- 02
- Jan
Most people will be used to being offered store credit cards when they are shopping. Many shops these days will offer you a special discount or other incentive to sign up to the store card scheme. You may also be attracted because you feel that a store card is in some way, a safer or more friendly source of debt. However, there is nothing friendly about store cards and most of them are set up and offered by the same finance companies that offer all of the other credit cards that are being offered on the market.
In fact, apart from the fact that a store card can only be used in one store, there is really nothing to differentiate them from other credit cards. Therefore, whenever you are considering accepting a store card, you should use the same criteria for judging the card as you would for any other credit card offer. The first is do you actually want another credit card? The chances are that you will have not been thinking at all about taking on credit when you went into the store and do not need it. If this is the case, then simply refuse the card. If you do want credit, then look at the interest rate they are charging. You will probably find that this is a significantly higher rate than for your other credit cards. You should also consider the rates and other benefits that you can get from an ordinary credit card, not to mention the fact that you can use your other card in millions of locations world wide, while this card can only be used in one store. When you have looked at all of these points, the chances are that you will not want to take out the store card after all.
