My OLD NAVY account got me! The whole nine yards: high interest rates, late payment fees, overlimit fees, incorrectly posting my payments. They don’t take in-store payments, what’s up with that?!? I live in CA and the only place to send payments by mail is Florida! Then I didn’t get a bill because I moved, missed a payment, and couldn’t change my address because my account was past due. All I got was a looped recording asking me to “please enter your account number…i’m sorry i am unable to assist you, please enter your account number…” over and over again. Online was no better, I got an error message telling me I couldn’t access my account and I would need to call. They finally reached me about my past due account and I changed my address.

THEY closed my account and three months after I paid it off I received a letter saying “we incorrectly charged you interest in the past and we have now credited your account.” I called to “remind” them that they made the decision closed my account, had to speak w/the supervisor (the call center was in obviously overseas), and had them send me a check…for the WHOLE $5.12. Then she asked if I wanted to re-open my account…h*ll no!!!

They can keep their “stuff n save” bags and stuff them with something else…

It’s a matter of discipline in paying your bills on time.

I always pay more than the amount due so that it will cover the finance charge and make my balance low.

Also, its good to check your FICO once a year if you hit or miss a score. Its FREE.
sweet blog!

p.s. by the way, I called my credit card company today and REQUESTED a lower APR. And not that you’re surprised but…..they offered it to me! Yeahhhhhhhhhhh….I LOVE your site. Thanks again for all the great tips! ;)

But if you’re careful, you can use it to your advantage.
I have bought all major purchases useing a new store credit card, getting the 10% discount, then paying the purchase off the next day. I then cut up the card.
easy savings ..

the reason why I strongly discourage the use of store cards, even for those discounts, is because the points “Reader” listed above.

I’ve already mentioned the fact that opening too many cards and hurting your credit history. The reason why i didn’t mention FICO is because it can be a temporarily hit. It’s not a good thing to have too many revolving accounts (credit cards) open when it comes time to get an installment loan. Too many people forget that they’ve open these cards by the time a mortgage is being considered.

Yes, it’s not an irreversible situation, you can always close these accounts well ahead of time, but the important thing I want to point out is this:

Ideally, you should only have a handful of credit cards. Why pick these cards when there are better options out there? The initial discounts can be decent, but there are also plenty regular, prime cards out there with fairly great opening bonus (such as $100 gift cards etc.)

Ken’s story is good example, and there are plenty worse ones out there.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, pick the lesser of the two evils by going with a regular credit card.

You should switch it out with a banana. She wont miss one card, right?

I agree. The problems begin when people:
1) Carry a balance.
2) Apply for too many cards and kill their FICO (temporarily).
3) Open the card and forget they did at all.

If you pay your balance immediately, saving 15% can be a sweet deal.

I just saw an advertisement for a card that give “1% cash back every month”, that is on your 18%-24% interest rate card! Sigh!

If you pay your purchases in full, why wouldnt you use the discounts?

My wife has a Macy’s card, and I guess that has saved us about 10-15% of 4-5 purchases, over a year (we are not impulse buyers). I would compare its benefits to getting $100 for signing up for a credit card you never use.

It’s a VISA card, but we never use it anywhere else. We always pay it in full online (you can do it in store, too). The only unexpected finance charge I noticed was some $1 once, I still don’t know why. Overall, it’s OK, as long as one pays it in full.

If one shops frequently at a store, those extra 10-15% savings can add up. However, I think that one shouldn’t have more than 1-2 store credit cards and should always pay them in full.

If you intend to apply for a big loan, get rid of store credit cards. Our Macy’s came with a separate credit account, creating an extra entry in our history. My wife’s score is around 740, even with the Macy’s card. The only hit we saw was a temporary one, due to account opening activity.

Anyway, all credit cards are only for people who have financial discipline and who read everything in their contracts (the smaller the font the more paranoid I become). It’s good to experience some before applying for bigger loans; they teach us very good lessons about financial responsibility and shady loaners.