In part 1 of Making The Most Of Your Retail Credit Card, we discussed the benefits of signing up for store credit cards when you’re making a big purchase. In part 2, we share why you shouldn’t use your store credit card to finance purchases.

You don’t want to finance purchases on your retail card because they typically carry a high APR rate. It’s best to not carry your balance and to instead pay it off before interest accrues. Most store cards may only offer awards worth only 1% of your spending. In other cases, non-store cards may offer up to 2% cashback on all purchases. It’s better to just use your retail cards for purchases in the store and to pay the balance off as soon as possible.

In part 3 of Making The Most Of Your Retail Credit Card, we will cover benefits of store cards and how to make the most of them.