Frys Credit Card Review
If you live on the Southwest side of the country (like me) I’m sure you’re familiar with Fry’s Electronics. If you live elsewhere in the country, probably not (although they are starting to branch out to a couple other places). If you’ve ever made a sizable purchase there, your salesman probably asked if you wanted to fill out a Frys credit card application, but should you apply? Let’s take a closer look…
Q: Can you apply online?
A: At the time of writing you cannot apply for a Frys card online. They actually don’t have much info up at all about the card. To find out more about it I had to call customer service to answer a couple of my questions.
Q: What are the rewards?
A: There is no cash back, points, or other rewards program on the Frys card. This is definitely a letdown, considering that if you’re shopping there, odds are you are probably buying some bigger ticket items like TVs, computers, appliances, etc (missing out on the rewards you would be earning if paying with a regular credit card).
Q: What is the interest rate?
A: At the time of writing this review, their credit card application had a 26.99% APR on purchases. It’s not “up to” that rate, but rather the customer service rep I spoke to said it was the same APR for everyone (unless your account had the default APR, which was even higher at 29.99%). Therefore whether you have bad credit or great credit, you are going to be paying nosebleed interest rates. Among my credit card reviews, this is definitely one of the worst interest rates I have ever seen.
Q: Are the promotional financing offers any good?
A: The reason most people apply for a Frys credit card is probably because of the financing offers, but if they took a closer look they would discover what a rotten deal they actually are.
According to the customer service rep I spoke with, some items at the store come with a 12 months deferred interest promotion. She said it’s not based on the dollar amount you spend, but rather the particular item you’re purchasing (as an example, she said high end TVs often qualify). Many people wrongly intrepret this promotion as meaning it’s interest-free for 12 months and that is NOT the case.
If you don’t pay off every penny of your purchase before the 12 month promo period is up, then you will be slapped with interest retroactively going back to the date of purchase, for the entire purchase amount. At a 26.99% APR, that’s a lot of money! Therefore this is a horrible deal unless you can definitely pay off your purchase in full before the promo period ends. The rep also mentioned to me that late payments might cause you to lose out on the promo period, so if you ever make late payments this deal is a bad idea.
Should You Apply or Not?
I see no reason to apply. Plenty of normal credit cards give 0% for 12 months and unlike the Frys card, they won’t charge interest retroactively if it takes you longer than 12 months to pay the balance. Plus a normal credit card usually have a rewards program too.
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I’ve had my Fry’s card for about 5 years with no issues at all. Everything is right there in black and white. I’ve used it for several promotions and as long as the card is paid off there was never interest on the promotions. I’ve never gotten a late fee either. All store cards are like this. I’ve also never had a problem at their registers. I’ve been shopping at Fry’s for 20yrs and have had problems, but they’ve always been resolved.
Signed up for card.. got approved yet for some reason I can`t use it in the store?? It freezes all their computers and I had to use a different credit card. This has happened several times this last week and I spoke to the credit card people, they said that happens all the time.. did I miss something??
Shannon that happened to me multiple times. It was frustrating. I am never sure if I will be able to use the frys card and I am ready to another card everytime. This is worse credit card experience I had.
I tried calling to find my balance and it said my acct number wasn’t valid, called several times same thing everytime, even know it wasn’t valid they had no problem billing me… Weird.
The biggest issues I have with Frys c/c is that you CANNOT use their card to make purchases online or over the phone. HUH?? and their c/c website is prehistoric and sometimes the login screen wont accept your password which locks the system and forces a phone call to unlock it. Love the store, hate the card. They told me the last time that I called customer service that they would be making a big change to the card service soon, i.e. moving to another bank to provide credit.
We used the card for a small purchase. Then we sent the check a week before, but they did not post it until the following week, therefore we were billed a late fee of a couple of dollars. It is handled by a little known bank in Draper Utah called the First Electronic Bank.
When I called and asked why the late posing and the late fee, (I was polite) she said the computers were down and couldn’t tell me. I called the next day and the next, each time with the same answer. Since she spoke broken English I asked to talk to a supervisor. she Hung Up. My wife called and she hung up on her. I called again asking for a physical address, and she hung up.
I called Fry’s and they said they don’t control the credit card. When I asked to talk to a supervisor she hung up. (All conversations were polite.)
My late charges are now up to forty dollars. They charge late fees on the late fees.
I Turned the information over to the Utah State Attorneys office, but they said they only handle consumer complaints??? (I thought I was a consumer.) I suspect you have to be a Mormon consumer.
I contacted the FDIC Complaint department, but have not heard back. An accountant told me that in most cases these slickly boy operations don’t expect to collect all late fees they rack up, but use those amounts to allegedly write off income taxes.
This practice is same for all store cc. If you are only blaming frys then you are surely mislead. Store cc like bb and frys are really only good for the promotion no interest periods and you are meant to pay if off before the period ends. Never seen a cc where the interest is not tacked on after the period is over and you dont pay off the item.
