19 Comments Add your own

• 1. Jennifer    May 8th, 2009 at 10:48 am

  I think Sears is the biggest rip off and scam around! Beware when you open a Sears card. They will tell there is no interest for two years and then slap you with all the interest you would have paid in those two years. And when you call to talk to someone about it, you can’t! They actually will not transfer you to a manger. So I’m disputing my finance charge. Which, by the way, is 23%!!! I will never shop at Sears again.

• 2. Rod (a real person with a true story)    May 26th, 2009 at 5:18 pm

  Sears credit decided that my debt to income ratio was too high so they upped my intrest rate to 29%. It is impossible for them to know what my debt ratio is as I earn more than ever and my ratio was never lower- even before I appiled for credit with them. When I informed them of my income and that my ratio is better than they may already know, they would not reduce the interest rate.

  They defended my continued high interest rate saying that my debt was to close to my credit limit on their card. My credit limit was for $15,000 and my balance was at $10,000. They said I was too close to this limit so needed to apply the highest rate they had. They refusedto reduce the high interest rate.

  When I continued to plead and argue they said that I had bad credit and that I didn’t deserve a better rate. I did a credit check and found that with the big three credit rating companies my scores were 767, 764, and 76. This is excellent credit in any ones book except apparently Sears. They still refused to reduce the rate.

  When I continued to plead with them about reducing my interest rate they said I was late too often. Upon investigation, I was only late twice by a few days in five years. Oh, wow.

  They never paid any attention to the fact that I never made the minimum payment. I always made 150 to 200% the minimum payment, but, this never made a difference with them. I was stuck at the unbelievable interest rate.

  I was finially told by customer service people the following incredible statement. “We do not need a reason to raise your interest rate. You do not need to have a bad credit rating, you do not need a too have a high debt ratio, you do not need to be late on payments, and you don’t need to be too close to your credit limit for us to raise your interest to any amount that we want. And further more, we do not need to tell you we are doing this and we do not need to give you a reason for doing it. All the complaining and pleading you do will not change what we do.”

  Since then I have learned that this is common practice for credit card companies.

  This is all true. I pass this story along to help you to be careful and aware of their schemes/tricks. Good luck.

• 3. Julie Waldrip    June 30th, 2009 at 6:44 pm

  I am so disappointed in Citibank that handles Sears Credit . I have been with Sears over 30 years and never been late on a payment. Now with no notice they closed my account. No problem…I would not want to be with a company that treats their customers like this…
  I wish you the best and hope you don’t go under!!!!

• 4. Gaulua Liaga    July 2nd, 2009 at 4:49 am

  Sears credit card costomer are very incompetent. i will never do bissiness with this company anymore. Stay away from using thier services.

• 5. Martha B. Cash    July 25th, 2009 at 2:46 pm

  Oh dear! We just purchased nearly $6,000 worth of Kenmore appliances–no interest for one year. I do NOT like the comments I have just read and fear having made a bad purchase decision. Funny, about the credit card bit. I, too, have excellent credit (700+ category); however, due to a 20-year-old bad debt, Sears would not issue me a card–they did issue one to my husband, though. If it had not been for such a great salesperson, I would have canceled this order after the credit card episode but my husband decided to stay with them. I may–or may not–do future purchases with Sears because of all the comments I read and because of how they are not erasing a 20-year-old bad credit–which by the way was paid off eventually. Too bad about this because Sears and K-Mart have been my favorite places to shop. I really would like to see things corrected and get the “bad taste” out of my mouth. I can always use my Master/Visa cards to shop elsewhere in the future–10% interest for now. That’s a lot better than the 29% others are talking about! You know, my 89-year-old mother has an account with Sears. I had no idea she was paying such an enormous % on her card. This is taking advantage of elderly on fixed incomes–especially when they need to have things serviced conveniently!

• 6. James Day    August 21st, 2009 at 1:22 pm

  I recently received a notice that my finance charges were being raised significantly. Is this the thanks I get for keeping my bills paid up?!! Needless to say, my card went into the shredder, and I will NOT use Sears again. I have purchased alot of Kenmore applicances and Craftsman tools. Never again….Thank you Sears for nothing.

