DELL Preferred Accounts are being converted to Comenity Bank (Dell Pay Credit) Account(s)

[marqedsade]

Anyone see this?   Thoughts?

 

https://newsroom.breadfinancial.com/bread-financial-dell-credit-program-announcement

[hegemony]

to quote that 21st Century philosopher @Kat58

 

"gross"

[StarkRaven$]

My DH just received the letter yesterday from Dell Technologies with a Comenity insert outling the change by Oct 4.

[CreditSucksNot]

1 hour ago, StarkRaven$ said:

My DH just received the letter yesterday from Dell Technologies with a Comenity insert outling the change by Oct 4.

 

I got the same letter.  I have a $5500 limit and zero balance so I couldn't care less.  I only keep the line open because of its usefulness in keeping utilization lower.  

[hdporter]

I wonder if Comenity will lift the $7k cap that my line has been under since its 2006 open.

[MP80]

On 8/28/2023 at 6:42 PM, hdporter said:

I wonder if Comenity will lift the $7k cap that my line has been under since its 2006 open.

I've seen people who have these two credit cards from Comenity, Good Sam Camping World, and Sportsman's Guide with a credit limit of $18,000 to $23,000. So, it seems like you could add $10,000 to your Dell credit card account if the credit card portfolio moves from stingy WebBank to Comenity Capital.

 

In the past year, Comenity has had two most popular (FOTM) cards of the month, the AAA Visa card and the Bread Amex card. These two cards have a credit limit of~ $7,000 to $12,000, and judging by recent trends, I think the average credit limit is about $10,000 approval of the credit card account's initial limit.

[hdporter]

In my experience, Comenity is an inconsistent beast; though I expect that I should be able to increase my Dell CL from it's paltry $7k with this move.  (My last purchase, 2 years ago, came to $4500:  a $3000 a 15" hi res powerhouse touchscreen laptop for myself, and a laptop for Bev as an alternate to her work machine.)

 

I had no trouble getting my Comenity Total/Caesars Rewards VISA to $30k (they would likely go higher), but they capped my Frontgate store card to $10k (all the Pottery Barn a/c's were acquired by Cap One in the past year).   Could be that they keep their store cards on a tighter leash (the examples you cite are VISA's; unfortunately it seems that the Dell card continues to be slated as a "store" card under Comenity.

 

FWIW, I opened an AAA Visa under BA 2 years ago and got $15k out of the starting gate.  I'm likely to give this card the ax.  I applied for it on a whim shortly after taking a NE AAA membership and it's been dormant since, other than renewal fees.   Card is not advantageous vs other cards already in my wallet.

 

 

[MP80]

They have a list of 90 Comenity Bank store credit cards, some of them have a $50k limit like the Pottery Barn store card, so comparing it to a Visa card is irrelevant, many aspects of the store card have an average of $25K line from the Citi Macys Card to Sync Care Credit or the Lowe home improvement card. It depends on whether your credit situation allows for a high credit limit.

[hdporter]

2 hours ago, MP80 said:

It depends on whether your credit situation allows for a high credit limit.

 

Based on my experience, it depends on more than that. 

 

My Frontgate was opened first and they steadfastly refused to increase the CL above $10K, despite a few purchases of $1500-$4000. 

 

Yet they approved the Total/Caesars Rewards card with a CL in the mid-teens and quickly acceded to CLI requests, putting it at $30k in relatively short order.  (I seldom charged more than $200 on that card in a given month.)

[swimmingwithsharks]

It seems to me like Comenity and Synchrony are eventually going to take all over the store cards. Macy's and Home Depot are still with Citi, but most of the other retailers (big and small) have signed up with either Comenity or Synchrony. Even Amazon is with Synchrony!!! (yes, the Amazon Visas are with Chase and the business cards are with Amex, which is even more surprising, but it's Amazon who can work systems better than any other business) 

[hdporter]

15 minutes ago, swimmingwithsharks said:

It seems to me like Comenity and Synchrony are eventually going to take all over the store cards.

 

If so, there's good reason; Comenity/Synchrony provide "turn key" credit solutions to merchants at costs that are a fraction of managing their own credit programs.  Of course, it appears that a key contributor to that is to provide a modicum of customer service compared to other credit issuers.

 

Now that Capital One has been more aggressive in signing up new merchants and acquiring existing private label/co-brand card accounts, I'm waiting to see if they eventually go after the Citi portfolio (Sears/Home Depot/Macy's/Best Buy etc.).  Citi has been seeking a buyer for over a decade, but won't consider anything other than a sterling price tag.  I'll suggest that the retail credit market is a good match against Capital One's existing customer demographic.

 

If Capital One turns a decent profit on this book of business, it could be a formidable competitor to Comenity and Synchrony.  I look for stronger customer service and, in my limited experience with the Williams Sonoma/Pottery Barn credit cards, C1 has been willing to CLI accounts that Synchrony had capped.  There could be a lot about C1's card management that would attract existing Comenity/Synchrony card merchants.