Key takeaways
- The “shopping cart trick” is an easy-to-follow strategy that can help you see if you’re preapproved for a store credit card.
- Having the chance to gauge your approval odds for a card makes it easier to figure out if you should apply, or if you should spend more time improving your credit first.
- If you are preapproved for a store credit card you want to have, moving forward with a full application will result in a hard inquiry on at least one of your credit reports.
If you’re even remotely familiar with retail credit cards, you might have heard of the shopping cart trick. This trick suggests that you can see if you have a good chance of being approved for a card before deciding to move forward with a full application by filling an online shopping cart with items and seeing if a credit card preapproval offer is triggered.
But does the shopping cart trick work? Anecdotal evidence suggests that it can help consumers gauge their approval odds for certain cards. Read on for an overview of how the shopping cart trick works, why it matters and tips for using this trick to score one of the best store credit cards on the market today.
The shopping cart trick: What is it?
The shopping cart trick is a strategy that lets you see if you’re preapproved for a store credit card without triggering a hard credit inquiry on your credit reports. Since hard credit inquiries often temporarily lower your credit score by a few points, some people try to avoid hard credit pulls whenever possible.
However, it’s important to note what the credit card shopping cart trick can and cannot do. The shopping cart trick doesn’t help individuals get a card without a hard inquiry. Instead, it helps them figure out if they have a good chance of getting approved for a card before they apply.
In theory, the shopping cart trick works like this: when you visit an online retailer and fill your shopping cart with potential purchases, you might trigger a pop-up ad inviting you to get preapproved for a store credit card. The preapproval process requires a soft credit inquiry, which does not affect your credit score. If you see one of these preapproval offers appear, you can then move forward with a credit card application knowing you have a very good chance of getting the card.
Facts and myths about the shopping cart trick
Some experts that have covered the shopping cart trick say it can help you get approved for certain store credit cards without a hard inquiry, but that simply isn’t true. The shopping cart trick can help you see if you’re preapproved for a card, which can give you a good idea if you meet the issuer’s minimum requirements. You’ll have to fill out an application if you decide you want the card, and this will result in a hard inquiry whether you like it or not.
Based on this information, you may be wondering how the shopping cart really helps you. While this credit card hack can’t help you get a credit card without a hard inquiry, it can help you avoid wasting hard inquiries for no reason. If you use the shopping cart trick to trigger a preapproval notice for a card and find you’re not actually a candidate, wait a few months and spend that time improving your credit before you try the shopping cart trick again.
Who should try the shopping cart trick?
If you have your eye on a store credit card, and you want to see if you’re preapproved before you apply, try the shopping cart trick. However, be prepared for the lender to perform a hard credit pull if you move forward with the full application process.
If losing a few credit score points to a hard credit inquiry would take your credit from good to fair (or from fair to poor), you might want to avoid getting a new credit card until you can improve your credit score into the “good” range, which includes any score over 670 in the FICO scoring model.
Benefits of using the shopping cart trick
Even if the shopping cart trick doesn’t work exactly as advertised, filling your shopping cart with items, triggering a preapproval ad and going through the preapproval process is still a good way to determine whether you’re eligible for a store credit card. That’s really the only advantage you can get from trying this hack — you get the benefit of knowing you’re likely eligible for a card before you apply.
Doing the shopping cart trick and going through the preapproval process can also save you from applying for a retail credit card and getting declined. In this case, you would want to work on building your credit for at least several months before you apply for another credit card or loan.
How to do the shopping cart trick
How do you do the shopping cart trick? If you want to try the credit card shopping cart trick — keeping in mind that it might not work for you — here’s what you need to do:
- Visit the website of a retailer that offers a store credit card
- Fill your online shopping cart with items (you can ultimately purchase these items if you want, but you don’t have to)
- As you start the checkout process, look for a pop-up inviting you to become preapproved for the retailer’s credit card (if you have pop-up blockers installed, you’ll need to disable them first)
- Go through the preapproval process
- If you are preapproved, decide if you want to apply for the credit card
- If you apply, know that you’ll see a hard inquiry on your credit report with at least one of the credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax or TransUnion)
Where can you use the shopping cart trick?
What stores do the shopping cart trick? Unfortunately, there’s no definitive list of stores that allow the shopping cart trick — so you’ll have to try your favorite retailers on your own and see what happens.
If you try the shopping cart trick at Amazon.com, for example, the online retailer might give you the option to apply for the Prime Visa (one of Bankrate’s favorite credit cards for online shopping). You may also be invited to see if you’re preapproved for the store version of this card, which can only be used at Amazon.com and Whole Foods Market.
Popular preapproved store cards and how to get them
If you like shopping at Victoria’s Secret, Ann Taylor or any of the dozens of retailers included in the list of Bread Financial issued credit cards, the shopping cart trick may help you get a preapproval invite for one of these popular store credit cards. Other well-known store credit cards from retailers like Lowe’s, Mattress Firm and Sam’s Club are offered through Synchrony Bank.
If the shopping cart trick doesn’t yield a prequalification offer and removing pop-up blockers and ad blockers doesn’t help, you might have picked a retailer that isn’t currently handing out preapproval invitations (or that might be limiting them for many reasons).
That said, there’s one more trick to getting preapproved for popular store credit cards: visit the retailer in person and put at least one item in your actual shopping cart. When you go through the checkout process, the cashier may ask if you’d like to see if you’re preapproved for a store credit card — and if they don’t, you can always ask them yourself.
If you’re in the market for a cash back or rewards credit card, Bankrate’s CardMatch™ tool can also help you in your search. CardMatch is easy to navigate and can give you access to prequalified credit card offers for your credit profile without knocking any points off your credit score. Using the tool only triggers a soft inquiry that allows it to provide you with a list of personalized card offers, giving you a better idea of which cards you’re likely to be approved for.
The bottom line
The credit card shopping cart trick won’t help you get a card without a hard inquiry, but it can help you determine if your current credit rating and income is enough to get approved if you decide to apply. At the very least, this trick might save you from applying for a retail credit card and getting declined.
The best news? Trying the shopping cart trick out won’t cost you anything but a few minutes of your time.
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