Best Buy Rewards Zone MasterCard

Summary - There are 2 Best Buy Credit Cards that we will review here. The first is the HSBC Best Buy Mastercard and the second is the Best Buy Store Card. Both cards are targeted at those who shop frequently at Best Buy. Let's find out more about these cards.

Reward Formula - The HSBC Best Buy MasterCard allows you to earn 4% rebates when you make any purchase at Best Buy stores. You will earn 2% rebates when you use the card on dining and grocery purchases. Periodically, you can earn 2% rebates for special promotions that are held throughout the year. You will earn 1% rebates for other regular purchases.

note: When you go to Best Buy's Website, you may get confused. It will say that you will earn 2 points for every dollar that you spend at Best Buy (equivalent to 2% back in rewards), earn 1 point for every dollar you spend on dining and grocery purchases (equivalent to 2% back on rewards). The reason why this is the case is due to the way Best Buy Reward Zone program works. For example, once you have earned 250 points, you are eligible to get a $5 reward certificate (which is 2%).

Best Buy Store Card - The Best Buy credit card is a retail store credit card that allows cardholders to use the card at Best Buy stores or bestbuy.com. It is not a visa or mastercard and cannot be used elsewhere. You do not earn any reward points with the card. The main attraction of the card is that cardholders can get a 0% apr for up to 90 days for Best Buy purchases. You could also get 0% financing for 6 months on all purchases totaling $299 and up (good only for in-store purchases). Right at this moment, Best Buy is offering new card holders 0% interest for 1 year on all purchases $499 and up.

Fees - Both cards have no annual fee. You will only know your rates after you have filled in the first page in the online application form.

Verdict - Store Card - Let's start with the Best Buy store card first. Most people who apply for the store card do so because they have poor credit or have a limited credit history and have read that store cards are easy to get and could help build a credit history. While that may be true, store cards are notorious for charge very high interest rates. Furthermore, most have a cap of how much credit you will be given (around $1,000). If you are either building or rebuilding your credit, credit utilization is a very important factor in your credit score. With credit limits of only about $1,000 or less offered by most store cards, you won't get very far on that front. You might actually be better off getting a secured credit card.

The store card, however, may appeal to new business owners who are trying to establish a business credit history with the business credit bureaus like Dun & Bradstreet. You might want to buy a computer on credit for the sake of having it being reported to the business credit bureaus. Because policies change, it is best to check with Best Buy if they report to the business credit bureaus.

Verdict - HSBC Best Buy MasterCard - The problem I have with most store cards is that it subconsciously forces you to buy things from them even if they do not have the best prices. Research after research has shown that. Even though the Best Buy MasterCard allows you to earn what is a 4% rebate equivalent, there is actually another card that allows you to earn 5% rebates from bestbuy.com. That card is the Discover More Card.

Discover has a program called shopdiscover.com, where it has over 100 online retail partners. Best Buy happens to be one of them. When you go to bestbuy.com through Discover's website, and shop there with your Discover Card, you will earn 5% cash back bonus. For the holiday season, Discover is giving 10% rebates on BestBuy.com purchases! Furthermore, unlike Reward Zone's rewards (where you have to use them at Best Buy), the cash rebates with Discover can be used anyway you want. You can also earn anywhere between 5% and 20% at over 100 online stores (not just Best Buy). Hence, if you are looking to get HSBC Best Buy Credit Card, I would urge you to get the Discover More Card instead. Below are the screenshots.

Once you scroll into the merchants accounts, click on Best Buy and it will take you to the page where there the fine prints and terms and conditions.



Once you are ready to shop, just click on the "start shopping" button and it will take you to bestbuy.com, where any purchase you make will be tracked and rebates given to you.