The unit, up for sale since January 2009, includes store cards for Sears Holdings Corp.
For Citi, the deal brings 25m active accounts, many of which are Sears' own private-label store cards.
Like department-store cards, gas cards typically carry low credit limits and interest rates that hover at about 25%.
Consumer groups welcomed the OFT decision to refer store cards to the Commission.
Consumers are being advised on the risks of only repaying the minimum on credit and store cards each month.
Around 12% of consumers used authorised overdrafts, 8% spent on store cards and 5% simply borrowed money from friends or family.
If you are paying off a range of credit cards and store cards, you should pay off those with the highest rate of interest first.
Shoppers at Gap 's Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic stores get free shipping and coupons as they accumulate purchase points on their store cards.
The OFT investigation found that just 23% of people applying for store cards were offered the opportunity to take the application form away with them.
It's non-priority debts like credit cards, store cards and doorstep lending.
Store cards are the most popular way to shop in Brazil, allowing customers to pay for goods in regular installments rather than meeting the full price up front.
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Store cards don't pose a problem if you are disciplined enough to pay off the balance within the interest-free period (typically between 35 and 55 days).
Only a few scraps of the rag trade remain, but in 1958, before the advent of credit cards, Burton's had the bright idea of store cards.
So if you want to open a couple of new cards, be choosy, selecting major credit cards over single-store cards, and apply three or six months apart.
But department-store cards come with discounts and regular cardholder-only deals.
Shoppers at Gap 's (nyse: GPS - news - people ) Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic stores get free shipping and coupons as they accumulate purchase points on their store cards.
Store cards have the potential to provide significant benefit irrespective of your chosen course of action because they provide useful rewards, are one of the few credit card genres people with poor or limited credit can get approved for, and have lower fee structures than unsecured credit cards for bad credit.
The defendants then encoded the stolen data onto the magnetic stripes of blank plastic cards (like store gift cards, for example).
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Next, I should be able to store multiple cards in the wallet, and during a retail transaction at a store or via any other kind of mobile commerce, be able to choose a card to pay.
Several years ago, some retailers bundled iPods with iTunes Music Store gift cards to entice shoppers.
One way is to make the most of all those store loyalty cards you carry around.
The loss of store credit cards, though, will likely not be as devastating.
Laws governing "abandoned property" are another hazard of store gift cards, says Hardekopf.
If HSBC adopts an American revenue model for its store credit cards, it may find its dominance in that area an advantage.
Its name may soon appear more prominently on its store credit cards.
Using QR codes on in-store tent cards, posters and cup sleeves, customers could scan to add Starbucks as a friend, then send the company an emoticon to be rewarded with a customized song designed to lift their mood.
Citi is already the biggest issuer of bank credit cards, and this deal will also make it the largest North American issuer of store-branded cards.
Some card companies might view store-brand cards as an opportunity to increase their overall loan portfolio.
Store-brand cards are considered riskier because those bills often rank lower in the payment hierarchy of customers in financial distress.
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