Shell Credit Card

Last Updated on Wednesday, 25 July 2012 05:48

Review

The Shell Platinum MasterCard has a relatively high base interest rate of 23.99%. The first thing I do whenever I am browsing credit card applications is to look at the APR, in the terms and conditions which is in small print. Already I don’t like this card because 23.99% is about 10% too high.

At first glance the rebates at 5% looks pretty amazing, and you think that this is not that bad a card if you just make all the payments in full, but you have to look at the fine print. A cardholder can only earn up to $20 a month in rebates, but you need a minimum of $25 to get a rebate. Therefore you can’t get your first rebate the next month and if you keep putting money on this credit card, it won’t be added to your rebate.

Another trick is that you don’t actually get the rebates in the mail, you get it off a future bill, and so you have to spend more to get your rebates. These rebates expire 12 credit card cycles after the first rebate. I don’t like things that expire, but it’s really hard to find an offer that doesn’t expire after a while. There isn’t an annual fee which is good, but if you cancel your account, willing or not, you will lose all the unspent rebates as well. In total, you can only earn up to $240 a year in rebates, and it does sound like a lot, but I really think the company is hoping that you won’t pay your payments in full or late.

I recommend against getting this particular card mostly because of the interest rate, but the gimmicks don’t help its case either. I would recommend you just shop at Kroger with your plus card and then use it to get money off your gas. If you’re looking for an actual credit card to help with gas, you could do better with a Kroger 123 rewards card with gives you an extra 5¢ off per gallon when you pay with that card, or a Speedway credit card combo with the speedy rewards would also be a good option. You can earn up to a dollar off per gallon with these card combos and that’s better because you get your reward right away and you don’t have to wait for it on a future bill.