The right card can help you earn rewards on that expense, avoid interest charges — or both. And on both of those counts, the Pep Boys Synchrony Car Care Credit Card is a poor option. It doesn’t earn any rewards, and its financing offer comes with a potentially costly caveat.
If car-related expenses are in your future, another credit card will serve you much better. Some, like the Fasten card and the Upgrade Triple Cash Rewards card, are tailored for car owners. Co-branded credit cards with certain auto companies can also be solid choices. The Jeep and Dodge credit cards are some of the best ones.
Here’s what you need to know about the Pep Boys credit card, issued by Synchrony Bank.
1. There are two Pep Boys credit cards … kind of
The Pep Boys Synchrony Car Care credit card is not the same product as the Pep Boys Fortiva credit card. The latter is no longer open to new applicants.
2. Its use is extremely limited
The Pep Boys Car Care credit card can only be used to make purchases at Synchrony Car Care retailers and gas stations. While that list of eligible merchants is long, it’s not exhaustive. If you’re considering the Pep Boys card, you may want to check that your preferred auto mechanic belongs to the Synchrony Car Care network.
Or, you may opt for a more general purpose card that can be used for all of your everyday expenses, such as the Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card, which earns 2% cash back on all eligible purchases. If you prefer to do business with Synchrony, check out the Synchrony Premier World Mastercard®. It also earns a flat 2% back on all purchases.
3. Special financing is the card’s only perk
With no rewards to speak of, the main draw of the Pep Boys credit card is its special financing, or deferred interest, offer. Cardholders can get six months of special financing for purchases of $199 or more.
This financing offer is “always-on,” meaning you can use it an unlimited number of times. However, special financing is risky: If you don’t pay off the entire balance by the end of the promotional period, you’ll end up owing interest on the full balance, retroactive to the purchase date.
A better solution for financing big purchases is a credit card with a true 0% intro APR period. With these such offers, interest won’t accrue for the entire promotional period, no strings attached. When the period ends, you’ll owe interest only on the remaining balance, if there is any.
The best 0% intro APR cards will have 0% periods of 12 months or more.
4. The ongoing interest rate is high
If you aren’t able to pay off a purchase that was financed, or if you carry a balance from month to month, you’ll pay dearly, to the tune of nearly 35% interest rate.
Let’s say you take advantage of the Pep Boys card’s special financing for $1,000 of new tires for our car. If you haven’t paid off the $1,000 balance by the end of six months, you’ll owe $174.96 in back interest (assuming a 30-day billing cycle).
5. Paper statements might cost you
The Pep Boys credit card doesn’t charge an annual fee, but watch out for the $1.99 monthly paper statement fee if the statement balance is greater than $2.50. Sure, $1.99 is a small amount, but plenty of card issuers don’t assess any fees for paper statements.
To avoid this charge, log in to your account from Synchrony’s website and enroll in electronic statements.
