As I'm sure most of you know, having a store credit card isn't usually a good idea. The interest rates are usually much higher than general credit cards. Since I pay my credit cards in full, I thought it might not be a bad idea to sign up for Khol's card to get the initial savings on a fairly large purchase, along with future savings. BIG mistake. While I did save a fair amount of money, I was not able to go home and log right on to the Khol's site to pay the bill. I was getting virus warnings and didn't want to risk it. So I just waited to get the bill, knowing I would pay it immediately, though I didn't like the idea of paying it through the mail. I got the bill about a month and a half later, my first bill. With a finance charge and a late penalty fee! The finance charge and late fee ate up every penny I saved, and then some. I called Khol's and was told that was not the first bill but the second one. It may have been, but it was the first bill the P.O. delivered to my address, and since I put my email address on the application, if I missed a payment, why didn't they email me? It took a lot of persistence and I had to talk to 2 different people but they did eventually removed the finance charges and penalties. Since it only took 1 1/2 months to receive the (according to them) second bill, the first payment would have been due in less than a month after the card was opened. I hate to accuse them of anything but I have to wonder, is this intentional? Has anyone else had a similar experience?
I'm pretty sure it's 'Kohl's'. That sucks. You always have to read the fine print when you sign up for these crazy card deals. It's the reason they try to get you at check-out. They know you're not going to stand there and read through anything. They want you to pay penalties and fees. So, the deal you're getting probably won't outweigh what they're getting.
I would side with you on this one. I had a store card once and they couldn't seem to get the bill to me more than a day or two before it was due. This was in the days before electronic banking. So, after numerous late payment charges (all disputed), I looked at the cancellation from the post office. Sure enough, the bill wasn't being mailed out early enough to actually get it to me and return it. In the end I did get all the fees waived, but I imagine that a lot of people are not savvy enough to call out a company when they cheat.
I am sorry you had that experience. We did what you did for back to school shopping and didn't have any problems at all. I love Kohls and all there great sales and discounts we get, it really worked out great for us. We did have something like that happen at a different store when we opened a store credit card. We got it fixed, and then we very quickly closed that account.
