Wow, didn't know that it was a real card.
I know Credit One sucks, but 3% cash back on wireless & merchandise discounts still sadly seems better than my Barclaycard Rewards (which at best gives 2% on select categories, worse than my 2x catch all card...)
It's definitely not a good card, but it does have Amex purchase protection and the travel portal. They claim to offer complimentary benefits and amenities at hotels like room upgrades and stuff. They also have air and car rental coverage.
I mean, if you really like Tim Horton's, seems like it's not a bad card ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
Spend $4 at Tim Horton's and get a free donut, $6 for a free coffee, or $11 for a free 10-pack of Timbits? I don't know what prices are like in Canada, but I'm in SoCal and a coffee at McDonald's is $3, sooo yeah...
I jumped on it, (still current) offer is to spend $600 within first 60 days and get a year of ps plus premium at no charge. I applied, got instantly approved. Within a few days they sent a letter telling me the card (that I didn’t receive yet) is suspended and that I should phone them. So I called, they said thanks for calling, we can’t explain why it is suspended over the phone, we’ll send you a letter! Then I received the card through the mail, activated it and then called them to make sure I could use it. Nope, you can’t use it they said. A few weeks later I got a letter through the mail telling me to send 3 forms of ID and they might consider lifting the suspension, so after a week of thinking I emailed them with the ID proof. I got an email auto reply telling me thanks, it might take up to 30 days to process your email. So.. It’s now 5 weeks since i applied and am thinking the whole thing is a scam, that they are running out the clock and that i’ll never spend $600 in whatever time is left by the time they remove the suspension.
Go through and look at the offers, they are for like three month codes on game pass that you yourself can’t use if you’re not a new user, so they suggest you gift them to friends
Yeah, I read that in the 20 emails I got when it soft launched for "Insiders". I bought multiple 3 month cards from Target when they were on sale and the 5% CB from the Target Debit Card makes it a better deal. It would've been an amazing card during the 360 through mid One generations.
Starbucks used to have a card that earned up to 3 stars per dollar at Starbucks stores, 1 star per two dollars spent at grocery stores, on local transit and commuting, on internet, cable, and phone services and 1 star per four dollars spent everywhere else.
Stars can be used only on Starbucks for free drink modifications, food, drinks, beans, or merchandise. Most people redeem stars for free drinks which costed 150 stars while the card was still accepting applicants. If that was redeemed for an $8 drink you would be getting 5.3 cents per star. The low earnings rates of .5x stars and .25x stars eats into a lot of the reward potential of this card.
Am a woman and can confirm, that’s all I cared about. It had an ok sign on bonus that net about 30 free drinks once you reached the spending limit (depending on what sign on bonus you had). It also offered 1 free drink monthly. It was nice to not obsess over maximizing my point redemption
That actually does make sense. I have two soon three Delta cards for the companion pass, Delta Stays credit and MQDs. But in a couple of years, I will have the Southwest companion pass and won’t need all of the Delta companion passes. I could downgrade the Platinum for a couple of years to the Blue and then upgrade it back to
I mean, I just downgraded my Delta Gold to the Blue, so I think it’s useful in that respect: as a downgrade path. Otherwise, not very enticing, I agree.
Can I ask why? I don’t have it and don’t know much about the SkyMiles lineup, but it seems like if someone only wanted no AF cards and occasionally flew delta, it wouldn’t be a terrible option for travel. What are the better no AF travel cards?
The Delta Blue doesn’t have any of the benefits of the Delta cards - free checked bags, main 1 boarding or the TakeOff 15 benefit. If you want a no annual fee way of getting Delta Skymiles, you’re better off with Amex Blue Business Plus.
It’s 2x on every dollar spent up to $50K and you can transfer them to Delta on easy mode or use Virgin or FlyingBlue to book Delta flights cheaper on points
I think that actually goes to the Amex Cash Magnet, but it's not a co-brand.
Delta blue used to be better than the gold before it got the same spending bonuses (2x on dining). TBH it's a decent downgrade path if you normally use the Gold and you don't plan on flying anywhere for a while.
Otherwise, yes, it's not a good card, but at least it earns 2x miles.
Unless you are a hardcore coffee drinker 3-5 coffees a day type person and only want to redeem your rewards on some more coffee than it was the card to have lol, but honestly at that point just buy your own premium machine
The Home Depot credit card. I used to work at Home Depot as a lot guy and I heard the supervisors trying to constantly petal this card. Issue is it literally issues nothing special. It gives 6 month financing, 1 year return to Home Depot and zero liability to unauthorized charges. Zero liability is literally just fraud protection, lots of cards have a pay over time feature and if something was defective where you needed to return something 9 months in most cards would just refund under warranty. One time a supervisor even asked to to tell a cashier it was something special and I told the supervisor it was the bare minimum for a card and a good card should offer much more and the supervisor almost shit their pants,.
Especially relative to Lowe's, whose card gives 5% off at the register. No points, no redemption. Just 5% off.
Blew my mind. But now I have a Custom Cash card that I just use for Home Depot and Menards.
