★★★★★ 5
Good, but you need to be careful with it
I've done business with GE CRB before using other store cards, so I knew what to expect going into this. I will echo the advice that a few others have given. For one, I would recommend that you only use this card for one purchase at a time and that you pay it off entirely before using the card again. The interest starts accruing immediately, but you are not billed for it until the promotional term expires - for example 6 months, 12 months, etc. You will see the expiration date and accrued interest amount on your bill. I always make sure I can pay off the entire amount well before the expiration date. Also, I schedule automatic payments through the website so it's paid every two weeks (pay day works well for me). I divide the balance by number of payments and schedule all of them right away. It's very easy to do this and will prevent late payment fees and the possibility of defaulting and getting hit with the accrued interest. I haven't had to deal directly with GE CRB customer service yet, so I don't have any complaints on that.
The benefit of having a card like this is being able to use it for major purchases, paying it off over time, and avoiding any interest charges because you are paying off the balance before the promotional term (deferred interest) expires. You can't do that with a regular credit card. If you want a card to make frequent purchases with and plan on paying off the balance at the end of the month, you're much better off with a regular credit card. One warning... I noticed that after I was approved for this card my method of payment for Kindle one click purchases changed to this card. Keeping it that way would not be good and I wanted to make sure others know about this. I'm pretty sure you'd be hit with the interest at the end of the month since the purchases you would be making are lower than what's required to receive the no interest promotions. I changed it back to my debit card.
Just keep on top of the account, don't use it to make a bunch of purchases, and pay the balance off before the promotional terms expire and you'll be fine. Like all credit, being responsible is the key to not getting in trouble with it.
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Reviewed in the United States on December 5, 2012
