These cards most stores have their own co-branded credit card with one of Comenity, Synchrony or Citibank usually issuing the cards. The vast majority of these cards are straight up useless, offering no real rewards program or sign up bonus (especially when compared to the best credit card bonuses). This post will look at the exception to that rule, store credit cards that actually make sense to at least consider.
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Synchrony Banana Republic Visa Card
This card is like the holy grail of store cards when it comes to targeted bonuses. The best bonuses are the ones without caps (although these are becoming rarer). Here are some example offers (check the comments for more information):
- Banana Republic Credit Cards Earning 5x Points + 100 Points Per Day
- 10x Points On All Gas, Groceries & Dining Purchases With NO Cap
The points can only be redeemed towards Banana Republic merchandise, so a bit more difficult to redeem massive quantities. PFdigest points out he only received these bonuses on the Banana Republic version of this card and not the Old Navy.
Citi Sears Card
On the surface this card doesn’t look like much, but they frequently send out targeted spending bonuses. Some examples (read the comments for more):
- More Citi Sears Madness – 10x/10% Back On Online Purchases
- [Targeted] Citi Sears Card – 10% Cash Back On Gas, Grocery & Restaurants
- [Targeted] Existing Citi Sears Cardholders Receive 10% Cash Back On Grocery Stories, Gas Stations, Drugstores & Restaurants (Max $100 Per Month Until December)
The typical offer seems to be 10x/10% cash back on purchases in specific categories with a limit of $100/10,000 points per month (sometimes restricted to a single month, sometimes multiple months). Most people seem to get a few of these offers per year, so you should be able to make a few hundred dollars or tens of thousands of points.
They have also added 5%/3%/2%/1% categories, I thought this might affect those targeted offers but so far it doesn’t seem to have. The nicest thing about this card is that if you have a cashback or Citi ThankYou point version, the currencies are either cash (very easy to use) or ThankYou points (easy to use and valuable). Sears points are a little less valuable, but hard to complain when you’re getting 10% back in points.
Synchrony Paypal/eBay Extras Mastercard
Card earns at the following rates:
- 3x points per $1 spent on gas stations/restaurants
- 2x points at Paypal and eBay
- 1x points on all other purchases
They Frequently send out targeted bonuses for  6,000 points (worth $50 in Paypal credit) for $500 in spend. Normally this or a similar offer has been sent out multiple times per year.
Citi Best Buy Visa
Offers 5% (6% for Elite Plus) back on Best Buy purchases. They also frequently send out offers on this (normally twice a year at least)
Offers:
Citi Brooks Brothers Mastercard
I haven’t heard a lot about this card, it does come with some standard benefits:
- 4x points on Brooks Brother purchases
- $20 annual birthday reward
In addition to that PFdigest has reported receiving an offer for 10% points on dinning purchases with no cap, but keep in mind that’s the first time he has received such an offer. Feel free to share your datapoints in the comments below.
Synchrony Amazon Store Card
This card can only be used at Amazon, but it does earn 5% back on all Amazon purchases or the option for special financing. Amazon also frequently have offers for store cardholders only – especially on Prime day. For example:
Victoria’s Secret Comenity Bank
Card can earn up to 19.8% back on Victoria’s secret purchases, they also give you a free birthday gift and sometimes send free panty offers. It’s not in the same league as the other cards on this due to the fact that it doesn’t really offer targeted spending bonuses – but still worth considering.
Honorable Mentions
- Target Redcard: 5% off Target purchases
- Saks Fifth Avenue: Targeted offer for $25 gift card for every $1,000 in spend and bonus $100 for spending $5,000. Reader said they sometimes receive better offers than that too, if that’s true let me know in the comments and I might add it to the best list.
- BJ’s credit card: Sends targeted offers for $20 back with $1,000 spend. Not that interesting due to the fact that’s only 2% back.
- NTB Tire: Sends targeted offers for $50 off set of tires
Our Verdict
Signing up for these cards really only makes sense if you have no trouble meeting the minimum spend requirements on other more lucrative credit cards and can put quite a bit of spend through cards when they offer promotions (especially if they don’t have a cap). If you’re not in a situation like this, then these particular store cards might make no sense. If you just want an easy store card to get, you’d be better off using the shopping cart trick (will work on some of the Comenity Bank cards)
