for the rewards), LLBean (for the free shipping), and less often Kohls (for the extra discounts).

I don't use my Target card. Their reward system ($1000 gets you a 10% off one shopping trip coupon) is just not worth it for me.

[belovedgandp]

Kohl's - the only true store card I've ever had - the extra discounts and ordering on-line for DH's jeans make it worthwhile for us. I do shop there enough for clothes and shoes (DH and me mostly), as well as, household items (towels, kitchen items).

Costco Amex is my pay everything card most of the time.

Disney Visa is my backup card for not taking Amex. For a while they had some good extras going on - 5% at grocery stores and such, that I use it more on and off.

We've always paid our cards in full each month.

[lchang25000]

We've always paid our cards in full each month.

:yeahthat:

[daniele_ut]

Kohls and Gap for all the previously mentioned reasons.

We pay balances in full each month.

[Fairy]

WARNING ABOUT MACY'S CARDS!!!!!

I have had one since the late 80's when I worked there in HS- I keep it to get the coupons and "when you use your Macy's card" deals. I got the bill this month- it was $63.35 new balance, but when I looked closer realized that included a $2 interest charge that "would be credited if the bill was paid by the due date"-so what I really owed was $61.25. on both the bill and coupon you send in with payment, it said the new balance was $63.35- an amount that included interest that was not accrued yet!!!!!! TALK ABOUT SHADY! If you don't really study the bill, you won't realize it and everyone is going to overpay their accounts. I called Macy's immediately and canceled my card- clearly I wasn't the first to call them out on this, the customer service rep kept saying "but it explains it on the bill" but later admitted that they were misrepresenting the correct "new balance".

As a side note, the APR on the MAcy's card is now a whopping 33%!!! I always used mine for convenience, not credit, but on the off chance you mistakenly miss the due date, you don't want to risk dealing with that!!!

I will never forgive Macy's for taking over Chicago's beloved Marshall Fields. When our Macy's cards came in the mail to replace our Fields cards, we cut them up and have boycotted ever since.

[tina-t]

Just Kohls - love the 30% off coupon that they give out every month. I don't always get the 30% off actual coupons ( and may get the 20% or 15% off) but that code is always available online for Kohls cc holders to use.

[s7714]

I finally caved and got a Kohl's card because we were buying dishes and it would get us an additional 20% off. We saved almost $300 on that purchase once the sales price and 20% discount were combined, so that alone made it worth it IMO! I do shop at Kohl's at least once a month, so the monthly discount coupons are really nice!

[rwagdivh]

KOHL's! The coupons are so awesome. I actually pay off every month but I know folks that love the pay this much to avoid finance charges. I don't use any of my other store cards. My main charge is an Amazon.com one that accrues gift cards. This is a great deal and I find that only the Kohl's one is worth missing out on the Amazon points.