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 â 10x/10% Back On Online Purchases
- [Targeted] Citi Sears Card â 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)
No love for the Costco visa? 4% on gas, 3% eating out. No AF. This is a decent every day card. And the best SUB on the market, a 35 pack of Costco water.
Also, 3% on travel and no fx fee.
Is BR credit card known for issuing low limits or is it just me?
I just applied and received $1700 credit line. 800+ credit score. Granted huge amount of outstanding credit but very little debt.
Has anyone succeeded in converting one Synchrony card into another? I have old Home Design line they took over from GE Financial and would love to convert it to BR. So far no success.
Hey Doc.
There is no direct link for the Citi Sears Card.
Can you post one.
Thanks.
https://citicards.citi.com/usc/crs/searscard/home.htm?BT_TX=1&ProspectID=DFCD6D075B254DACB9128F147AFE04F5 added to post also
I keep reading that the Banana Republic Card is seen as superior to the Old Navy (or any other Gap Branded Card). I don’t think that is true.
I had both Cards for a while but kept getting the same spending bonuses on the Old Navy Card — which in return made them close my Banana Republic Card for inactivity.
I don’t think there is any difference beyond that a Banana Republic Card is less embarrassing to use — if you care about this kind of perception.
Has anyone been able to apply for the Paypal card recently?
When pressing the “apply” button (and after logging into paypal) I get a message saying:
We are unable to process your request for the PayPal MasterCard*.
If you are responding to a preapproved offer, you will be provided with additional information.
*The PayPal MasterCard is issued by Synchrony Bank pursuant to a license by MasterCard International Incorporated.
Keep in mind â I applied for the Banana Republic card fully expecting a gravy train of bonuses. A year later, nothing.
What sort of spend have you been putting on the card? It seems like once you get one offer they really start rolling in.
I didn’t see much for a while, but after I got the first 10x bonus I keep getting those every two quarters. Not all are very exciting — sometimes it’s just 2x on everything. Which is obviously not that great a deal — but usually it’s 5x in some categories. I haven’t seen any 10x for quite some time, though.
Not sure if anybody investigated a relationship, but at some Point I increased my credit limit from originally 2k in multiple steps to 10k. I can’t tell if that increases the chances of getting those offers — but can’t hurt.
I’d guess that it’s a self-runner after the first offer, since you have probably a lot of spend on the card, which leads to a new offer etc. pp.
I have been looking into the citis sear card for some time, but should I be worried that its credit karma rating is low, like most store cards?
Don’t see why that matters at all?
Probably the biggest concern might be that Sears is losing money, many Sears stores are closing, and that Sears’ days may be numbered. The Sears MC could perhaps outlast Sears, or Citi might just wind down the MC cards at some point. If Citi would offer me an “upgrade” to the Sears MC, yet keep the 20-year history I have with the store card, I’d be all over that. So far, Citi has been happy to leave me with the store-only card.
Is it possible to convert a Banana Republic (non-Visa) card to the Visa version without a HP or new account?
Not that I know of