SEARS DEBUTS A NEW PUSH TO BOOST CREDIT ; Rolling dice, retailer will expand the borrowing power of basic store card.(Brief Article)

Crain's Chicago Business, May, 2001 by Baeb, Eddie

Sears, Roebuck and Co. is supercharging its store credit card. Hoping to reignite a stalled credit business that produces more than half of its profits, Hoffman Estates-based Sears is outfitting its basic store card with the features of a general purpose bank credit card. Beginning this fall, some Sears Card holders will be able to use it for cash advances, balance transfers from other credit cards and purchases at merchants not affiliated with Sears.

The retail and credit giant also is hiking the interest rate on its store card to 21.9% from 21%, boosting the minimum monthly finance charge to $1 from 50 cents and reducing the minimum monthly payment-all moves that will squeeze more profits out of the plastic. Sears is the first U.S. retailer to turn a...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Premium Content Partnership | HighBeam Research provides an in-depth online archive library of reference works.