Synchrony Banana Republic Visa® Credit Card Review

Banana Republic Credit Card Review

Let’s go through the pros and cons of the Banana Republic Credit Card, designed for all those shopaholics who love the Gap Inc. brands.

The Banana Republic Credit Card will earn you 5x points per dollar spent at any store of the Gap Inc. brands, which are Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, and Athleta. There are two types of cards, the Banana Republic Credit Card (only accepted at the Gap Inc. stores), and the Banana Republic Visa® Credit Card (accepted everywhere). The Banana Republic Visa® Credit Card can be used everywhere where Visa® is accepted and earns you 1x per dollar spent at all other stores. We’re sure customers will like the many perks this card comes with and the fact that there’s no annual fee. However, its 25.99% APR is a bit on the high side.

Banana Republic: pros and cons

Rewards system in a nutshell

With the Banana Republic Credit Card, you’ll earn the following rewards points:

• 5x points per $1 spent at the Gap Inc. brands’ stores, in-person and online.
• 1x point per $1 spent on all other purchases (valid only for the Visa® card).

Each point is worth 1 cent and your rewards will be issued in $5 increments. This means after each $100 spent, you earn 500 points and you’ll get $5. If you don’t have enough points to make one (or the next) $5 payment, those points will be transferred to the next billing cycle.

The number of points you can earn is unlimited, but in a single billing cycle, you can redeem a maximum of $250. The rest of your rewards will pass onto your next billing cycle. They do have an expiration date and it’s 2 years after the last purchase made with the card.

Unfortunately, the redemption options are very limited, you can only redeem your rewards at any of the company’s brands’ stores or online. If you’re redeeming them in a store, you can redeem up to 3 rewards certificates on a single transaction. While if you’re redeeming online, it’s up to 5 rewards certificates. However, it’s good that you can use them together with a promotion or to purchase items on sale at the stores.

If you earn 5,000 points at the Gap Inc. brands, you could qualify for the Banana Republic Luxe Credit Card. It offers a quarterly bonus of 20% of the points earned each calendar quarter. If you have earned 1000 points, you’ll get an additional 200 points. Besides spending $1,000 a year (5,000 points earned), to qualify, you also need to have your account in good standing, and to have made at least the minimum payment due on your account.

Being a Luxe member also has other additional perks, but if you usually spend less than $1,000 a year on the brands, we’re not really sure they’re worth the extra spending.

Who can benefit from getting the Banana Republic Credit Card?

This card has no annual fee you’d have to worry to offset. So, anyone who moderately shops at the Gap Inc. brands will benefit from this card. However, you’ll need to be careful regarding your balance and make your payments on time. If you are careless, it’ll easily eat into your rewards and end up costing you more than your rewards and benefits.

Those who usually spend more than $1,000 at the company’s brands and qualify will definitely get out the most of this card’s value with all the perks it offers.

Are there any other benefits?

Here’s a list of some benefits you’ll get with this card:

• 20% discount on your first online purchase – you get this when you open a Banana Republic Credit Card.
• Birthday gift – you’ll get a special birthday offer if you have made at least one purchase at the company’s stores in the past 12 months.
• Zero fraud liability – you won’t get charged for any unauthorized payments made with the card.
• Earn $10 in rewards – just by signing up for emails from Gap Inc. brands (500 points) and agreeing on paperless credit card statements (500 points).

In addition to these, those with a Luxe card get also the following:

• Free basic alterations – for merchandise bought at the Banana Republic stores.
• Free 3-5 days shipping – valid for online orders at all the Gap Inc. brands’ online stores.

Conclusion

The Banana Republic Credit Card is a pretty decent store card and we love the many perks it offers. The rewards program is okay, but far from perfect. We don’t like that there’s a maximum redemption amount for each billing cycle and the other redemption rules are a bit of a hassle.

It still makes perfect sense for those who love the brands and shop there frequently, especially if they spend enough to qualify for the Luxe status. As long as they don’t keep a balance, they can enjoy their many benefits care-free.