Walmart Credit Card Review (Canada) – How Does it Stack Up?
For one reason or another, I’ve been getting a number of emails looking for my opinion on the Walmart credit card. Generally, I prefer credit card rewards to be flexible, like a cash back credit card, rather than being locked into a single vendor.
However, there are some vendors that offer good value, like Loblaws and their World Mastercard which offers a 2% return when using the card in their stores. Or Shoppers Drug Mart and their Optimum Points which can offer value when used in conjunction with 20X the points days.
Needless to say, there is a lot of competition in the credit card landscape. Lets see how the Walmart credit card stacks up.
The Benefits
So what exactly does this credit card offer?
- No Annual Fee;
- $25 in bonus Walmart Rewards when using your card for the first time (must go paperless too);
- 1.25% of your purchases in Walmart towards Walmart Rewards;
- 1% of all other purchases towards Walmart Rewards;
- Redeem rewards instantly at a Walmart cash register in $5 increments.
Basically if you spend $100 at Walmart, you’ll get $1.25 towards a future Walmart purchase. When making purchases elsewhere, you’ll get 1% towards a future Walmart purchase. In essence, it’s a cash back card but the card holder is locked into spending at Walmart. It’s not a bad system for die hard Walmart shoppers.
The Drawbacks
Ah the drawbacks, and there are a couple. In addition to being locked into spending your credit card rewards at Walmart, one big surprise is that this credit card lacks an insurance package. Most decent free credit cards will at least offer purchase theft assurance and extended warranty. Actually, they do offer extended warranty – but at a cost of $3.99/month (seriously?).
Final Thoughts
To summarize, the Walmart credit card is a 1% cash back card that jumps to 1.25% cash back on in-store purchases. The catch is that the rewards must be spent in a Walmart and no insurance coverage is offered. While it’s great that this card has no annual fee and offers value to dedicated Walmart shoppers, there are other free credit cards that are much more competitive.
For example, some may argue that this card is better than the Smart Cash card since the 2% for gas and groceries cannot be earned for groceries at Walmart. So Walmart card users will get 1.25% cash back on their groceries vs 1% on the Smart Cash Card. This is a valid argument against the Smart cash card, but when you combine the fact that Smart Cash users will get 2% back on gasoline and any other grocery shopping (up to $400/month), and the decent insurance package (price protection, purchase assurance, car rental insurance, and extended warranty), the Smart Cash is still offers more value.
Another example is the Capital One Aspire Cash Platinum card. This free capital one card will give you 1.25% cash back on all spending, in addition to a strong insurance package (price protection, purchase assurance, car rental insurance, baggage delay and extended warranty). This is an easy pick over the Walmart card.
Overall, the Walmart card can offer value to exclusive Walmart shoppers, but there are better free credit cards out there.
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My name is Mayank Tripathi, a holder of walmart rewards mastercard.
In the beginning of this year 2018 I received a call from Wallmart banking service endorsing a ”Balance protection plan” that I remember in the best of my attentive mind, denying and saying a clear No to. A month later on 13th March, I was surprised to find a $11.51 in my mastercard statement titled as ”Bal Insurance”
When I called Walmart to ask why I have been charged this amount, they said that I have been enrolled in the plan. I begged them to cancel the plan because I have never consented to it and the person on phone agreed and said that I have been taken out of the plan. I was resting assured after this that I will get the refund that I was charged. I failed to check my mastercard statements in detail for the next few months and today I found that I have been getting charged for the same balance protection plan every month on 13th. I called the customer care to complain but they said they cannot do anything and its between me and the bank. I asked to speak to a supervisor and he said the same. They failed to tell me how a 3rd party is deducting money from my account without my information and consent regarding a product that walmart wanted to sell me. They gave me the phone number for Canada life insurance and shrugged their shoulders. When I called Canada Life Insurance they told me that according to their reports, I (the customer) has called in and requested the plan from walmart. I was shocked to hear this because I did call the walmart banking but it was to cancel the plan and not ask for it. They said they can only refund me the amount charged for the last 3 months out of courtsey and will not refund the 6 months. When I asked for the box files (call recordings) of me speaking to the customer service and clearly saying NO to the plan they said only Ombudsman has the right to access it if they are willing to investigate.
Following are the details of the people i have spoken to so far:
Walmart customer care rep named Dean at around 12:10 pm today 15th Nov.
Walmart Customer care Supervisor Marvin at 12:30 pm today 15th Nov. (No reference number or follow up no. was given regarding this call despite of me asking for it)
Canada Life Insurance agent Scot at around 12:35 pm today 15th Nov.
call reference no# 2896945
I have refused to accept and called to cancel this plan TWO times despite of which i was enrolled and charged for 9 months.
