If you live in the Midwest, you know about Meijer grocery stores. Read this Meijer credit card review to find out if it actually is going to save you any money. Some even ask me if the Meijer card is a scam? Well it’s not, because they abide by all laws, so that’s not the issue. The problem is simply that their “rewards” program is very unrewarding…

First of all I’d like to point out I’m actually a huge fan of this company. I grew up in Michigan and that is where they were founded. Unlike Wal-Mart and others one-stop-shops, I like the fact that Meijers has remained a private company (the 19th largest in the country). However there was one negative thing I recently read about the company from the Human Rights Campaign. According to reports, out of the top 500 employers they rate, Meijer was only one of three companies to be scored a flat 0%. One reason was that they do not offer “even minimal benefits or workplace protection for gay employees.” So in summary, some types of discrimination and harassment against employees is allegedly permitted, as long as it is due to their orientation. But enough off-topic chit chat, let’s get back to that credit card….

The Credit Cards…
Their cards have now been around for years and from my experience they are usually heavily promoted at their stores. Almost always it seems like they are advertising some promotion to get you to sign up – either a small one-time credit or a few pennies off your gas purchases for two or three months.

There are currently two options…

Meijer Credit Card: This is their store-only card which is not associated with any major network (such as Visa or MasterCard) and it can only be used for purchases at their stores/gas stations. At the time of this review, the APR on this one starts at a whopping 26.99%! If you don’t have the best credit you will most likely receive this one instead of their regular card which I’ll talk about next…

Meijer MasterCard: This card operates on the MasterCard network so it can be used anywhere they are accepted. It’s a so called “Platinum” but this appears to be just a marketing gimmick because it doesn’t add any benefits which are special. The interest rate is extremely high on this too, starting at either 19.99% or 23.99% depending on your credit.

The Rewards…
Of course this is probably the main thing that sparked your interest in the first place, but once you run the numbers, you will be surprised to see just how un-rewarding these cards actually is…

5 Cents/Gallon Rebate: At first glance, this may sound like a good deal. But remember that is 5 cents, not 5 percent. At $3.00/gallon, that equals out to be only around 1.6% cash back and keep in mind that’s only at Meijer gas stations. Not too impressive, is it?

Points on Purchases: Now this, in my opinion, is quite misleading. They advertise you will get 1 point for every dollar spent – whether it be at Meijers or somewhere else. No most of us usually assume 1 point equals out to be 1% in rewards, right? That’s not the case here. For every 2,000 points, you get a certificate for $10 in “Meijer Bucks.” Do the math and you will see this card only gives you one-half a percent back. Being that almost every credit card on the market today gives 1% cash back (double what they give) this is an awful deal.

A Better Choice…
There are much better reward cards out there. My favorite is by far the Discover More card. To be completely transparent with you, I want to point out that although this site has a financial affiliate relationship with Discover, we also do with most other financial institutions too. The reason I endorse this particular card over others is because I believe it offers the best value: a full 5% cash back bonus in rotating categories like grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants, and more. Not only does it give literally up to 10x the cash back that the Meijer credit card offers, but you can also use it everywhere… including Meijer! To find out more about how to get this card for free check out my Discover More review.