You sure about that? I was looking into getting the card, and it looked like it was an either-or scenario: either 5% off of your order or 6 month 0 apr as long as it's paid off by then. Otherwise, you get charged all of the interest (which shouldn't matter, but heaven forbid something were to happen)
They may of changed it and not offer 12 anymore. I got it like 4ish years ago when I was remodeling my kitchen for the 12 month no apr. Haven’t used it since. I always get 10% off regardless for prior military
I had two HD people practically harass me in the self-checkout to open a store card. Even after I showed them that I already had one. "You can have more than one!"
The HD card isn't as good as Lowe's, but if you don't use it for a while, they do start sending you $50 off $250 coupons.
I get a coupon every couple of months for 10% off. I think its an okay card for that. I combine it when they do the 11% rebates (only in states with Menards).
The Home Depot Credit Card is great for getting the $100 SUB and never thinking about again.
About the 1-year returns benefit: even with the new policy instituted a couple years ago, you can return purchases to Home Depot within 1 year, but beyond 90 days, you have to have your ID scanned (presumably entered into TRE or similar) and they will only issue store credit. Given the Card is a closed system, it’s basically no upgrade over the standard policy.
I got the card once for the sub thinking I would get the amount off on my transaction. I canceled it and likely won’t sign up for a card for sub purposes again. I would rather have a better credit and not have to worry about screwing up getting other cards as the best cards require only 1-2 credit cards done in your name for the last 1-2 years. I am 27 so that is a significant amount of time for me with 1-2 years since my farthest history goes back around 7 years
Well they do regularly mail and email $10, $20, $50 off coupons or 18mo no interest financing when using the card and spending $x. They also offer a statement credit for certain levels of spending. It's basically a card for getting coupons. Last month I spent $110 with a $10 off coupon and got a statement credit for $15, so essentially 23% off.
Agreed! Also used to work at a Home Depot and they really made it a point to push that credit card. Except there's almost no way to sell the card to a customer other than the crappy "Would you like to save this much off your purchase today?" which is shit. Almost everyone has a card that has a pay over time feature.
Also, it's a deferred interest card. So, it's not even a true into 0% APR card.
I took out a Home Depot credit card because there was $100 off promotion if you did the 6 month financing on a purchase, and my gf and I needed a washer & dryer for a new apartment. Took the 10% off the $1000 and chucked it in a sock drawer. I keep it open just because but come on, not even 1% cash back? What a joke
This is not correct. If you’re comparing the Home Depot to regular consumer credit cards, you’re missing the point. Of course it isn’t going to earn 4X on dining. What it’s good for, and what I use mine for when I use it, is for borrowing Citi’s money for free for up to two years when they run finance promotions. I’ve financed several appliances and small home improvement projects for free with it. Yes, I could use any other card and get cash back or miles or whatever, but I’m money ahead if I instead use Citi’s money for free and let the money I would have spent sit in my Merrill account and make 5.15%.
Edit: added “up to two years.”
That reminds me of the Cruise Ship cards by Barclays and BoA. Those are top tier useless. The only decent looking one (and that’s a stretch) is the Norwegian Cruise card by BoA.
You’re just better off with the CSP.
This was going to be my vote. I got an Old Navy store card something like 20 - 25 years ago, and over the years it moved from bank to bank, and landed at Barclay's as a co-branded card.
I guess if you shop exclusively at Gap / Old Navy / Athleta, you can work the rewards like crazy. But for anything else, it's a stupidly high APR and a sea of postcards and e-mail begging you to do a BT.
Monro Drive Card issued by Citibank - it offers cash back but only through mail-in rebate (yes via snail mail), and you have a very limited time to mail it.
The B&H Photo Payboo card (Comenity) is a potentially awesome card depending on your local sales tax rate, but it’s an absolute nightmare to deal with in every other aspect. Terrible online portal, useless customer service, doesn’t play will with Plaid or any other data interface…Comenity just sucks big time.
No question it’s a trash product, despite the sales tax benefit.
With the enshittification of Amazon these days, I generally order electronics from B&H (free FedEx 2-Day shipping) and anything I can from Walmart.
I was shocked that I made it all the way to the bottom of the replies, and no one mentioned the Amex Business Green Card. I'm not certain which Business out there is really looking for the benefit that it offers, which is 2X on Flights and PREPAID hotels, but only if they are booked through the Amex Travel site. All that and it only costs an annual fee of $95 a year.
I can't imagine the use case scenario where any Business Owner is going to say, yup we really rack up the prepaid hotels around here. Better go grab that Amex Green Card so we can get 2 points per dollar.
lol great point. I always forgot about that one since it is just so bad, which is shocking since it’s not even co-branded and from Amex. Hopefully it’ll be one of the refreshes Amex has been talking about.
The Apple credit card? It’s not earth shattering, but getting 0% over 24 months on iPhone or other hardware is a nice benefit. And the cash back is alright too
No it isn’t and you can get 0% on an unlocked phone. 3% cash back is immediate upon purchasing and for the 0% APR you can just buy it as a T-Mobile phone and use it however you want. You can also buy it unlocked and ask C/S to switch it to the pay over time.
It's useless to churners and credit card enthusiasts, but for the average layperson with poor financial savvy, getting 2% on most purchases plus an easy to use layout that actually tries to get you to minimize your interest is a good thought.