All this effort on your part, and what you should have done instead of all this, is cancel that crappy Walmart Mastercard, and get a credit card from a bank that doesn’t play games like this.
The Walmart Mastercard is a horrible card, has horrible customer service (which you’ve now found out), and is just not worth the headache.
Cancel it!
Update to my March 7, 2018 post. The count for cut up Walmart Mastercards with the help of family and friends as reached 137. I don’t know what the final total is going to be, but I hope someone at Walmart’s Canadian office sees this and realizes that when they offer fraud protection, they should live up to it. TD Visa had no problem wiping the slate clean as soon as they were notified. Stay away from this card!!!!!!!!!
Don’t take this card. worst card ever get in my life
Don’t get this card! They do not give you any fraud protection. My wife had her pin number and credit cards stolen at the local Walmart Supercentre and after the thieves put through $500 cash advances at 1:30 am their customer service insisted that she pay the balance. Her TD Visa card was also stolen and used and within hours the balance were wiped clean and new cards were issued. We had a party and cut up 16 cards with family and friends. Soon to be 100 if everyone follows through with their vow to pass it on. Stay away from this card!
For anyone wondering. This is a starter credit card. If you have one already do not bother. It’s great if you have no credit history or low credit. Don’t use the cash feature and keep your balance paid off. The limit grows very fast. I went from a 3500 limit to a 10000 limit in a year and a half. Just be responsible. Anyone who had issues activating most likely did not follow the instructions properly. Sometimes glitches do happen but more often than not it’s a user issue.
If you need to contact Walmart Mastercard customer service, it sucks. There were fraudulent charges on my account and they could resolve it even after 2 months of complaining and was under investigation. In the end, they were asking me if I have outlook.com email account from which fraudulent charges were made, etc., so not sure why they were sitting on the issue for 2 months. Why they could not contact the merchant and sort it out, I do not know. I told Walmart Mastercard to close the dispute, contacted the merchant then and got refund from them. Walmart Mastercard is very slow to move when it comes to fraudulent charges on the account.
Wife signed up for this card a few years ago…got statements but never got the card…called and still never got the card…so could never take advantage of the sign-up bonus. Waste of time and gave up.
Anyways, there are far better free cash back cards out there. Nothing to see here.
(If you find this reply helpful, please be sure to click “Like”, so others will know, thanks.)
Just closed(my wife’s) credit card again. Closed it the first time on March 24 after a disputed charge plus interest.A case investigation was started in early March and closed? Today April 9 called about interest charges on the account that was paid in full and closed on March 24 2017. Apparently it was still active after March 24? Why?
Dont get this card
First of all I have never had a late payment and have always paid more than the minimum payment when it has had a balance on it.
But twice they have slashed my limit
First time was before I even got the first bill initially I was given a 3000 limit and I had planned to use the card to pay for my expenses during a month because I needed my cash to make a large purchase. I had used approx 1500 and went to buy gas one day and card was declined fortunately I had cash on me as they had cut the limit without telling me (got letter in mail 5 days later) over couple of years the limit was raised up to 4400 I made a large payment 3000 to basically pay it off so I could use the card to pay for my vacation as I required a credit card to pay online after making the payment I used the card to pay for the vacation about a week later I called to get balance so I would know exact cost as vacation was in US dollars I had already recieved my new statement of which payment due was $58 when I called I found out they had slashed my limit from 4400 to 3100 which left me 400 over my limit and that they now wanted 458 for the payment that was due in a few days. The letter arrived day after my statement saying they cut it because of the activity on my account. I recommend getting a visa or different mastercard as even when you never miss a payment and pay over the minimum payment this company can not be trusted you can never be sure what your limit is or if it will change without your knowing
FRAUD DEPARTMENT NIGHTMARE:
someone across the country used my Walmart Mastercard, when i reported the charge as fraudulent the fraud department sent me a new card and reversed the charge. 4 months later I closed my account because I was tired of wasting money on poor quality items at Walmart and on the same day I closed my account, they reversed the fraudulent charge. After 6 calls and countless representatives they told me I didn’t sign their affidavit and the case was closed without anyone sending me notice that the case was closing and now I am liable for the entire fraudulent charge. Is it a coincidence this happened the same day I closed my account? No. Is it obvious that it was a fraudulent charge, “We cannot disclose that”, is it possible you didn’t receive my affidavit and you should have contacted me “we cannot disclose that”. ….. WALMART – promoting a healthier lifestyle through their heart attack and stroke inducing customer service.