Store Cards

Store cards are usually accepted in all stores belonging to the same retail group. For example, the House of Fraser store card is accepted in Rackhams and House of Fraser stores, as these are parts of the same company.

They are not likely to be accepted in any other stores, or in branches of that store outside the UK . You would not, for instance, be able to make purchases in an Ikea store in Sweden using your UK Ikea store card. However a few cards, most notably the Style card, are accepted across a network of UK retailers.

Many retailers have now expanded their finance facilities and are beginning to offer their own , as the potential profits from providing a credit card are high. Marks & Spencers were recently censured by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) along with GE Capital (who operate the store cards of Harrods and Debenhams) for automatically "upgrading" consumers' store cards to full .

Although store cards may be convenient for some and offer benefits such as discounts on in-store products, it should be noted that the interest rate charged by retailers on these cards can be quite high. River Island and Debenhams' store cards, for example, charge 28.0-29.9% APR, depending on payment method. These are typical interest rates, with the higher end breaching the 30% mark, such as on the Comet store card.