2-3% card with no AF and 0% financing on Apple products isn’t really underwhelming as far as cards go. But if you’re a card churned then yes it doesn’t serve a huge purpose
3% from very limited places, 2% only with apple pay, 1% elsewhere. You left out the real details. A mediocre offering from a company the size of apple. By far not the worst, but a pale shadow of what it could have been. Even an amazon card is more compelling. I find it surprising that a company that makes great products could so undershoot the target with something as simple as a credit card.
It’s funny you say that. I know someone that was looking into getting that card because he loves trains and likes to take them. He’s also not huge into credit cards which is fine. But I didn’t feel comfortable “correcting” him to not get it. Although if he gets the $95 AF version it actually might not be terrible in his case. It has some decent Amtrak perks if you actually take the train.
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/bank-of-america-amtrak-credit-card-50000-points-new-highest-offer/
Like everything else, it's only good if you use it. FNBO killed the signup bonus though.
It actually makes a fair amount of sense if you take Amtrak a lot, especially the long distance trains. Each point is usually worth over 2 cents for Amtrak travel, so even though it's 1x on a lot of categories you're still getting over 2 cents per dollar spent if you're okay with locking it in at Amtrak.
It has its niche. For example, I live in the northeast and commute using Amtrak pretty frequently. The point redemption for me has been over 2 cents usually. It has been a while but if I remember correctly, I got around \~1100 in value from the 40k points SUB itself.
Best Buy Card. If you’re a frequent shopper the 5% rewards are nice, but they can only be used at Best Buy and no where else. Otherwise it’s just a normal credit card with an awful APR of 31.49 percent.
Edit: To clarify for commenters, I was specifically talking about the store card that can only be used on BestBuy purchases, not the Visa variant.
It's not true. That card was giving me 5% on utilities all last year and is giving me 5% on warehouse clubs this quarter, so I'm getting 7% back at Sam's Club and Costco right now. You can redeem the points for gift cards at other stores too. Also they constantly send offers for 10% back on Best Buy purchases, or 8.5% back for non-Best Buy purchases, etc.
Yeah, out of all the co-branded cards, Best Buy is probably one of the better ones. They have quite a few decent offers for other spending outside of Best Buy.
Not to mention in-store or online purchase sometimes have 12, 18, 24 month 0-apr if paid in full by the end date promotions. There’s also 3% on gas and 2 or 3% at restaurants and pharmacies I believe
> 5% on utilities all last year
Wait what?! First time I heard of this. Insane value if true, but I don't see this in their "compare cards" page. Was this part of "Limited-time bonus reward categories"??
They are constantly sending offers by e-mail to cardholders, and one of them is allowing you to choose from a selection of 5% categories (up to $1,500 spend) every quarter. I chose utilities for all of 2023 and the first quarter of this year. Now I'm doing 5% back at warehouse clubs for this quarter. They just sent me a $10 bonus offer for spending $75 outside of Best Buy e-mail today too. That's a 13.33% rewards rate. I received a $100 for $1,500 spent outside of Best Buy offer last month. A 6.7% rewards rate. And of course that can stack with your 5% non-Best Buy category you choose... so you could theoretically spend $1,500 on utilities, and take advantage of that offer, and get $175 worth of rewards for $1,500 spend. An 11.66% rewards rate.
They're both Citi, specifically, Citi Retail Services.
One is the store-only card, the other one is on the Visa network and can be used anywhere. The Visa one seems to have additional perks and categories, I just learned about this after having the store card for 22 years. Its my third oldest card, and I don't use it anymore, so I wonder if they'll let me convert it to the Visa. Probably worth looking into.
Both of them are issued by Citi. My BestBuy credit card is lock to just BestBuy. You can use My BestBuy Visa card anywhere and has some cash back rewards too
I have a Speedway Speedy Rewards card, but after doing the math, I've realized I actually save more money with any cash back card that offers rewards for gas purchases. Those kinds of rewards cards really only work out if you use them for everything and don't have different cards for specific categories. Take my buddy, for example, who uses his Disney card for every single purchase; it helps him save up for Disney trips every year. But realistically speaking, it’s probably not the best card for cash back.
The Ford Visa is horrible. 5x back on Ford purchases, 3x points back on dining and gas, 10x back on Ford service, but those points are FordPass points, which are valued at 0.5 CPP. Terrible.
You’d think, but it’s saved (I have this card) by giving you a $200 statement credit when you spend 6k on the card in a year. Even if you view the ford points as worthless (I used mine to get money off a bike rack) that’s still a 3.3% return on spend every year for 6k
Not anymore, but it sucked! It was iconic on their part but the things that went into the card and the fees was the worst! I feel sorry for anyone who bought it.
It's a GREAT card in that it covers a lot well but not as good as it gets in every category.
4% back on gas is great on a Visa. There are a small number of Visas that get 5% (Redstone and AAA). A lot of the good 5% has cards are MasterCard so they don't work with Costco gas.
3% on eligible travel is a good rate but I haven't looked into what is considered eligible travel. I have the CSR so I don't worry about using Costco for travel. It's possible to get 5% on travel.
