# Do there exist "minor" credit cards? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 30, 2005, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-there-exist-minor-credit-cards/296901 "2005-03-30T05:08:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pizzabrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9c0ed/32.png) [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-there-exist-minor-credit-cards/296901/21 "2005-03-31T01:34:08Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > If the network never tries to venture into comic books or super-heroics, I think they’re safe. Trademarks in different industries are legal. Whoops, nevermind. I thought you meant the WB network, not Shazam network. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-there-exist-minor-credit-cards/296901/22 "2005-03-31T02:02:39Z")
What gives? I said the wizard’s name 9 posts ago, and I still haven’t transformed. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-there-exist-minor-credit-cards/296901/23 "2005-03-31T02:14:09Z")
Many thanks. Store credit cards simply didn’t occur to me. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-there-exist-minor-credit-cards/296901/24 "2005-03-31T02:30:45Z")
> [@ltfire](#): > > Take note that these ‘minor’ cards are treated like any other potential debt on a credit report. When I accessed my credit report last year, I found a listing for Mongomery Ward credit card, with a $5000.00 limit on it. There was a bank name listed, and it was considered a bank card,like Visa or Mastercard. Wards went out of business some ten odd years ago, so it’s up to you to get these things off the report. I, like a lot of people, have a pocketful of ‘store only’ cards. I carry no balance on any of them. They are convenient if you are in that particular store. Keep in mind that they all carry a credit limit, sometimes in the thousands, that the credit reporting agencies consider potential debt, and that’s not good. Too many of those kicking around are bad, but having an extra couple thousand (or I suppose more, depending on your situation) is actually good. For example, my credit rating shot way up once I got myself a Chevron credit card, a Mens Wearhouse credit card, and got my VISA upped from $500 to $1000. I never carry a balance on the store cards, so that’s an extra $2500 in usable (if very specific) credit. ---
**Author:** ![iwakura43](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de0a6/32.png) [@iwakura43](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iwakura43)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-there-exist-minor-credit-cards/296901/25 "2005-03-31T02:39:16Z")
JCB (Japan Credit Bureau) is really big in the eastern world. According to its website (link above) they have 50 million+ cardholders; compare Amex with about 60 million. Most of the bigger hotel chains take it because of Japanese business travelers and such. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-there-exist-minor-credit-cards/296901/26 "2005-03-31T02:42:14Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > [JCB](http://www.jcbusa.com/) woud appear to be a Japanese credit card issuer. The only place I’ve seen it accepted here (in L.A.) is the UCLA Bookstore, where we get quite a few Japanese tourists. I managed billing & payments systems for a large ecommerce company and we acceptd JCB for online purchases starting around 1999-2000. I don’t work there anymore and I’m not sure if they still accept it. ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-there-exist-minor-credit-cards/296901/27 "2005-03-31T03:21:25Z")
> [@a pirahna brother](#): > > For example, a Sears credit card can be used at Sears, Sears Auto Centers, or the vision centers/photo centers/etc. that some stores have, you can’t use them anywhere else like you could a regular Visa or Mastercard. > > (disclaimer: since Sears and K-Mart have merged, you may in the future be able to use the Sears card at K-Mart and vice-versa, but at the moment, each store uses its’ own cards.) > > D. Pirahna Sears replaced my store charge card with a Sears Mastercard about 5 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-there-exist-minor-credit-cards/296901/28 "2005-03-31T03:36:52Z")
> [@jasonh300](#): > > Sears replaced my store charge card with a Sears Mastercard about 5 years ago. I know this is a hijack, but what’s the point? What’s in it for the “associated” company to have a MC or Visa with their name on? ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-there-exist-minor-credit-cards/296901/29 "2005-03-31T11:44:15Z")
You can use the card anywhere a Visa or MC is accepted so it’s more useful to the customer. ---
**Author:** ![Tenar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@Tenar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenar)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-there-exist-minor-credit-cards/296901/30 "2005-03-31T11:54:38Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > I know this is a hijack, but what’s the point? What’s in it for the “associated” company to have a MC or Visa with their name on? Pardon the speculation here, but it is probable that the stores get either a break on the per-transaction fee they pay or some kind of small (legal) kickback. Plus, of course, they are encouraging customers to make larger purchases (charrrrge it!) without incurring the costs and risks involved in having and administering their own store card. In return, the credit card company gets more customers and the advantage of having the store “push” their card. What I’m curious about is how the stores and credit companies split the cost of those “apply today and get a $50.00 credit toward your first purchase” kind of things. ---
**Author:** ![a\_pirahna\_brother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@a\_pirahna\_brother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a_pirahna_brother)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-there-exist-minor-credit-cards/296901/31 "2005-03-31T19:20:36Z")
> [@jasonh300](#): > > Sears replaced my store charge card with a Sears Mastercard about 5 years ago. Hmmm, hadn’t noticed that, thanks for the info. FWIW, every time I buy anything at my local Sears store that is $20 or more, they always ask me if I want to put it on my Sears card, then they try to get me to sign up for one since I don’t have one, but I’ve never heard them call it a Sears/Mastercard, that’s why I thought it was still Sears only. D.Pirahna ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-there-exist-minor-credit-cards/296901/32 "2005-03-31T20:07:42Z")
> [@pizzabrat](#): > > TimeWarner owns DC. The question was whether AOL Time Warner would have a trademark infringement claim against the Shazam financial services company. **Rjung** ’s point is correct: Identical trademarks can co-exist so long as the companies are not competing in the same market. > [@jasonh300](#): > > Sears replaced my store charge card with a Sears Mastercard about 5 years ago. Sears’s house card still exists. I have one. > [@ltfire](#): > > Wards went out of business some ten odd years ago There was a Wards store still operating in the Washington, D.C., area about three years ago, until it was converted to a Target Greatland. Montgomery Ward still has a [Web site](http://www.wards.com). It seems that its mail order business is still in operation. And, indeed, they do still have their own [house card](http://www.wards.com/wards/paymentoptions.asp?partner=0) . ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-there-exist-minor-credit-cards/296901/33 "2005-03-31T21:06:02Z")
> [@jasonh300](#): > > Sears replaced my store charge card with a Sears Mastercard about 5 years ago. With your permission, or, by ignoring the letter they sent to customers. The fine print said that if you did NOT want your account to be changed from a Sears card to a Sears Mastercard, you had to mail them back with your choice. I kept the Sears card…have enough Mastercards. ---
**Author:** ![qubed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f07891/32.png) [@qubed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qubed)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-there-exist-minor-credit-cards/296901/34 "2005-03-31T21:30:40Z")
Well, now most Diners Card can be accepted at any Mastercard merchant, so its usefulness has increased considerably. [Cite](http://www.mastercardmerchant.com/acquirers/dinersclub/) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-there-exist-minor-credit-cards/296901.md?page=1)