Shopping Cart Trick 2024 – Get Credit Cards Without The Hard Pull

Update: As of 2020 the shopping cart trick no longer always results in a soft pull being done, in some cases a hard pull is done instead. The majority of the time a soft pull is done, but in some cases a hard pull is done. It seems that some stores are more likely to do a hard pull than others. FireMedic1 on myFICO forums has been keeping an updated tally of hard/soft pulls. The current tally as of May 3rd, 2020 can be viewed by clicking here.

Original post: There is something known as a “shopping cart trick” that can allow you to get store specific credit cards that don’t result in a hard pull on your credit report. Using this trick doesn’t result in a hard pull, it will still affect your credit as these cards are reported on your credit report (which will decrease your average age of accounts). There are a couple of rules we need to follow when trying to do this trick:

• You need to be opted in for credit card promotional e-mails. You’re automatically opted in, so unless you have manually opted out you won’t need to do anything. I recommend being opted in anyway, you might receive a good targeted promotion if you are (here is how you can check for these offers).
• Only works on cards issued by Comenity bank (and some cards issued by Synchrony & Wells Fargo)
• Turn your pop up blocker off if you use one. A lot of the credit card offers pop up, if you have a pop up blocker then you might miss it.
• If your asked for your full SSN, it might be a hard pull. Some of these websites ask for your full SSN when applying for the store cards, whilst others ask for your last four digits. If it asks for your full SSN it might be a hard pull so be careful. As always, your mileage may vary.

How To Do The Trick:

• Go to the website of the store you want a card for.
• Join their loyalty program (some people find more success skipping this step and just checking out as a guest)
• Add some items to your shopping cart
• Start to check out
• Enter in your address, make sure this matches your address listed in your credit reports exactly
• Continue going through the check out process until you get to the final payment page. You should receive your offer before this page, if you haven’t then either the shopping cart trick isn’t working or you need to try again.
• Choose to accept your offer
• Complete the application

You don’t need to actually purchase anything at the store you use this trick on. Once your application is finished you’ll automatically be taken back to your check out page (if this was closed earlier) you can just abandon this after you’ve finished applying.

Why Is This Useful?

There are three main reasons as to why you might find this trick helpful:

• Help to build your credit when your credit is bad. Because they don’t do a hard pull on your credit report, they will not be able to see if you have any bankruptcies on file or other derogatory items. This makes these some of the easiest credit cards you can get. Typically lenders feel more comfortable loaning to people with bad credit that have received credit from other lenders, as this allows the borrower to show that they are capable of making on time payments and might have turned over a new leaf.
• Bonuses on the credit card. A lot of these store specific cards offer bonuses to cardholders to encourage them to use the cards or shop at the store. It’s not unusual to see stores offering a $10 statement credit to use the card for example. Some will offer a “sign up bonus” that is an instant discount on purchases. The best cards offer on going bonuses. You can read more about these cards here.

Stores That This Trick Works With

Below are a list of stores that I’ve seen successful reports on this trick working. The trick won’t work 100% of the time, so if you don’t see a pre-approved offer don’t stress out, just try again in a few weeks and hope for the best.

Comenity Bank Store Credit Cards

• Abercrombie & Fitch (our review)
• Ann Taylor
• Bath & Body Works
• Brylane Home
• Buckle
• Coldwater Creek
• Express
• Gamestop
• HSN (you need to go to the every end of the check out process before it’ll appear)
• J.Crew
• Jessica London
• JJill
• King Size Direct
• Loft
• New York & Company
• One Stop Plus
• Overstock (while it does ask for your full SSN, it should still be a soft pull). This card usually gives a nice high limit and automatic credit limit increases are regular.
• Romans
• Sportsman Guide
• Total Rewards (our review). There is reports of this one resulting in a hard pull, even when it only asks for the last four digitals
• Venus
• Victoria’s Secret (our review of this card)
• Wayfair (our review)
• Williams-Sonoma
• Woman Within

Most people find Victoria Secrets one of the easiest cards to get using this method, I’ve also had a lot of success with Overstock as well. If you’ve gotten the shopping cart trick to work on any other cards then please let me know.

Synchrony Bank Store Credit Cards

• QVC
• Walmart

Wells Fargo Store Credit Cards

• Dillard’s
• Kirklands

Discontinued Cards

This is a list of stores it used to work on, but are no longer working because the card has been discontinued:

• PacSun (Discontinued on July 31st, 2016)
• Red Roof Inn (Discontinued on February 28th, 2017)
• Motorola (discontinued some time in 2017)

Easiest Stores To Get It To Work With

Victoria’s Secret is usually one of the easiest stores to get the shopping cart trick to work with. Other easy stores include:

• Boscovs
• The Children’s Place
• New York & Co
• Overstock
• Wayfair

Tips & Tricks

Here are some tips and tricks you can employ if this method isn’t working for you:

• Make sure you try multiple different stores
• Try using a different browser than the one you normally use or deleting cookies/cache of your main browser

Other Resources

The following are some resources & blog posts that you might find useful if you’re getting into the shopping cart trick.

• myFICO forums. Has the most information on the shopping cart trick, things you can do to improve your chances and pretty friendly forum for newbies as well.
• PFDigest. Has a lot of good information on the shopping cart trick and his personal experiences using it. I’d recommend these posts:
  • A list of Comenity credit cards: which ones are worth getting?
  • Why falling gas prices are good news for Marathon Visa cardholders

Are there any blog posts or forums / threads which you think I missed? Let me know and I’ll add them.

Final Thoughts

These methods aren’t going to be for everybody, but if you have bad credit and want to get some positive trade lines reporting this might be an alternative option to a secured credit card. For people with good credit (and a high AAoA) then some of these cards might be worth considering for the on going bonuses. I also think it’s worth trying to get the Dillard’s card to have another fee free American Express card, although I haven’t been able to get that card to show recently.

Thanks to PFDigest & MyFICO forums for continually making me aware of this trick.