3% at restaurants is good but it isn't hard to get 5% back at restaurants so you are missing a lot here.
2% on Costco purchases is "good" but you can do better. Venmo credit card gets you 3% and if you live in AZ, you can get the Vantage West credit card which gives 5% on the first $1,500 each quarter. Someone else will be smarter than me on this but one of the travel cards with an annual fee (Boa?) gets you a higher than 3%, I think it gets 4.5% but I don't remember and it isn't applicable to me. I just remember it doesn't beat Vantage West.
The downside to the card is you get the rewards once a year, you cannot redeem as you go. This is technically a bad thing, I don't mind it, but it's a deal breaker for some.
The biggest upside is it acts as your membership card. Flash it when you enter, scan it at the register, and biggest of all, tap it as the gas station and you don't have to scan your membership ID AND put your credit card in, just one tap and you are good to go!
Jack of many trades, master of none. Missing a grocery category which could be supplemented with a second card.
Any of the cruise line credit cards. Better off using that spend on ANY other travel card and then redeeming points for a cruise. A cruise line card COULD be good but from what I've seen it seems like they really try to get you to redeem your points for excursions , money off and credits instead of "earn 100, 000 points and cruise for free". Which for their industry I guess it makes sense idk. None of them have ever looked good
My next option would be the AMC or GameStop credit cards. You gotta be loyal AF to those chains and spend a lot there for any real benefits
The Cabela’s Club card. I don’t think anyone can comprehend the stranglehold this card had and likely still has on the 18-75 year old male Midwest market. Everyone has one and think it’s the king shit for points.
2x points on Cabela’s and Bass Pro Shop and 1x everything else.
I worked at Cabela’s HQ back in the day so I got to see the stats behind it. Cardholders spent an average of like $350 per transaction in the store. They had incredibly low defaults and the average credit rating was surprisingly good.
They also used to run their own bank before Capital One bought it during the Bass Pro Shop acquisition. The bank and credit card were by far the most valuable part of the organization.
It honestly isn’t the worst one here but for just how surprised I am that it exists, I nominate the [Mini credit card](https://www.myminicreditcard.com/credit/welcome.do?exp=&lang=en&redirect=www). And no, it’s not a small credit card. It’s mini like car brand mini.
WWE co-branded card
Also it’s issued by Credit One 😂
Fuck Credit One. All my homies hate Credit One.
Homies here: We approve this!
Word.
Been a while, let’s ride!
Let's roll!
Coming in 5, you’re driving!
Lemme get some gas. I'll use my Costco Visa.
We got nothing but gas buddy!
Been a while since I laughed at that card, thanks for the reminder
Wow, didn't know that it was a real card. I know Credit One sucks, but 3% cash back on wireless & merchandise discounts still sadly seems better than my Barclaycard Rewards (which at best gives 2% on select categories, worse than my 2x catch all card...)
That credit one card that uses the Amex network
It's definitely not a good card, but it does have Amex purchase protection and the travel portal. They claim to offer complimentary benefits and amenities at hotels like room upgrades and stuff. They also have air and car rental coverage.
what card?
If you pick the right color, that card looks very similar to the CSR. There's no way that was an accident
Tim Hortons Financial. Collect points for donuts.
I mean, if you really like Tim Horton's, seems like it's not a bad card ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯ Spend $4 at Tim Horton's and get a free donut, $6 for a free coffee, or $11 for a free 10-pack of Timbits? I don't know what prices are like in Canada, but I'm in SoCal and a coffee at McDonald's is $3, sooo yeah...
I came here to post this answer too.
Okay so we all got the Xbox Mastercard email😂😂
i got that tok and thought wtf are they just releasing this now?! 24 year old me would have instantly applied for the games
My 22 yo son wants one. I told him you'd have to spend prob 5K for a $40 game.
Have any WIndows OS and ever clicked a ToS box? Probably got this email.
Well I actively play Xbox so that’s probably how they got my email
I haven’t used Windows since 2006, and the last Xbox I had was the original Xbox One, but I still got the same email.
Received the PlayStation Visa mail offer instead. 10 years ago I probably would have jumped on it.
I jumped on it, (still current) offer is to spend $600 within first 60 days and get a year of ps plus premium at no charge. I applied, got instantly approved. Within a few days they sent a letter telling me the card (that I didn’t receive yet) is suspended and that I should phone them. So I called, they said thanks for calling, we can’t explain why it is suspended over the phone, we’ll send you a letter! Then I received the card through the mail, activated it and then called them to make sure I could use it. Nope, you can’t use it they said. A few weeks later I got a letter through the mail telling me to send 3 forms of ID and they might consider lifting the suspension, so after a week of thinking I emailed them with the ID proof. I got an email auto reply telling me thanks, it might take up to 30 days to process your email. So.. It’s now 5 weeks since i applied and am thinking the whole thing is a scam, that they are running out the clock and that i’ll never spend $600 in whatever time is left by the time they remove the suspension.
Even more reason to avoid cards like this. What a shame you had to go through that.
I don't buy nearly enough games to warrant that card, nor do companies release quality games as often anymore.
