do you have any store credit cards?

[WalterMitty]

no.

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

I have a Macy's credit card from when I worked at Macy's as a seasonal worker during Christmas Vacation one year. The only way to get the 20% employee discount was if you used Macy's own store credit card. I used it to buy Christmas gifts. For myself I bought a nice gold-colored LaCoste bubble jacket and a pair of Converse sneakers with this black and grey pattern, all with the employee discount combined with day after Christmas sales. I haven't used it since I stopped working there.

(And I haven't really shopped at Macy's since then because working there during the holidays was hell, the same Christmas music non-stop on loop for 10 hour shifts while the store was open 24/7 for two weeks leading up to Christmas Day, and me being me I got into arguments with the Human Resources department rather frequently. I was the only one who did any work, when our 20 minute break was over I was back to work while the rest of the team I was working with would stretch into a half hour or more and show up back at different staggered times.

Though nothing was worse than the HR rep from JC Penney I had interviewed with the following year, major bitch, the store makes you take this long online survey prying into your thoughts about everything, if you're not an idiot you know what the 'right' answer is to get called for an interview rather than have your application sh**tcanned.... and one of the questions is the minimum hourly wage you would accept and I put $10. I got a call for an interview, it was 9pm, I was in a bar on a Friday night, I said let me step out of all the noisiness so I could hear her, once I got outside I apologized for the noise and not being able to hear me, and right away the bitch Clarissa said "well are you even interested in this job, it sounds like you're not even interested", I was like WTF, I was in a freaking bar and couldn't hear her over the noise. Anyway during the interview she continued to be a bitch, she sarcastically mocked me when we got to the minimum wage demand part asking me if I was joking, I said no, $10 should be the minimum paid to any employee and a lot of states and localities were raising their wage to $10.15 an hour, she said JC Penney doesn't pay any sales rep more than $8.75 an hour which was the most she would offer me. I said well it sounds like JC Penney doesn't value its employees very highly. The remainder of the interview was basically a farce since I'm pretty sure it became obvious that I no longer gave a sh**t whether I got the job or not and actually didn't even want the job. As we were walking out I said if you want to contact Macy's for references, make sure to talk to my floor manager who observed me as the hardest working seasonal employee, not the morons in human resources, she responded "I'm the human resources rep here" in her bitch tone. On the way out before she closed the door she said she'll call me if I got the job, I asked for a time frame, she said today, of course thankfully the HR bitch Clarissa never called. F[inks] Macy's and JC Penney. And I started to understand why Michael Scott hated Toby so much, when I used to feel bad for the poor Dunder-Mifflin HR rep.)

I also have an Amazon.com store card, if online stores count, although I never use it because I also have an Amazon Visa that is more versatile.

[memphis]

There was a time when general cards like VISA or AMEX were difficult to get and department store cards offered regular people an opportunity to build their credit. That all went the way of the dodo in about the 1980s. Target now offers 5% off all transactions on their card, so it will be interesting to see if that changes the card dynamic through the broad retail industry. As far as I know, outside of one time deals to encourage people to sign up for cards, no other retailer offers a similar deal for using their card. Whenever I'm at Target, I notice a lot of people take advantage of the 5%. It's a bit curious that other stores's haven't followed suit.

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

There was a time when general cards like VISA or AMEX were difficult to get and department store cards offered regular people an opportunity to build their credit. That all went the way of the dodo in about the 1980s. Target now offers 5% off all transactions on their card, so it will be interesting to see if that changes the card dynamic through the broad retail industry. As far as I know, outside of one time deals to encourage people to sign up for cards, no other retailer offers a similar deal for using their card. Whenever I'm at Target, I notice a lot of people take advantage of the 5%. It's a bit curious that other stores's haven't followed suit.

Eh maybe they needed to do something to get people back in their stores and make up for the fact that they allowed millions of their customers' credit (and debit) card data to be stolen.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

No. I don't see the purpose of them. I only use amex and a chase visa if the merchant won't take amex.

[Flake]

I'm glad we could learn about that "HR bitch Clarissa" with a yes/no question.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

There was a time when general cards like VISA or AMEX were difficult to get and department store cards offered regular people an opportunity to build their credit. That all went the way of the dodo in about the 1980s. Target now offers 5% off all transactions on their card, so it will be interesting to see if that changes the card dynamic through the broad retail industry. As far as I know, outside of one time deals to encourage people to sign up for cards, no other retailer offers a similar deal for using their card. Whenever I'm at Target, I notice a lot of people take advantage of the 5%. It's a bit curious that other stores's haven't followed suit.

Eh maybe they needed to do something to get people back in their stores and make up for the fact that they allowed millions of their customers' credit (and debit) card data to be stolen.

They were offering that even before the card hack.

