Department Store Credit Cards
Have you ever noticed that when you’re in a major retail store that offers their own store charge cards, that you are always encouraged to use their card to pay for the sale? And further if you politely say no, they ask if you have one of their store credit cards.
After you politely say no again, they ask if you’d like to sign up for one of their credit cards. There is usually an enticement of some sort of additional, albeit small, discount on top of any other discounts you might already be receiving, usually about 10-15%.
I’ve even had sales people go so far as to ask me why I don’t want to sign up and get the additional percent off, and I’ve had to be firm and say “because I have enough credit cards already” or “I used to have one of your cards and I don’t use it any more.”
What brought this up is that I was just in a major national retail establishment and was somewhat forcibly asked, by both people who waited on me (I had two separate transactions), if I wanted to sign up for/apply for one of their store cards, and I can’t help but wonder if the sales associates get some sort of commission or bonus for sign ups.
Otherwise, what would be their motive for pushing the store credit card so hard? I mean, it only makes sense - I for one would never ask anyone if I knew it didn’t mean extra money in my pocket one way or another. Customers do need to remember also that every hit on their credit could potentially impact their credit score.
This is another reason why I don’t apply for too many things unless I’m really serious about using it a lot. Otherwise, I’d probably be applying for gas credit cards and things of the like all the time just for the perks!
I never knew this until someone who knows a lot about credit scores and credit history told me to keep my applications to a minimum, because creditors may access that on reports and see that as a tendency to over extend on the part of the consumer. Who knew?