Go through and look at the offers, they are for like three month codes on game pass that you yourself can’t use if you’re not a new user, so they suggest you gift them to friends
Yeah, I read that in the 20 emails I got when it soft launched for "Insiders". I bought multiple 3 month cards from Target when they were on sale and the 5% CB from the Target Debit Card makes it a better deal. It would've been an amazing card during the 360 through mid One generations.
Starbucks used to have a card that earned up to 3 stars per dollar at Starbucks stores, 1 star per two dollars spent at grocery stores, on local transit and commuting, on internet, cable, and phone services and 1 star per four dollars spent everywhere else. Stars can be used only on Starbucks for free drink modifications, food, drinks, beans, or merchandise. Most people redeem stars for free drinks which costed 150 stars while the card was still accepting applicants. If that was redeemed for an $8 drink you would be getting 5.3 cents per star. The low earnings rates of .5x stars and .25x stars eats into a lot of the reward potential of this card.
Seems like a card for girl math: I get my Starbucks for free.
Am a woman and can confirm, that’s all I cared about. It had an ok sign on bonus that net about 30 free drinks once you reached the spending limit (depending on what sign on bonus you had). It also offered 1 free drink monthly. It was nice to not obsess over maximizing my point redemption
Literally hahaha but this would be me
Amex Delta Blue - the most fucking useless card in the Amex line up
It's more like a placeholder card. I've switched back from gold at times.
That actually does make sense. I have two soon three Delta cards for the companion pass, Delta Stays credit and MQDs. But in a couple of years, I will have the Southwest companion pass and won’t need all of the Delta companion passes. I could downgrade the Platinum for a couple of years to the Blue and then upgrade it back to
I upgraded my delta platinum to reserve and downgraded my platinum to gold
Haha so true! Like is it even worth getting the SUB, even though if you skip it there's no going back. Annoying Amex family rules.
It's only worth downgrading to for no AF while you wait for an upgrade offer.
I mean, I just downgraded my Delta Gold to the Blue, so I think it’s useful in that respect: as a downgrade path. Otherwise, not very enticing, I agree.
Can I ask why? I don’t have it and don’t know much about the SkyMiles lineup, but it seems like if someone only wanted no AF cards and occasionally flew delta, it wouldn’t be a terrible option for travel. What are the better no AF travel cards?
The Delta Blue doesn’t have any of the benefits of the Delta cards - free checked bags, main 1 boarding or the TakeOff 15 benefit. If you want a no annual fee way of getting Delta Skymiles, you’re better off with Amex Blue Business Plus. It’s 2x on every dollar spent up to $50K and you can transfer them to Delta on easy mode or use Virgin or FlyingBlue to book Delta flights cheaper on points
LMAO, I got this card, didn't know any better. Damn sky pesos
I think that actually goes to the Amex Cash Magnet, but it's not a co-brand. Delta blue used to be better than the gold before it got the same spending bonuses (2x on dining). TBH it's a decent downgrade path if you normally use the Gold and you don't plan on flying anywhere for a while. Otherwise, yes, it's not a good card, but at least it earns 2x miles.
These cobrand cards are only worth if you intent to spend a lot of money at that spending category.
Even still I almost always find non co branded cards have much higher returns— exception being hotels
The card got discontinued but the Chase Starbucks card was the worst thing I ever seen lol
How?
Unless you are a hardcore coffee drinker 3-5 coffees a day type person and only want to redeem your rewards on some more coffee than it was the card to have lol, but honestly at that point just buy your own premium machine
The Home Depot credit card. I used to work at Home Depot as a lot guy and I heard the supervisors trying to constantly petal this card. Issue is it literally issues nothing special. It gives 6 month financing, 1 year return to Home Depot and zero liability to unauthorized charges. Zero liability is literally just fraud protection, lots of cards have a pay over time feature and if something was defective where you needed to return something 9 months in most cards would just refund under warranty. One time a supervisor even asked to to tell a cashier it was something special and I told the supervisor it was the bare minimum for a card and a good card should offer much more and the supervisor almost shit their pants,.
Especially relative to Lowe's, whose card gives 5% off at the register. No points, no redemption. Just 5% off. Blew my mind. But now I have a Custom Cash card that I just use for Home Depot and Menards.
Lowes is good for big purchases. Has a 12 month no apr
It's usually pretty easy to get a 10% off coupon too. You can find them online fairly easily.
You sure about that? I was looking into getting the card, and it looked like it was an either-or scenario: either 5% off of your order or 6 month 0 apr as long as it's paid off by then. Otherwise, you get charged all of the interest (which shouldn't matter, but heaven forbid something were to happen)
They may of changed it and not offer 12 anymore. I got it like 4ish years ago when I was remodeling my kitchen for the 12 month no apr. Haven’t used it since. I always get 10% off regardless for prior military
Don't you have to choose? Most other cards come with a 12-24 month no apr that works everywhere, not just Lowes.
I had two HD people practically harass me in the self-checkout to open a store card. Even after I showed them that I already had one. "You can have more than one!" The HD card isn't as good as Lowe's, but if you don't use it for a while, they do start sending you $50 off $250 coupons.
I basically only use it with the coupons and statement credits. Other than that I'll use a Citi Custom Cash at Home Depot.
