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Home > I caved into getting a store card, after 10 years

I caved into getting a store card, after 10 years

November 3rd, 2011 at 11:04 pm

We have possessed three store charge cards in our joint lifetimes: a The Bay card, Bon Marche card, and now Target.

Target I can actually walk to, and now that it's expanded its offerings to include dairy and fresh produce I can see myself using it. As a bonus I'd hoped to give some money via the RedCard to my school.

My school has been in existence for three years. It is not in the Target "Take Charge of Education" database. Nobody in the school administration had added it, no PTA fundraising coordinator thought to include Target.

I thought if I had the school's tax id number I could call Target and get it added, but no. I had a 89%-misunderstood conversation with a woman who thought "Tax ID" was "Target ID" and that strictly kindergarten-to-twelfth-grade schools were allowed in the database. She even thought that when I told her of the elementary schools, middle schools, parochial private schools, alternative K-8 school and high school listed in the database.

So now I have a Target RedCard temporary slip so I can get my 5% discount right away. We'll see if the school PTA board responds to my ideas about public awareness. Our school isn't even in Wikipedia.

Posted in pityparty | 8 Comments »

8 Responses to “I caved into getting a store card, after 10 years”

  1. MonkeyMama Says:
    November 4th, 2011 at 12:16 am 1320365819
    1320365819

    I am sure other parents will appreciate your effort. Our school is also new, but Target told me 2-3 other people were donating to the school through their Red Card. (It tells you this info when you choose your school online). Which is kind of pathetic since I know more people have them! But, reading this post makes me appreciate someone else was first and got it all set up.

  2. MonkeyMama Says:
    November 4th, 2011 at 12:17 am 1320365864
    1320365864

    P.S. This is the first store card I have ever opened, I believe. Certainly for more than a one-time use. It's a pretty good deal - hard to pass up.

  3. My English Castle Says:
    November 4th, 2011 at 12:48 am 1320367715
    1320367715

    I've been trying hard to get other parents interested. Many of them misunderstood the Target pitch and thought that their 1 percent donation came off of the 5 percent they saved with the RedCard. But over the years, they've raised more than $10,000 with the RedCard at my daughter's elementary school.

    It's so much easier than all those bake sales and gift wrap fundraisers.

  4. PauletteGoddard Says:
    November 4th, 2011 at 03:40 am 1320378030
    1320378030

    I mentioned to the PTA fundraiser that we were not the only family at the school who shopped at Target. 5% off everything is a good deal.

    Yeah, I asked my husband to talk me out of the RedCard, but he rarely talks me out of anything and saw no reason to talk me out of THIS store card. It's true we don't spend enough to go crazy with the card -- Target awarded me a $2500 credit limit, which is about 2.5 times what I thought I'd get. I know MSN Money published an article on five reasons store cards can be bad, but tough times necessitate creative revenue streams for our schools.

  5. My English Castle Says:
    November 4th, 2011 at 03:16 pm 1320419813
    1320419813

    I'm with you on that Paulette.
    I'm saving the GM Box tops for Education, and though our school doesn't save Campbell's labels, our Admin's daughter's school does. I don't like it; I want proper school funding, but everything helps these days.

  6. dmontngrey Says:
    November 4th, 2011 at 04:53 pm 1320425617
    1320425617

    We had a Target card for YEARS, but stopped using it because it didn't offer us anything. It got closed after 1 year of no use. Now I miss it since they started offering this 5%.

  7. PauletteGoddard Says:
    November 4th, 2011 at 05:29 pm 1320427769
    1320427769

    From your account, dmontngrey, I chanced upon a store card that actually ADDED benefits over time while my Spank of America credit card I've had for eleven years had its benefits reduced or eliminated.

    I also looked really carefully at the bank underwriting the Target RedCard before I applied: I don't pursue charge cards underwritten by HSBC or JP Morgan Chase or FIA Card Services, but this was underwritten by Target National Bank.

  8. dmontngrey Says:
    November 5th, 2011 at 01:07 pm 1320498448
    1320498448

    Oh, I don't miss it *that* much. Wink I have plenty of other card reward options to choose from that suit me just fine. This would have just been a bonus when I picked up my new netbook the other night. The extra warranty protection my Amex provides trumps the 5% any day though. Smile

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