Complaint Review: Sears Roebucks Credit Company

This does not resolve the interest situation with the Sears credit cards, however it helps ease the pain. Everyone gets "junk" in the mail. Watch for 0% or very low interest balance transfers. Apply for one of those cards when it comes in. The interest on the balance transfer stays very low for the amount specified (usually one year or so). Pay off as much as you can in that time. If there is a remaining balance at the end of the "intro" period, watch for a new credit card application in the mail & transfer the remaining balance. Make sure to cancel your old card. I actually repaired my credit this way. I was one step from filing bankruptcy, & this fixed it in a matter of about 2 years. This way, you build your credit back up, as well as stop paying interest, or pay very little at that.

As far as Sears go, they have always (in my memory) & probably will always have high interest. I must say, this is not to rip people off. This IS to protect themselves. They distribute their card to almost all, which means they do have to protect themselves in the long run. Don't get me wrong, there's no possible way I would pay interest like that now, being older & wiser. Hint: Make sure you have one of the 0% to low interest cards - if Sears offers a discount on items if you charge it on your Sears card, immediately (within a few days) call the new company & transfer the Sears balance, that way, you get Sears' discount, and pay little or no interest to boot.

As far as Craftsman goes, I honestly have no idea where it's made, but what I do know is that it is an excellent brand tool that only Sears sells. My father has had Craftsman tools for over 30 years & they still perform like new.

I know I'll probably get slammed for this comment, BUT for those of you that would like a little advice, that's the best that I can give. 5 years ago, I couldn't get a card with a $500 limit anywhere, without a co-signer (my "co-signer" would actually be the person applying, I would be the "co-signer" on the application), they wouldn't give it to me any other way. Now, 5 years later, I have a house, 2 cars, & misc. Just a little friendly advice if anybody would like to use it... Thanks.

Agree with Stacey, not Stephanie.

As far as I know, there is no credit center in TX so I anm not sure where you are getting your info from. I worked in the credit center here for many years. They do have a tiered intrest rate called performance pricing and it also based on your overall credit risk, not just Sears payment history. So if your credit was reviewed by the system and it saw late paymts to other creditor, it would have caused you to have a higher interest rate as well. It is diffcult to payoff any credit card, but definately always make more than the minimum payment, as you have. It does seem though, if you are making double pmts, and you balance is going up, then itis possible your are having something added to you bill you haven't noticed.

I am a former employee of Sears and I HATE that place, *BUT* there are several points to be made here. First - Sears does not offer any other interest rate on their card than the maximum. So the statement that this customer is in "Performance Pricing" is inaccurate. The reason the Sears card is priced that high is because it is one of the easiest store credit cards to get which means that every Tom, d**k and Harry with good, bad or horrific credit is carrying one and they are trying to protect themselves. I do not have a card with them, and I personally try not to use credit cards at all, but I understand the need for them - espescially with a purchase of something like an appliance. Second - Sears does not mislead it's customers. Whether or not a customer figures out that it's going to cost an arm and a leg to pay for something on a credit card is not Sears' responsibility. They are not in the business to "rip people off" but to make money - just like everyone else. Third - and this disturbs me a great deal - the Craftsman tools ARE NOT, REPEAT !!!NOT!!! made anywhere other than the good ol' US of A.

Hang in there.

If the complaintant is truly paying 24.99% interest on his account, he is in performance pricing (which means there have been delinquent payments made on the account which labels the account "higher risk"). I know that the consumer said he has made no late payments, but he may want to check his previous statements. It would also validate why his balance is not going down (if he is being charged $30 in interest, and $29.00 in late fees, and is only paying $50 a month, his balance will actually INCREASE $9 a month).I would check on delinquent payments if I were him. I work in the credit department for Sears, and the highest APR being charged on the Sears Card is 21.99% (variable, but it has not changed in several months due to the federal prime rate remaining the same). If the consumer is paying 24.9% interest,he is in performance pricing. The only way to get out of performance pricing is to make 6 consecutive months of on time payments.If you are late, the six month requirement will start over again the next month.
The consumer may also want to call and get a copy of his security agreement (or change in terms) which will explain his APR to him. My advice is this: If you want your balance to decrease $50 per month, add $50 to what you normally pay in interest and pay that amount.Then you are paying off your interest, and $50 is being applied to the principle(if there are no additional fees). The consumer is dealing with "negative amortization", and the previous writer is correct. Sears is not at fault or "greedy" by saying he only has to pay $10 a month.That is a guideline.I am sure Sears would be more than willing to accept more than what is printed on the statements.To date I have seen no circumstances where paying more than the minimum requested resulted in penalization of the consumer.The minimum required is simply that... THE MINIMUM. The consumer has to decide what is best for them to pay...... hope this helps.