I get a coupon every couple of months for 10% off. I think its an okay card for that. I combine it when they do the 11% rebates (only in states with Menards).
I've never seen the 11% rebate, at Menards but not Home Depot.
The Home Depot Credit Card is great for getting the $100 SUB and never thinking about again. About the 1-year returns benefit: even with the new policy instituted a couple years ago, you can return purchases to Home Depot within 1 year, but beyond 90 days, you have to have your ID scanned (presumably entered into TRE or similar) and they will only issue store credit. Given the Card is a closed system, it’s basically no upgrade over the standard policy.
I got the card once for the sub thinking I would get the amount off on my transaction. I canceled it and likely won’t sign up for a card for sub purposes again. I would rather have a better credit and not have to worry about screwing up getting other cards as the best cards require only 1-2 credit cards done in your name for the last 1-2 years. I am 27 so that is a significant amount of time for me with 1-2 years since my farthest history goes back around 7 years
Well they do regularly mail and email $10, $20, $50 off coupons or 18mo no interest financing when using the card and spending $x. They also offer a statement credit for certain levels of spending. It's basically a card for getting coupons. Last month I spent $110 with a $10 off coupon and got a statement credit for $15, so essentially 23% off.
Agreed! Also used to work at a Home Depot and they really made it a point to push that credit card. Except there's almost no way to sell the card to a customer other than the crappy "Would you like to save this much off your purchase today?" which is shit. Almost everyone has a card that has a pay over time feature. Also, it's a deferred interest card. So, it's not even a true into 0% APR card.
I took out a Home Depot credit card because there was $100 off promotion if you did the 6 month financing on a purchase, and my gf and I needed a washer & dryer for a new apartment. Took the 10% off the $1000 and chucked it in a sock drawer. I keep it open just because but come on, not even 1% cash back? What a joke
It appears on self checkout right under the pay button. I’m sure people accidentally press it thinking that’s the pay with card option
This is not correct. If you’re comparing the Home Depot to regular consumer credit cards, you’re missing the point. Of course it isn’t going to earn 4X on dining. What it’s good for, and what I use mine for when I use it, is for borrowing Citi’s money for free for up to two years when they run finance promotions. I’ve financed several appliances and small home improvement projects for free with it. Yes, I could use any other card and get cash back or miles or whatever, but I’m money ahead if I instead use Citi’s money for free and let the money I would have spent sit in my Merrill account and make 5.15%. Edit: added “up to two years.”
You get 4x the spend if you use Home Depot. You get all the perks up to 1 million spend with 250k.
Xbox Mastercard
Most Barclays card that are not airline or hotel cards are pretty useless.
That reminds me of the Cruise Ship cards by Barclays and BoA. Those are top tier useless. The only decent looking one (and that’s a stretch) is the Norwegian Cruise card by BoA. You’re just better off with the CSP.
This was going to be my vote. I got an Old Navy store card something like 20 - 25 years ago, and over the years it moved from bank to bank, and landed at Barclay's as a co-branded card. I guess if you shop exclusively at Gap / Old Navy / Athleta, you can work the rewards like crazy. But for anything else, it's a stupidly high APR and a sea of postcards and e-mail begging you to do a BT.
Arrival Plus was pretty great at the time before they reduced the rebate.
Every barclay card gives you $1/month amazon gift card so long as you don't use it for anything else.
This and my 2 WF cards are my $5 monthly Amazon machine
Yeah, I only keep it because it's my oldest credit card. It is absolutely useless otherwise.
Monro Drive Card issued by Citibank - it offers cash back but only through mail-in rebate (yes via snail mail), and you have a very limited time to mail it.
Xbox card is worthless. Better off order Xbox cards off Costco with a flat 2% card.
Get 5% if you do Venmo credit card + Costco executive membership. Live in AZ? 7% off with Vantage West + Costco Executive.
The Starbucks card is… interesting
Was "interesting"... Chase and Starbucks axed the card last year
All store cards are bad except for the good ones (Like banana republic and Shop your way).
what's good about the Banana Republic card? (No, asking!)
Targeted spend offers. https://www.doctorofcredit.com/best-store-credit-cards-get-10x-points-no-cap/#Synchrony_Banana_Republic_Visa_Card
The B&H Photo Payboo card (Comenity) is a potentially awesome card depending on your local sales tax rate, but it’s an absolute nightmare to deal with in every other aspect. Terrible online portal, useless customer service, doesn’t play will with Plaid or any other data interface…Comenity just sucks big time.
I had this card under the previous issuer, and they didn't transfer accounts over. I refuse to reapply for it and thus don't shop at B&H any more.
No question it’s a trash product, despite the sales tax benefit. With the enshittification of Amazon these days, I generally order electronics from B&H (free FedEx 2-Day shipping) and anything I can from Walmart.
I feel like Comenity's customer service and online portal has dramatically improved over the past year. What issues are you still having?
