Picking out clothes for young children can be difficult, but fortunately The Children’s Place makes it a bit easier by focusing on just this niche, offering stuff for newborns, 14 year-olds, and every age in-between. So how does their credit card measure up?

Pros

• For purchases paid for with the Childrens Place card, a 5% discount is given. For a store-affiliated card, this is generous.
• There is no limit to the amount of rewards that can be earned, so virtually all spending at their stores will be earning the 5%.
• As with most store cards, they usually offer a higher discount on the first purchase made. As I write this review, the application said it was 20%.
• There are seasonal sales/promotions (sent via mail and email) to cardholders periodically.

Cons

• The Childrens Place credit card carries a very high interest rate, reportedly as much as 25.99%. If the balance is paid in full every month this won’t be a problem but if not, the finance charges very well might wash out the value of any savings earned from the rewards program.
• Although the card is issued by Citibank, it is not affiliated with Visa or MasterCard. The only place you can use this credit card is at their stores, which means it’s of limited use.
• The website lists this number (1-800-810-3202) for cardholder customer service but when I called it, I discovered service is only offered Monday thru Friday, 9 am to 8 pm Eastern… so there’s no 24/7 service.

Should You Apply?

I think the answer depends on how much you will be spending at their stores per year. If you only have one or two children/grandchildren and only expect to spend a few hundred dollars per year, it might not be worth the hassle. On the other hand, if you have a lot of kids to buy clothes for the 5% savings plus the coupons may very well be worth it.

If you think you spend enough for it to make sense, my recommendation would be to strategically time when you open the account – submit the Childrens Place credit card application right before you plan on making a big purchase (such as Christmas time or back-to-school) because that way, you will be able to milk the first-purchase discount to its full extent.

Other 5% rebate options?

If you are interested in major credit cards that offer 5% discounts at clothing stores, here are a couple options worth looking into:

• Discover More – 5% at clothing and dept. stores for 2 quarters (so half the year)
• Chase Freedom – 5% at dept. stores for 1 quarter per year

Now this final recommendation doesn’t give 5% but it does give you an unlimited 3% rebate at department stores year-round, plus 6% at supermarkets, 3% on gas, and 1% everywhere else. Check out this American Express Blue Cash Preferred review to learn more.

This review was written July 2011