• 7. peter    September 5th, 2009 at 11:57 pm

  Hi Guys,
  I’ve read a bunch of your stories and I’m also beginning to feel afraid because I too have a Sears Master Card- with a ridiculous (I’ve ashamed to say it)% interest rate and a (even on only one purchase for the month of a 99c burger) $2 minimum finance charges updated since last month . Ever since I got the card I can’t help but to have doubt about this thing. However there is a better way! Fortunately, I’ve created my own little ‘’get around’, only use the card at Sears and Kmart or for “Internal purchases only”. Use your easy coupons and take advantage of the promotions to get the discount then pay the balance in full before the end of the month’s cycle. Only buy what you need. There you have it, simple, no crappy finance charges or high interest rates to deal with! I guess its good to have a second regular non-store card with super low interest rates with no finance charges, membership or yearly fees if paid in full every month or within the “Grace Period”- because I have. The good thing is that the big credit limit looks good on your report so taking out a loan elsewhere or such won’t be so harsh as long as the card is active at lease once every 3 months. Oh, and don’t forget to redeem your points before they expire. Now smile a little!

• 8. Carlos De la Torre    October 24th, 2009 at 2:48 pm

  SEARS JUST RAISED MY INTEREST RATE 5% PER MONTH WITHOUT NOTICE. THEY WAIT TILL YOU OWE THEM CLOSE TO YOUR CREDIT LIMIT AND HIT YOU WITH A HIGH INTEREST RATE OF 25.6%.

  I CANCELED BOTH OF MY CARDS. SARS DO NOT DIESERVE GOOD CLIENTS.

• 9. Lynn in St. Louis    November 5th, 2009 at 9:25 pm

  You won’t believe this. When they raised our Sears mastercard rate to 29.99% last month, I called and got the payoff amount from them. It was $6444 and included 193 of finance charges. I paid the total amount right then and there on the phone. It was before the due date, and was taken instantly out of my bank account over the phone. They charged $14.95 to do this, but we were happy to be certain it was posted before the due date, and we added this fee to the payment total. Then we asked them to close the account.
  Imagine our surprise when we got a bill today for $143 for “finance charges”!!!! I called them, and they said that they have the right to charge “rolling finance charges” after you close the account for one month, based on the LAST month’s average balance. BUT THAT was included in the finance charge on the final bill that we PAID!!!!. I am a CPA, so I’m not easily confused by simple compound interest issues….. they said if I don’t pay this, before the due date, they will add 39 dollars late fees EACH month (even though it’s a closed account) and will ruin our credit. They cannot tell me how they can charge interest/finance charges on a zero balance account!!!
  For heavens sake, bail out now before Citibank and Sears get really crazy.

• 10. Carlos de la Torre    November 17th, 2009 at 11:49 pm

  I CANCELED BOTH OF MY SEARS DEBIT CARDS AFTER A 5% RAISE INTEREST RATE LAST MONTH.
  NOW I AM APPLYING FOR A PERSONAL LOAN FOR $5,000 TO CONSOLIDATE BOTH CARDS AND STOP DONATING OVER A $100 EVERY MONTH FOR 25.4% INTEREST RATE PAYMENTS TO CITIBANK.

  ITS NEVER TOO LATE FOR US TO CONSOLIDATE THESE DEBIT CARDS WITH BANK LOANS AND IF ONLY 50% CANCEL AND CONSOLIDATE THEIR SEARS CARDS CITIBANK WILL HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO BRING DOWN THEIR INTEREST RATES FOR THE FUTURE GENERATIONS. DO IT TODAY!!