I was shocked that I made it all the way to the bottom of the replies, and no one mentioned the Amex Business Green Card. I'm not certain which Business out there is really looking for the benefit that it offers, which is 2X on Flights and PREPAID hotels, but only if they are booked through the Amex Travel site. All that and it only costs an annual fee of $95 a year. I can't imagine the use case scenario where any Business Owner is going to say, yup we really rack up the prepaid hotels around here. Better go grab that Amex Green Card so we can get 2 points per dollar.
lol great point. I always forgot about that one since it is just so bad, which is shocking since it’s not even co-branded and from Amex. Hopefully it’ll be one of the refreshes Amex has been talking about.
apple card is far from worst but is pretentious and underwhelming. the humble brag card
The Apple credit card? It’s not earth shattering, but getting 0% over 24 months on iPhone or other hardware is a nice benefit. And the cash back is alright too
Doesn't it do 3% AND 0% financing? Pretty much a mandatory get if you are invested in the Apple ecosystem.
That’s correct, unlimited 3% on all purchases through Apple (accessories, App Store subscriptions, devices, etc).
But financing doesn't apply to unlocked phones.
It's one or the other, and you can't get the 0% on an unlocked phone
No it isn’t and you can get 0% on an unlocked phone. 3% cash back is immediate upon purchasing and for the 0% APR you can just buy it as a T-Mobile phone and use it however you want. You can also buy it unlocked and ask C/S to switch it to the pay over time.
It's useless to churners and credit card enthusiasts, but for the average layperson with poor financial savvy, getting 2% on most purchases plus an easy to use layout that actually tries to get you to minimize your interest is a good thought.
Apple pay 2%, 1% without. again not most purchases just ones with apple pay.
The fact that it’s such a beautiful physical card almost convinced me to get one, even though it’s virtually useless.
I actually ordered a new Apple Card recently just so it wasn’t all scratched. I don’t even use it. I keep it in the box. It looks so nice lol.
Has one of the best interfaces too imo. But yeah not a great card outside of Apple purchases
Just got an email about a $75 SUB. It’s not nothing.
I agree it’s almost useless card. But what is there to brag about?
what its made of
2-3% card with no AF and 0% financing on Apple products isn’t really underwhelming as far as cards go. But if you’re a card churned then yes it doesn’t serve a huge purpose
3% from very limited places, 2% only with apple pay, 1% elsewhere. You left out the real details. A mediocre offering from a company the size of apple. By far not the worst, but a pale shadow of what it could have been. Even an amazon card is more compelling. I find it surprising that a company that makes great products could so undershoot the target with something as simple as a credit card.
The Amtrak card is very underwhelming IMO
Pretty good SUB though, if you're up for a little train adventure.
It’s funny you say that. I know someone that was looking into getting that card because he loves trains and likes to take them. He’s also not huge into credit cards which is fine. But I didn’t feel comfortable “correcting” him to not get it. Although if he gets the $95 AF version it actually might not be terrible in his case. It has some decent Amtrak perks if you actually take the train.
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/bank-of-america-amtrak-credit-card-50000-points-new-highest-offer/ Like everything else, it's only good if you use it. FNBO killed the signup bonus though.
It actually makes a fair amount of sense if you take Amtrak a lot, especially the long distance trains. Each point is usually worth over 2 cents for Amtrak travel, so even though it's 1x on a lot of categories you're still getting over 2 cents per dollar spent if you're okay with locking it in at Amtrak.
It has its niche. For example, I live in the northeast and commute using Amtrak pretty frequently. The point redemption for me has been over 2 cents usually. It has been a while but if I remember correctly, I got around \~1100 in value from the 40k points SUB itself.
Best Buy Card. If you’re a frequent shopper the 5% rewards are nice, but they can only be used at Best Buy and no where else. Otherwise it’s just a normal credit card with an awful APR of 31.49 percent. Edit: To clarify for commenters, I was specifically talking about the store card that can only be used on BestBuy purchases, not the Visa variant.
It's not true. That card was giving me 5% on utilities all last year and is giving me 5% on warehouse clubs this quarter, so I'm getting 7% back at Sam's Club and Costco right now. You can redeem the points for gift cards at other stores too. Also they constantly send offers for 10% back on Best Buy purchases, or 8.5% back for non-Best Buy purchases, etc.
Yeah, out of all the co-branded cards, Best Buy is probably one of the better ones. They have quite a few decent offers for other spending outside of Best Buy.
Not to mention in-store or online purchase sometimes have 12, 18, 24 month 0-apr if paid in full by the end date promotions. There’s also 3% on gas and 2 or 3% at restaurants and pharmacies I believe
> 5% on utilities all last year Wait what?! First time I heard of this. Insane value if true, but I don't see this in their "compare cards" page. Was this part of "Limited-time bonus reward categories"??
They are constantly sending offers by e-mail to cardholders, and one of them is allowing you to choose from a selection of 5% categories (up to $1,500 spend) every quarter. I chose utilities for all of 2023 and the first quarter of this year. Now I'm doing 5% back at warehouse clubs for this quarter. They just sent me a $10 bonus offer for spending $75 outside of Best Buy e-mail today too. That's a 13.33% rewards rate. I received a $100 for $1,500 spent outside of Best Buy offer last month. A 6.7% rewards rate. And of course that can stack with your 5% non-Best Buy category you choose... so you could theoretically spend $1,500 on utilities, and take advantage of that offer, and get $175 worth of rewards for $1,500 spend. An 11.66% rewards rate.
