--- title: Store-Branded Credit Cards Charge All-Time High Interest Rates description: Store-branded credit cards charge interest rates as high as 30%, a new report has found. authors: - name: Kerry Close url: https://money.com/author/kerry-close/ at_money_since: 2016 articles: 182 covers: - Credit Cards - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://x.com/kerryclose former_staff: true published: '2016-10-20T09:00:27.000Z' modified: '2024-04-17T04:15:30.000Z' section: Credit Cards tags: - Credit Cards - pubdesk - store credit card word_count: 362 canonical: https://money.com/store-branded-credit-cards-interest/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![shopping](https://img.money.com/2016/10/gettyimages-162503940.jpg) *Store credit cards have reached record-high interest rates, a new study has found.* At some point, many consumers have likely been tempted to sign up for a store credit card at their favorite retailer. But before you open that Best Buy or Zales credit card, first read the fine print: Many store-branded credit cards are charging record-high interest rates. A [report released Thursday](http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/retail-card-survey-2016.php) from CreditCards.com finds that store cards charge an average of 23.84% interest, exceeding the national average credit card interest rate of 15.22%. Big Lots led the list of major retailers named in the report, with interest rates at a whopping 29.99%, followed by Zales (29.24%) and Staples (28.24%). What's more, the incentives that stores offer to get customers to sign up might not be as generous as they appear: While half of cards offered by 100 top retailers give new cardholders a sign-up bonuses, just 13 come in at more than $25 for a $200 purchase. ***Read More*: [Money's Best Credit Cards 2016-2017](https://money.com/best-credit-cards/)** Still, that's not to say that store cards are without their merits. Store cards that offer sign-up bonuses calculated as a percentage of purchase, as is the case at 17 of the 100 retailers studied, could help cardholders finance a big-ticket item. CreditCards.com cites the example of Best Buy's 10% sign-up bonus, which could knock $100 off the purchase of a $1,000 TV. But as Money has noted, those promotional offers can backfire big-time if you don't pay off the entire bill before interest starts to accrue. For that reason, most people would do better using a cash-back card, which rewards you on purchases and has a more reasonable interest rate. Credit limits on store cards also tend to be lower than on general-purpose cards. The exception is if you are a frequent shopper at a particular store that has a generous rewards program—and you are able to pay off your balance every month. The Target REDCard, for example, offers free shipping and 5% off all purchases, while the Amazon Prime Store Card also offers 5% cash back on purchases from the online retailer. If you're tempted to sign up for a store card in advance of this holiday shopping season, take a look at our advice on whether it's the best move for you. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/store-branded-credit-cards-interest/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Credit Cards", "item": "https://money.com/credit-cards/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Credit Card", "item": "https://money.com/credit-card/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Store-Branded Credit Cards Charge All-Time High Interest Rates" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/store-branded-credit-cards-interest/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/store-branded-credit-cards-interest/", "name": "Store-Branded Credit Cards Charge All-Time High Interest Rates", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2016-10-20T09:00:27.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/store-branded-credit-cards-interest/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/store-branded-credit-cards-interest/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-17T04:15:30.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Store-Branded Credit Cards Charge All-Time High Interest Rates", "articleSection": "Credit Cards", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/10/gettyimages-162503940.jpg", "width": 5100, "height": 3400, "caption": "shopping" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Kerry Close", "url": "https://money.com/author/kerry-close/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/kerry-close/#author", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/kerryclose" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2016-10-20T09:00:27.000Z", "description": "Store-branded credit cards charge interest rates as high as 30%, a new report has found.", "abstract": "Store-branded credit cards charge interest rates as high as 30%, a new report has found.", "@id": "https://money.com/store-branded-credit-cards-interest/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-04-17T04:15:30.000Z", "wordCount": 362, "keywords": [ "Credit Cards", "pubdesk", "store credit card" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Credit card", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_card" ] } ] } ] } ```