• 11. Tom Sanders    November 26th, 2009 at 4:46 am

  I have had excellent credit history for over 30 years, and have had a Sears Citi Bank Gold Master Card for several years. I had NEVER been late with a payment, nor have I with any other cards or to any other creditors.
  I have carried only a small amount on this card-in the $4,000-5,000 range and in recent years the interest rate has been raised to 23.24%, fairly high considering my credit history. But I haven’t complained, feeling it probably wouldn’t do any good to even request a reduction.
  About four months ago (end of 07/09), I changed my personal bank. However, I had several checks I had sent out about a week prior to closing my old account. Due to an error on my part, I failed to keep my old account open and enough in the old account to cover some checks. I had sent out payment for my Sears card bill about a week before it was due (and about a week before I closed my old account). I realized the error the day I closed the account….that the Sears check had not been processed yet. This was on a Friday night, and the Sears bill was due within a couple of days.
  I called Citi Bank that evening and explained the situation. I appologized and told them I would gladly overnight them a check first thing the next morning, and they would have it Monday morning. They told me flat out that they wouldn’t be able to stop the old checking account check from going through, and that I would just have to take my chances on which check tried to clear first. Of course, needless to say, they received the check on the closed account before the overnight was received. And despite my pleadings with them, I discovered on the next month’s bill that because the payment was late, I was now considered to be “in default” on my loan. As a result, my interest rate was raised to 29.99 percent. I didn’t even realized banks would charge such a rate to people who had shaky credit history.
  I have made two seperate requests to have this rate reduced. I did so immediately upon receiving notice, on a phone call to customer service. I received a letter a week or two later denying the request because again, my account was in default.
  On the first bill after this issue, I mailed them a payment of $800, followed by a $300 payment last month. My only intention now is pay this off as quickly as possible and close the account.
  I phoned customer service again this week, and told my story to a representative to said that yes, he thought this rate could be reduced. He transferred me to a supervisor who informed me that because I had a late payment the rate could not be reduced until I made 12 months of on-time payments. I imagine my account will be long closed by that time.
  As a way to try to embarrass the supervisor, I of course mentioned the government bail out the banks received, the ridiculously low interest rate they are required to pay back the loans at, and did they have any concience doing these sort of actions towards customers. The supervisor pretty much said they have every legal right to raise the rates as they see fit. He was talking to me as if I was someone who had actually defaulted on a loan…a deadbeat…as opposed to someone who has religiously had exceptional credit history.
  This experience has left such a sour taste with me that I refuse to EVER step foot into a Sears store again. I realize it may not be Sears making a decision, but they have contracted with this company to provide financial services. The way I see it, they are responsible for any actions of Citi Bank, they same as if they made these decisions on their own.
  I want to cancel my account right this moment. My question is, what is the best way to do so. Should I wait til my account is paid off? If I cancel my account now, with a remaining balance, are they going to demand immediate payment? Will they increase my interest even further…to say 40 or 50 percent? They seem to have communicated to me they have a legal right to pretty much do as they please. And if I cancel the account now, are they going to take any action that would damage my credit history? I imagine their decision to place my account in default hasn’t helped me in that area.
  Any suggestions would be appreciated.

• 12. James    December 2nd, 2009 at 3:16 pm

  I use sears for the two years no interest promos for big ticket items. you better have the item paid off within the two years though or you pays two years of itnerest on the remaing balance.

• 13. Jenny    January 11th, 2010 at 4:37 pm

  My mother is 85 and has had a Sears account for over 45 years. She had run her balance up somewhat and being on a fixed income was not able to make her payments on her own. My husband and I were making them for her for the last couple of years. Until I lost my job at the end of the year. We don’t use credit card so you can imagine how shocked I was when I opened the statement this month and the interest rate went from 12.8 to 29.99 with no explaination. She may be old but she has a 750 credit score and has NEVER in over 45 years of having this account been late with a payment. After repeatred attempts of trying to deal with Citi i have gotten no where. Basically I was told that if I don’t like it too bad. They can do whatever they want and there is nothing that we can do about it we either pay the outrageous rate or they will report it to her credit. This has left us with no choice but to close the account and then we will try to deal with them that way. I now know why Sears is in financial trouble…..
  It is amazing to me that we can bail out Citi and then they screw us this way. Maybe the government should just let them fail! This is highway robbery on the elderly. STAY AWAY FROM SEARS AND CITI!!!!