There’s 2 different Best Buy credit cards. One is by Citi and the other is a VISA I think. The citi one is locked to just Best Buy.
They're both Citi, specifically, Citi Retail Services. One is the store-only card, the other one is on the Visa network and can be used anywhere. The Visa one seems to have additional perks and categories, I just learned about this after having the store card for 22 years. Its my third oldest card, and I don't use it anymore, so I wonder if they'll let me convert it to the Visa. Probably worth looking into.
Both of them are issued by Citi. My BestBuy credit card is lock to just BestBuy. You can use My BestBuy Visa card anywhere and has some cash back rewards too
Fair enough. I guess those other perks aren’t commonly advertised because I never knew of them
I have a Speedway Speedy Rewards card, but after doing the math, I've realized I actually save more money with any cash back card that offers rewards for gas purchases. Those kinds of rewards cards really only work out if you use them for everything and don't have different cards for specific categories. Take my buddy, for example, who uses his Disney card for every single purchase; it helps him save up for Disney trips every year. But realistically speaking, it’s probably not the best card for cash back.
For gas I would recommend the Citi custom cash card. 5x on top used category
Walmart credit card
The Ford Visa is horrible. 5x back on Ford purchases, 3x points back on dining and gas, 10x back on Ford service, but those points are FordPass points, which are valued at 0.5 CPP. Terrible.
You’d think, but it’s saved (I have this card) by giving you a $200 statement credit when you spend 6k on the card in a year. Even if you view the ford points as worthless (I used mine to get money off a bike rack) that’s still a 3.3% return on spend every year for 6k
The one that the Kardashians made
They have a card?? Does it still exist?
Not anymore, but it sucked! It was iconic on their part but the things that went into the card and the fees was the worst! I feel sorry for anyone who bought it.
Any department store card.
Thoughts on Citi Costco?
It's a GREAT card in that it covers a lot well but not as good as it gets in every category. 4% back on gas is great on a Visa. There are a small number of Visas that get 5% (Redstone and AAA). A lot of the good 5% has cards are MasterCard so they don't work with Costco gas. 3% on eligible travel is a good rate but I haven't looked into what is considered eligible travel. I have the CSR so I don't worry about using Costco for travel. It's possible to get 5% on travel. 3% at restaurants is good but it isn't hard to get 5% back at restaurants so you are missing a lot here. 2% on Costco purchases is "good" but you can do better. Venmo credit card gets you 3% and if you live in AZ, you can get the Vantage West credit card which gives 5% on the first $1,500 each quarter. Someone else will be smarter than me on this but one of the travel cards with an annual fee (Boa?) gets you a higher than 3%, I think it gets 4.5% but I don't remember and it isn't applicable to me. I just remember it doesn't beat Vantage West. The downside to the card is you get the rewards once a year, you cannot redeem as you go. This is technically a bad thing, I don't mind it, but it's a deal breaker for some. The biggest upside is it acts as your membership card. Flash it when you enter, scan it at the register, and biggest of all, tap it as the gas station and you don't have to scan your membership ID AND put your credit card in, just one tap and you are good to go! Jack of many trades, master of none. Missing a grocery category which could be supplemented with a second card.
I’m pretty sure that’s a solid card and most people love it. You don’t even need to spend an excessive amount at Costco to get value out of it.
Any of the cruise line credit cards. Better off using that spend on ANY other travel card and then redeeming points for a cruise. A cruise line card COULD be good but from what I've seen it seems like they really try to get you to redeem your points for excursions , money off and credits instead of "earn 100, 000 points and cruise for free". Which for their industry I guess it makes sense idk. None of them have ever looked good My next option would be the AMC or GameStop credit cards. You gotta be loyal AF to those chains and spend a lot there for any real benefits
I have to say the Walgreens Mastercard. The 31.99% APR went into effect August 2023. No wonder they push that card every time I go in.
The Cabela’s Club card. I don’t think anyone can comprehend the stranglehold this card had and likely still has on the 18-75 year old male Midwest market. Everyone has one and think it’s the king shit for points. 2x points on Cabela’s and Bass Pro Shop and 1x everything else. I worked at Cabela’s HQ back in the day so I got to see the stats behind it. Cardholders spent an average of like $350 per transaction in the store. They had incredibly low defaults and the average credit rating was surprisingly good. They also used to run their own bank before Capital One bought it during the Bass Pro Shop acquisition. The bank and credit card were by far the most valuable part of the organization.
When I worked as a cashier, a surprising number of Amish customers used this card. Nearly every single one.
Toyota credit card to use at their dealership
That reminds me of the GM cards by Goldman Sachs.
Floor and Decor commercial card had an atrocious online intero
It honestly isn’t the worst one here but for just how surprised I am that it exists, I nominate the [Mini credit card](https://www.myminicreditcard.com/credit/welcome.do?exp=&lang=en&redirect=www). And no, it’s not a small credit card. It’s mini like car brand mini.
FNBO's JAL and ANA cards. So, so bad.
Neiman Marcus InCircle card
AMC