If the complaintant is truly paying 24.99% interest on his account, he is in performance pricing (which means there have been delinquent payments made on the account which labels the account "higher risk"). I know that the consumer said he has made no late payments, but he may want to check his previous statements. It would also validate why his balance is not going down (if he is being charged $30 in interest, and $29.00 in late fees, and is only paying $50 a month, his balance will actually INCREASE $9 a month).I would check on delinquent payments if I were him. I work in the credit department for Sears, and the highest APR being charged on the Sears Card is 21.99% (variable, but it has not changed in several months due to the federal prime rate remaining the same). If the consumer is paying 24.9% interest,he is in performance pricing. The only way to get out of performance pricing is to make 6 consecutive months of on time payments.If you are late, the six month requirement will start over again the next month.
The consumer may also want to call and get a copy of his security agreement (or change in terms) which will explain his APR to him. My advice is this: If you want your balance to decrease $50 per month, add $50 to what you normally pay in interest and pay that amount.Then you are paying off your interest, and $50 is being applied to the principle(if there are no additional fees). The consumer is dealing with "negative amortization", and the previous writer is correct. Sears is not at fault or "greedy" by saying he only has to pay $10 a month.That is a guideline.I am sure Sears would be more than willing to accept more than what is printed on the statements.To date I have seen no circumstances where paying more than the minimum requested resulted in penalization of the consumer.The minimum required is simply that... THE MINIMUM. The consumer has to decide what is best for them to pay...... hope this helps.

If the complaintant is truly paying 24.99% interest on his account, he is in performance pricing (which means there have been delinquent payments made on the account which labels the account "higher risk"). I know that the consumer said he has made no late payments, but he may want to check his previous statements. It would also validate why his balance is not going down (if he is being charged $30 in interest, and $29.00 in late fees, and is only paying $50 a month, his balance will actually INCREASE $9 a month).I would check on delinquent payments if I were him. I work in the credit department for Sears, and the highest APR being charged on the Sears Card is 21.99% (variable, but it has not changed in several months due to the federal prime rate remaining the same). If the consumer is paying 24.9% interest,he is in performance pricing. The only way to get out of performance pricing is to make 6 consecutive months of on time payments.If you are late, the six month requirement will start over again the next month.
The consumer may also want to call and get a copy of his security agreement (or change in terms) which will explain his APR to him. My advice is this: If you want your balance to decrease $50 per month, add $50 to what you normally pay in interest and pay that amount.Then you are paying off your interest, and $50 is being applied to the principle(if there are no additional fees). The consumer is dealing with "negative amortization", and the previous writer is correct. Sears is not at fault or "greedy" by saying he only has to pay $10 a month.That is a guideline.I am sure Sears would be more than willing to accept more than what is printed on the statements.To date I have seen no circumstances where paying more than the minimum requested resulted in penalization of the consumer.The minimum required is simply that... THE MINIMUM. The consumer has to decide what is best for them to pay...... hope this helps.

If the complaintant is truly paying 24.99% interest on his account, he is in performance pricing (which means there have been delinquent payments made on the account which labels the account "higher risk"). I know that the consumer said he has made no late payments, but he may want to check his previous statements. It would also validate why his balance is not going down (if he is being charged $30 in interest, and $29.00 in late fees, and is only paying $50 a month, his balance will actually INCREASE $9 a month).I would check on delinquent payments if I were him. I work in the credit department for Sears, and the highest APR being charged on the Sears Card is 21.99% (variable, but it has not changed in several months due to the federal prime rate remaining the same). If the consumer is paying 24.9% interest,he is in performance pricing. The only way to get out of performance pricing is to make 6 consecutive months of on time payments.If you are late, the six month requirement will start over again the next month.
The consumer may also want to call and get a copy of his security agreement (or change in terms) which will explain his APR to him. My advice is this: If you want your balance to decrease $50 per month, add $50 to what you normally pay in interest and pay that amount.Then you are paying off your interest, and $50 is being applied to the principle(if there are no additional fees). The consumer is dealing with "negative amortization", and the previous writer is correct. Sears is not at fault or "greedy" by saying he only has to pay $10 a month.That is a guideline.I am sure Sears would be more than willing to accept more than what is printed on the statements.To date I have seen no circumstances where paying more than the minimum requested resulted in penalization of the consumer.The minimum required is simply that... THE MINIMUM. The consumer has to decide what is best for them to pay...... hope this helps.

