During the time I worked retail I probably "sold" around 300 credit cards to people

[TwixVoy]

Sometimes I think about the fact that during the years I worked retail I personally probably convinced over 300 people (just a rough estimate based on the average I knew I was pushing) to open our stores credit card.... a card with a close to 30% interest rate. Usually I pushed it on people making a several hundred dollar purchase (company guidelines were to push it on people making high dollar purchases), and they used the card instantly to pay for the entire purchase putting them in debt to us at a high APR right away.

Our store was in an area where people did not have very high incomes.

I wonder how many of those people went on to have massive debt problems as a result of that.

Another reason I am glad to no longer be employed by a mega corporation.

[Mike 03]

1. Kick and Rec. Brutally honest posts like yours are so important as we all figure out

together how this all happened.

I really admire your post, and I think others will too.

Thanks.

[TwixVoy]

3. It was sadistic

the company wanted every store to push those credit cards so hard it almost seemed like little else mattered sometimes. Hell during 2006-2007 it was to the point that if a store wasn't making it's quotas (yes, HQ actually tracked and TOLD us how many cards we had to get people to open per month) it was close to the point you would be threatened with your job.

[abluelady]

2. Don't Be So Hard on Yourself

There are times I open a charge account with a purchase because I'm given 20 percent off that purchase. I pay the bill off and cut up the credit card. Some of us do know how to use credit appropriately. The stores aren't making anything on me.

[TwixVoy]

4. You are the exception

I was a front end manager. People would bring their statements in to pay their cards with. I would look at the balances on them... sometimes several thousand dollars and they were paying under $100 with an APR close to 30%.

Every now and then many people would comment to me that they hated that damn card when they came in to pay it.

[abluelady]

12. Because You Didn't See Me

doesn't mean that I was the exception. It seems like we all assume the worst when it just doesn't have to be that way. You don't know that for every person you saw, there were two or three or four of me. Believe me--I'm very much the norm. :)

[Demobrat]

15. I'm one of you.

I've done that several times. Opened an account to get the one-time savings, paid it off when the bill came and never used it again. In fact I tried to use an account I opened once years later when the store had a "use your card and save X%" promotion, and they had closed it due to inactivity.

[Merlot]

6. And that's a good system, because when the store clerks start hassling

you to sign up for a card, you can say you have one. I often felt sorry for the clerks, it's so obvious they are forced to push cards on everyone. It was easier to just say I already had one, thank you. If they wanted me to use it, I would just straight out say the interest was to high.

Of course, you can say that whether you have a card or not.

[robinlynne]

16. Yep. You and me both. never kept a store credit card except for the one purchase.

alwasy cut them up. but then my mother taught me very early on, if you can't afford it don't buy it.

[tabbycat31]

5. I sold more than that

our review numbers at a big box department store (begins with K) were based on credit cards.

In one day when the store first open I had 56

[jillan]

7. I worked at Bank of America - never was too good at selling their credit cards tho.

Sold alot of home equity loans tho...

I am such a happier person since I left that hellhole.

[Mind_your_head]

8. I guess this is a 'confession' of sorts......

:hug:

"Go" and don't 'sin' again?!?!?

[Laelth]

9. I appreciate your posts. n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[Pithy]

10. a quick question for you, Twixvoy

If someone were to be asked at the register if they wanted to be upgraded to your *former* store Visa, would that mean they'd received a prompt during checkout at the register? Would that mean a hard inquiry would be pulled upon answering yes, or just an indicator based on internal card usage?

Do you recall what the criteria was in selecting those to be upgraded to that particular Visa?

I totally get where you're coming from with the debt trap - just trying to understand what the register employee was asking.

[TwixVoy]

14. No

When you are asked to "upgrade" to the Visa card it is a flat out lie. Basically it is something we say to get people to run another application who already have the non-visa card.

Like I said there were quotas that had to be met many times under threat. As long as the application gets submitted it counts towards your quota. Rather or not it is rejected for any reason does not matter. Many stores started using the "Try to get upgraded" line to get people to apply again who already had the card so they can meet the quota. Sometimes people would actually get a Visa card, but that was simply because their credit had improved and a new account was granted that happened to be the Visa.

The ONLY way to get upgraded to the Visa in a legit manner was to have the credit division decide on its own you were worthy and you would get a letter randomly in the mail one day. Typically that happens mostly during the 4th quarter.

Now there IS a "pre-approved" prompt that the register will give. HOWEVER - all that means is that you have been pre-approved for a card in general not a specific one. Typically because you used a debit/credit card and your name was matched up to our pre-screened offer database and matched a name that was pre-approved. However, it could be ANYONE with your exact name in that database and won't know for sure until you actually apply.

ANY and all applications made in the store will result in a hard inquiry 100% of the time.

[Pithy]

20. Thanks, Twixvoy

I appreciate the good information. I'm sorry you went through so much while you were there, but applaud both your professionalism in doing the best job you could, and your courage to leave when the time was right for you.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

11. It was a job,

and you did what you had to do because you needed the job.

Let it go. You aren't culpable. Ultimately, people had the right to say "No, thank you," no matter how seductive or compelling your pitch.

You did what you had to do to keep the job.

:hi:

[Raejeanowl]

13. That's One of the Crises in Retail

You're called upon to do things - often at the price of your own job - your conscience might have problems with now or later. My young daughter, a college student, is now struggling with a crappy mega-chain retail job where she is basically being performance-appraised on how well she lies, misrepresents and withholds essential consumer information, while measuring up to a sales quota.

Let's say we're both looking forward to her getting a less professionally and ethically degrading job in the very near future.

Store credit accounts/cards have always been a big potential rip-off, but some people used to appreciate them because it was the only credit they could get. And some rationalized it by citing the access to insider sales offsetting some of the APR costs. I had personal experiences with Hecht's and Woodward & Lothrop back in my salad days, and it worked out well enough for me because I did keep the balances paid down and jump those sales.

If it helps you at all, one thing store cards DON'T indulge in are the runaway gotcha! tactics of the major credit cards. You observe your limit or else.

[robinlynne]

17. little by little we learn to live in better ways. Becoming aware is the first and most important st

step. I just realized a small learning lesson today. I decided that as a conusmer I will no longer do business with any company which gives me customer help from other countries, unless I absolutely have to. I will switch to companies who use American customer help on the phone and will be quite vocal about it. I have HAD it with outsourcing and I do not want to talk on the phone with people I cannot understand even if they apologize hundreds of times as the India call centers always do. It just occurred to em that I do not have to do business with these companies at all. (except for my computer brand which is too hard to switch.)

[noamnety]

21. are you eating local?

I find that to have a far greater impact on the world.

[robinlynne]

22. absolutely.

[tammywammy]

18. They could have just said no

It's not your fault if someone opened a store credit card and then started spending more than they should have.

[rucky]

19. Those are probably more profitable to the retailer than the merchandise.

[DCKit]

23. I was fired from a seasonal job with Kay Jewelers two decades ago...

because I refused to sell engagement rings that cost the sum total of all cash, credit and store issued credit to young couples. I just couldn't see putting these kids in hock up to their eyeballs at the very beginning of their working and married lives. I found it offensive and Kay wasn't even paying a kickback or commission to employees for fucking up peoples lives.

No fun getting fired, but I cost those SOBs (Kay) tens of thousands of dollars before they caught on.