Shopping at BJ’s Wholesale Club is truly a fantastic experience since it offers slightly lower prices than Costco. And if you use BJ’s credit cards, you can save a good deal of amount. This, however, doesn’t generalize that the cards don’t come with any flaws.
BJ’s Credit Card Review
Intro Bonus: None
Regular APR: 14.99% or 24.99%, based upon your creditworthiness
Credit Score: Fair to Good
Annual Fee: $0
Highlights:
- You can get either a BJ’s Perks Elite or a BJ’s Perks Plus.
- The BJ’s Perks Elite can earn up to 5% cashback.
- The cards can get a 10¢ off/gal. at BJ’s Gas every day.
- Digital certificate awards can be issued in $10 increments.
- The cashback can be requested in the form of a check before the awards expire.
- There is no annual fee, but you need to pay for the membership of the cards.
BJ’s Credit Cards Review:
BJ’s Perks Plus and BJ’s Perks Elite
At a glance, BJ’s credit cards are incredibly appealing, which is true in most parts. Nonetheless, looking deep into their details will give you a better insight into why you should think twice before applying for one.
Applying for the card will give you two choices: the BJ’s Perks Plus and the BJ’s Perks Elite. The two cards require no annual fees, but it doesn’t mean using them goes free, and we’ll get into that in a few minutes.
There are no welcome bonuses in either of the two cards, which can be a bit frustrating, especially now that most cards offer discounts to $200 cashback. Thankfully, BJ’s credit cards make up in other sections, and that’s in the cashback you can earn.
The two cards will basically give you 2% cashback on dining out and non-BJ’s gas purchases and 1% cashback everywhere else Mastercard is accepted. There’s also a 10¢ off/gal. at BJ’s Gas every day when you use the card. However, the cashback rate you’ll receive on most in-Club and BJs.com purchases will depend on the type of card you will get. With this, you can either have a 5% cashback of BJ’s Perks Elite or the 3% cashback of BJ’s Perks Plus.
And while you can instantly enjoy the discount at BJ’s Gas using the cards, you need to collect a sufficient amount of cashback to claim your reward in the form of a digital certificate award in $10 increments.
You can use your awards at check-out at BJ’s, but do mind that they will expire six months from the date they are issued. Your earnings will also expire 36 months after they are posted to your program balance, so you need to make sure to use them before that happens. But there’s a piece of good news: your cashback can be requested in the form of a check prior to the awards expiring. You can contact BJ’s Member Care at 800-BJs-CLUB to do this.
The things mentioned above probably make the two BJ’s credit cards pretty exciting, but there is a drawback. While there are no annual fees on the cards, you need to pay for the club’s membership to redeem and fully use your cashback reward at BJ’s. The BJ’s Membership fee will vary depending on your card, which is $50 for the BJ’s Perks Plus and $100 for the BJ’s Perks Elite.
Final Thoughts:
The question you always need to ask yourself when considering a card is whether it will fit your spending needs or not, or how frequently you will use it to the place where it is meant to be used. In the case of BJ’s credit card, it is essential to note that the membership-only warehouse club chain is only available on the East Coast of the United States. So if you are not anywhere near the said area, getting the card might seem the best idea.
The membership fee overshadowing the “free annual fee” is a bit dismaying, but the much larger issue can be the redemption flexibility of the earnings you’ll get. And if that seems to bother you, we recommend opting for general rewards cards that can offer you better versatility features. Some of them are those issued by Wells Fargo, Citi, Capital One, Bank of America, Discover, Amex, and Chase. The credit card portfolios of these issuers are extremely rich, so you will undoubtedly find a card that will benefit you anywhere you use it, be it anywhere in States or even abroad. Some even have fantastic intro bonuses and offers, including up to $200 cashback bonuses to 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers.