I'm not here to shill for Sears but you haven't presented evidence that Sears is ripping you off any more than the inherent rip-off trap that any credit card can become. As you initially stated, a card with a 24.99% APR will be a rip-off unless you pay the balance off "fast." The concept you're not understanding, and this is true for any credit card, not just Sears:

The minimum required payment has NOTHING to do with the amount that must be paid to pay the balance off in a reasonable time, or ever.

Do NOT use the minimum required payment as any sort of a basis for how much you should pay, other than of course you can't pay less than the minimum. It is up to the cardholder (you) to figure how much to pay per month in order to pay off the debt in a reasonable period of time. The approximate method I described before is good for budgetary purposes because it leads to paying more than necessary, retiring the debt earlier than anticipated. If you want an exact result, look for an "amortizer" or "loan calculator" tool on the web, these let you input the balance, interest rate, and number of payments, and tells you the exact monthly payment. Or you can vary one of the above and see its effect on the others. The better ones prepare a table showing how much of each payment goes to principle and interest, and how the balance will decrease over time.

Do check your statements and make sure Sears isn't ripping you off with charges for "travel club", "credit protection," etc. that you didn't ask for. If you aren't using the card, the only thing that should be added every month is the finance charge of 2.08% of the balance.

You people that responded aren't paying attention here. I'm making DOUBLE paymnets and have been since I gained the debt. Sears isn't interested in anything but ripping people off. otherwise why would they charge the MAXIMUM interest rate allowed by law. The government actually had to step in and stop them from charging more and sears took it to the absolute limit in their raping of the consumer by still charging the Maximum allowed. There aren't a majority of companies out there that charge the MAXIMUM interest rate allowed by law on the credit they extend to their customers, sears is one of the few. I'm paying 200% of the minimum payment and my balance increases by over a dollar every month. You recommend applying for an additional credit card, a Master Card, gold or not that has a lower payment, yet it still has sears name on it which means sears is still getting a cut, albiet a small one but a cut none the less. With sears getting a cut that still goes against my boycott. I was looking for a pair of diamond stud earrings for my wifes birthday last week, after combing the mall I found a pair at the sears counter, They were a little over $600.00 and when the lady pulled them out to show me them she said I could put them on my sears card. I was shocked that I was looking in sears and promptly told her to shove them up her a*s and walked out telling her I would never, ever buy another thing from sears. Even thier craftsman tools are made in china, never again I tell you, Never again will sears ever get another copper coated aluminum penny out of me. d**n thieves, shameless pathetic al quidea thieves

Well, don't forget it, you have to pay at least that much every month or you'll be in big trouble with Sears. The minimum payment is just the amount Sears wants to see in order to prove that you still have some money to your name and you've remembered to pay Sears every month. Credit cards aren't like mortgages or car loans where the payments are structured to pay the balance off after a definite period of time. Paying just the minimum usually barely pays the interest (if that), so even after many years you'll still owe almost the full amount. If you want to get ahead, you must pay much more than the minimum payment.

For example if the appliances cost $2000 total and you want to pay them off within 6 months, simple math dictates you'd need to pay at least 1/6 of $2000 ($333) every month. Then there's interest. Estimate the interest conservatively by assuming the first month's interest applies every month. In this case it would be 25%/12 or 2.08% of $2000, or 41.67 for the first month (less in subsequent months, because the balance is lower). If you pay $375 per month the appliances would be paid for in less than 6 months. If you had a low interest card, the necessary payment would be somewhat lower, but still $333 or more.

The signs in the stores (if they still have them) like "Only $35.00 per month on your Sears card!" are very deceptive. Although Sears will let you pay only that little and keep the appliance, many years later you'll still owe almost the full price.

Timm's advice is good, converting your account to the Mastercard or transferring the balance to a third-party card will save considerably if it's going to take many months to pay the balance down. But do this only if you have the self-control to not charge anything more on either card until the appliances are paid for.

As far as I know, they can't adjust the interest rate, only credit limits, etc. Two suggestions here: 1) Take advantage of the 0% evens, especially since unlike other stores, it's true 0% (don't accrue finance chages on prev. paid balance, like you do in other stores). 2) Sears offers the Sears Gold Mastercard; open up an account. Even the highest interest rate is lower than the standard Sears card, and it still offers the same Sears benefits. Plus, you get an introductory 2.9& for 6 months. I also believe (although I haven't checked) that you can transfer balances to the Sears MC.