Most department stores and the like offer discounts on their cards, but discounts on high prices really are no bargain, plus it's a hassle to keep track of additional cards.  I did have a couple of department store cards and a gas card when I was younger.  I gave them up decades ago because I was no longer using them and I was worried even back then that someone might spoof being me and use them.  I'd have to be really, really, really being shopping a lot at a store to consider getting a card from them.  It'd be no problem as my credit score is >800.

[DKrol]

I have a Target card, as well as a regular VISA.

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

There was a time when general cards like VISA or AMEX were difficult to get and department store cards offered regular people an opportunity to build their credit. That all went the way of the dodo in about the 1980s. Target now offers 5% off all transactions on their card, so it will be interesting to see if that changes the card dynamic through the broad retail industry. As far as I know, outside of one time deals to encourage people to sign up for cards, no other retailer offers a similar deal for using their card. Whenever I'm at Target, I notice a lot of people take advantage of the 5%. It's a bit curious that other stores's haven't followed suit.

Eh maybe they needed to do something to get people back in their stores and make up for the fact that they allowed millions of their customers' credit (and debit) card data to be stolen.

They were offering that even before the card hack.

Most department stores and the like offer discounts on their cards, but discounts on high prices really are no bargain, plus it's a hassle to keep track of additional cards.  I did have a couple of department store cards and a gas card when I was younger.  I gave them up decades ago because I was no longer using them and I was worried even back then that someone might spoof being me and use them.  I'd have to be really, really, really being shopping a lot at a store to consider getting a card from them.  It'd be no problem as my credit score is >800.

I don't see a reason why to use Store cards rather than regular credit cards. If you shop at a lot of different stores, then that's a lot of different cards to keep track of and carry around.

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

I'm glad we could learn about that "HR bitch Clarissa" with a yes/no question.

Yeah believe me she was a bitch. Her sarcastic bitchy attitude when I suggested all employees should be entitled to at least $10-an-hour as a matter of respecting the human dignity of the company's own employees just really rubbed me the wrong way.

I told how about how Mayor de Blasio and the New York City Council are trying to get state authority to raise the local minimum wage to $10.15-an-hour and that JC Penney would soon be forced to show some decency for its hardworking peons and that really made her even bitchier. I hope our state's stupid ineffectual government can at least get that bill passed- and hopefully Andrew Cuomo the right-wing defender of the rich and big business doesn't veto it- so NYC can set its own minimum wage at a level that is fair to employees who depend on employment at companies like JC Penney as their primary source of income in one of the most expensive cities to live in in the world. It's a human tragedy, but obviously this ice princess who was interviewing me didn't see things the same way I did.

So now I try to avoid shopping at both Macy's and JC Penney due to bad personal experience, even though I know all the other stores are similarly run by money-hungry pigs who want to only throw table scraps to the hardworking employees that makes their businesses functional.

[memphis]

What a know it all bitch!

[J-Mann]

Yes, several (with many others that have been closed out). And to those who are pretending to not get it ... no-interest financing or a significant discount on a major purchase are smart reasons to open a store-specific account if you are financially able to manage the debt.

As an example, I put a new washer and dryer on a Best Buy credit card to take advantage of their "no interest if over a certain amount" offer. I'll pay it all off before the interest kicks in and will have avoided putting it on a standard credit card account which would generate interest or dropping the whole $1,400+ in a single payment.

Many places offer no interest financing if you open an account with them. I've also opened retail accounts if they offer a significant discount for doing so -- Banana Republic offered 15% off if you got their credit card; since I was buying over $2,000 worth of dress clothes, saving $300 made sense. And then I paid the card off in its entirety the next week and closed the account. Doing that too often will hurt your credit score, though.

[IceSpear]

No, since I already have three regular credit cards.

[Indy Texas]

Macy's store card -- got it sometime in college to get 15% off a very large purchase, can't remember the last time I used it.

[Supersonic]

I don't really see the point of them, so no.

[Smash255]

Yes, as J-MAnn pointed out the no interest for big purchases if over a certain amount is something I have taken advantage of (as long aas its paid off during that time period which I have done).  Also, some store cards have extra discounts, using their cards.  Use it for the discount and pay it off before I have to pay the interest on it.  Also have an Airline Caard (Jet Blue)

[muon2]

Macy's store card -- got it sometime in college to get 15% off a very large purchase, can't remember the last time I used it.

If it's more than 30 months it'll probably be closed, as I discovered last night. I concur with J-Mann that the cards are useful to get the savings if you are going to shop that store regularly. In addition to savings when an account is opened, many stores will send discount offers applicable only to purchases on their card.

I typically don't carry any store cards, but I keep them together in a separate wallet. If I plan to shop at a mall, then I bring them.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

I used to have a Circuit City credit card.