• 14. franken    January 22nd, 2010 at 1:30 pm

  our calls to sears were routed to sears.com and mike steven got the account fixed. no need for attorney. great service and help. car was service at the tire center with the aase racing team

• 15. mike biro    February 15th, 2010 at 7:22 am

  my last credit score was 828 5 years ago all of my income for the most part is desposeable now , at that time it was a challange dealing with my credit card companys ( which my wife incured 40,000) on me it took me 7 years to pay it off , i did a number of diffrent things i had an mbna loan which put me into default for late payment due to their sending my bill to the incorrect address , no negotaions worked , bad company, sears aswell , i ended up with a chase mastercard which gave me 2 years interest free very helpful , during negotions and i have an american express card which the interest rate is kind of up there 21% but very convient and easy to deal with , i spent so much time dealing with credit card companys , if you close your account they can not change your intrest rates or terms of your comtract but it will affect your credit standing when it comes to available credit standing if your not happy with the card dump it and get a better one aslong as you make your payments ontime do a transfer to a lower one pay it off keep it open use it one a year for small purchase (gum) pay it off . i had to work 70 to 80 hrs a week for years for mine and turned off all my nonnessities to pay mine when i did the math my wife cost me over 200,000 in penalties fees and purchacess , i then payed hers off in 2007 now shes back where she started from . once you fix your issues remember we are responceable for our decisions , some people dont learn i am married to one.

• 16. Melissa    February 23rd, 2010 at 2:37 am

  I have had a Sears Credit Card for over 10 years now with a $12,000 limit. There has been no balance on this account for about a year. They lowered my credit to $250. Why? There reason is that we have too many credit cards. We only have 3 others and two have low balances. I will never buy anything from Sears again after being treated like this.

• 17. Monica    March 1st, 2010 at 3:22 am

  When I applied for my Sears card, I got a credit limit of $800. It was subsequently raised to $3200, then reduced to $2100 without me ever paying late paying Sears or other credit card bills or increasing my debt load on other credit cards (I already had some debt when I got approved, all current and never late, and I am in the process of reducing it). I also paid more then the minimum, although sometimes not by much. I owed over 2000 but then reduced it to about 1900, which I paid off last December and January. I paid $1000 in December and $926 in January, which brought the balance to 0. In February, they charged me about $10 in finance charges, increased the interest rate to 29.90% and reduced my credit limit to $500. I feel unfairly penalized because the credit limit reduction may reduce my credit rating through no fault of mine. I didn’t know about the credit limit reduction and interest rate increase until I got my February statement (a letter came letter saying that it was necessary but not why). As of February 9, my credit report still said that I owed $926 and the amount of the last payment was not reported at all, which is not fair, as having paid lots of money in December and January would show that I can do so. My Equifax credit score was 699 and I assumed it would actually increase due to having paid off the nearly 2k Sears debt (maybe it will, as I have since paid half of one credit card balance and I’ll pay it off in March).

• 18. Bryan    March 10th, 2010 at 12:04 am

  I am so disappointed in Citibank that handles Sears Credit . I have been with Sears 10+ years. I received a letter in the mail today from them that they regret to inform me that they will not be renewing my card and that my account will be closed. I am embarrassed to say that due to the economy my wife and myself have been affected by it with our jobs not a complete layoff but my wife is a teacher and she has to take what they call furlough days and myself well in order for me to keep my job I had to take a pay cut . Between the both of us it effected us - $800 dollars a month. I got behind with Sears and my other creditors fortunately Sears and my other creditors were able to work with me to get my account caught up and once I get them caught up, I receive the letter from Sears telling me that my account will not be renewed due to my credit (late payments) on my credit report. My thing is Sears does not look at your history with them as a customer, they look at the credit report. I have spent thousands with this company but no more. I will not be treated like a number. What happened to the good old days where a company went by your payment history with them when giving credit?

  I WANT TO BE TREATED LIKE A CUSTOMER NOT A NUMBER!!!!!!

  I will not recommend Sears to anyone!!!!

• 19. Moe    March 15th, 2010 at 4:40 pm

  Citi and Sears just canceled my credit card account after 10 yrs. Unlike most of you I didnt get any notice or anything, in fact I was able to activate my new debit card even after the account was closed. I found out the hard way while in line trying to buy a new riding mower. I worked for 10 yrs to build a good history with them to keep a good rate and all they can tell me is to re apply. When I checked into re applying I found out they would be starting me out at 29% instead of the 19% I have had. The only answer I get is that I didnt use the card enough. I used it about twice a year and it was usually on big items, and thats not enough. I spent over $10,000 in that store in the last few years. Im done I will never set foot in sears again…..They need me way more then Ill ever need them

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