The Inside Banana Scoop

I have a Banana Republic Card.  I used to work at Banana Republic.

It's a good deal if you don't rack up a lot of debt.  I try not to have more than $150 or so on it at any time because the interest rate is WHOOOOAAAAAAA high.  I don't mind paying a few bucks in interest but basically I like to keep it at $0 most of the time.

The benefits of the Banana card are pretty good.  I signed up because we were having some crazy sales + an additional 25% off for new cardholders and I wanted to buy a $200 blazer for cheaper than it would be with my employee discount.  I bought a handful of items and got a really good deal, practically 60% off--definitely better than our discount.

Oh, and it was double/triple points, which means if you have the normal Banana card you get $10 back as a coupon when you spend $100.  If you have the Luxe card you spend $67 and get the $10 back.  Normally it's $10 for every $200 you spend at all Gap brands.

So it's a nice deal especially when there are special promos (extra 10% off for cardholders, double points, etc.).




I was approved for a Banana Republic Visa card, which means I can use it anywhere Visa cards are accepted.  You earn 1% rewards on non-Gap purchases, so a point per dollar.  1000 points = $10.

Because I'm so on top of this stuff, I have a tendency to charge things and pay them off pretty quickly.  I might pay bits or chunks of my card two or three times per month.  Which is why I feel like I'm scamming someone.

Coach purse?

Put it on the Banana.

New boots?

Put it on the Banana.

$110 for the radiologist office bill?

Put it on the Banana.

Pay it off before the next statement.

I could just pay it all directly from my debit card.  I could.  I would.  But why not put that $110 on my card and get those points?  That's a free DOLLAR toward Gap brand stuff.  I just got a great deal at Old Navy by combining a 35% off deal and my $10 coupon and basically got a 50% discount on my purchase.  ON is cheap, I know, but it still works out.  The $10 coupon is always nice on top of a good 35-40% off promotion.  And rewards just about always combine with promotions.  It's rare that they won't.

And my advice as someone who worked for BR is to ALWAYS wait for sales.  Wednesdays usually have something online and/or in-store.  Sign up for emails if you want to be alerted to other promotions, but Wednesday is a safe bet.  You may need the email to get the discount--almost definitely you'll need it when you go to the store, but sometimes we would have a discount for everyone.  Generally this was limited to one or two items.

When you go to a store once or twice a month or even a year, it's hard to know the patterns.  When you go nearly every day, you learn the rotation of promos and how things work.  And how to use the system to your benefit.

Just ... really ... don't leave a large outstanding balance on that card.  It's not a good thing.