You can’t view payments history so you don’t know what they do to your account.
I didn’t know that they charged $10 late fee on the month you pay off before the promo expired. This happened to me too. I always paid on time and received a letter stating that they reversed my payment without any explanation. They made it looks like I sent check without funds to cover. If I didn’t have funds to cover, how come my bank never notified me? They just didn’t withdraw my money and claimed I was late.
They said they do me a favor for not charging check returned. The check never returned. also since I made payment electronically, there wasn’t any check. when I requested to speak with a manager, they refused and finally, they transferred to a voice mail and claiming all managers are in the meeting. I’ve heard this a thousand times. I’ll write a letter to the president of the company to tell him how shady his company is. They said I have to pay in full in order for them to waive the fee.
I can’t believe they didn’t give customer one courtesy first time late (which is not true because they did receive payment 2 days before it was due) they said unless I make full payment otherwise they wont waive. I do have money to pay in full but I refused because they don’t value customers. I left a message telling if they don’t do what I asked they just close my account. I have good credit, I don’t need this pathetic company. I’m a credit analyst. I know how credit works. Don’t use Frys credit. they’re not royal to the customers. It’s all about the principal. $10 can’t buy much anything nowadays. They must be desperate needing money. Obviously the balance is low and that’s why they can only charge $10 but that’s 10% of the balance. I hate Frys.
I set up two payments online. One to debited from my checking account and the other to debited from my husband’s checking account. i made the payments 4 days before the due date and they still charged us a $25.00 late fee!! when i went online to view recent activity, the payments we made were not even there. Awful credit card. Can not wait to pay it off so that we never have to deal with them again.
Last time I went into Fry’s, they tried to get me to apply for their card. When I asked them for a paper application so that I could read the terms and see the interest rate, I was told that there weren’t any. I was further informed that I wouldn’t be able to sign up online. When I asked the supervisor why I should possibly want to sign up for a credit card without even seeing an interest rate first, the supervisor got huffy. I decided that going into something like that blind and pushed at me by rude people was a bad idea. After reading this forum, I’m so glad I refused
Thank God I refused this card, It sounds too much for me. I must agree with Isaac’s post. Frys is notorious for rudeness, poor customer service, and salesman who are ready to pitch junk at ya. All I wanted was another camera-something simple for my 11 y/o son to use. I don’t consider an $1800 Canon to be simple nor would I want my son to have it ( that cam would be mine!!) But at 26.99% with hidden fees, lack of good communication skills from Frys employees (some, not all) and horrible management from First Electronic Bank, I simply refused this satanistic offer and left. After all, in ten years, I might find that same $1800 camera in a thrift shop.
Have a good day, and spend wisely! If ya aint got the money, you don’t need it.
I was about to apply, and saw this forum, I am glad. I have decent credit and will go tthrough my credit union. Thanks for the info…And saving me some headache.
We got turned down for a Frys C/C , I’m glad wouldnt want the hassle anyway
This credit card is a joke. they alway charge you odd fees, I can’t sign up for the online service, because according to them my application was filled wrong (by an ASSociate)and therefore I need to MAIL them a copy of my SSN and my driver license somewhere in Utah because I can’t even do it at the store anymore, haaa!!!!. They have had two, one for fee and the other free, over the phone payment services started within the last 12 months and suddenly canceled, so your only option is to mail it or pay over the phone, but they charge you a $15 fee. I signed up for bill pay thru my bank and they have not sent my E-bill since last year, they only sent it once. They are always trying to make you late and charge you fees. As soon as I get a little more money I’ll get rid of this card and never ever shop at fry”s again. On top of this their customer service is the WORST in the whole industry they transfer you to someone who does not know anything to someone very rude.
Just canceled my Fry’s card. They stopped me from using it at the store and I had to call customer service, who told me I was 8 days overdue on my bill. When I asked when they had sent the bill, they informed me that since I had logged onto their website to check my balance, their system had automatically assigned me to electronic ONLY billing and payment. FYI, there’s not one word on their website that mentions this policy. Immoral? Definitely. Illegal? Probably.
Who needs the drama?
we had one of the frys credit card deals this speaks of and paid the whole balance on time from our last bill to avoid the intrest , however they claim that we had a 10.00 late fee that wasnt on the bill and now we owe the intrest , what do you recomend we do thanx bg
The card functions like any other credit card. You don’t pay within the stated period you will be “slapped” back with the accrued interest balance. That occurs with Best Buy credit cards as well. I wouldn’t pin point just Frys exclusively.
People should not be counseled on how to own or manage their expenses. They should already know, given that the associates are paid to run their credit and equally explain the terms and conditions. I have worked at Fry’s in the past, Best Buy, and they have similar credit conditions just like the credit cards I have in my wallet.
**Moral of the story: Read the fine print everytime and know how to manage your spending and outstanding balances.