Is the T.J. Maxx Credit Card Worth It? Editor’s Review for 2024 (2024)

Pros

• No membership fees
• High rewards rate
• 10% discount initial rewards bonus

Cons

• No intro APR on purchases
• No balance transfers allowed
• Foreign fee
• Requires good/excellent credit

Is the TJX Credit Card Worth It?

The TJX Credit Card is worth it for T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods, Sierra and Homesense shoppers, offering 5 points per $1 spent at TJX family brands and 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases. It has a $0 annual fee and gives 10% off your first purchase, so it’s good even if you only use it for one big purchase. Your points also never expire.

What You Need to Do to Make the TJX Credit Card Worthwhile

To make the TJX Credit Card worthwhile, you should strive to always pay your monthly bill in full by the due date. This prevents interest from accruing at the card’s extremely expensive 34.99% (V) APR and ensures you get as much value out of the card as possible.

You should also make sure to use the card whenever you shop at any store in the TJX family – not just T.J. Maxx. Otherwise, you’ll be missing out on valuable bonus rewards.

TJX Credit Card Highlights

• 10% Off Your First Purchase: Upon being approved for a TJX Credit Card, you will receive a coupon good for a 10% discount at a TJX family store, which you can use either online or in-store. There is no limit on the purchase amount to which you can apply the savings, which means carefully timing your application could be worth a boatload. However, applying and then waiting to redeem would be ill advised, as such promotion codes are only good for two years.

• 5% Back On TJX Purchases: You will earn 5 points / $1 spent at TJX stores and their respective websites. This includes T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods, Sierra and Homesense. And that earning rate translates to 5% cash back when you consider that 1,000 points get you a $10 gift certificate. By that same token, the 1 point / $1 spent that TJX Credit Card users will receive on all other purchases equates to 1% back.

• No Annual Fee: The average credit card charges an annual membership fee of $22.22, according to WalletHub’s latest Credit Card Landscape Report, and many offers will cost you quite a bit more. But with no annual fee, the TJX Card has the potential to be completely free if you pay your bill in full every month.

TJX Credit Card Lowlights

• Very High Regular APR: You do not want to carry a balance from month to month with the TJX Credit Card, as you will be charged interest at an astronomic rate: 34.99% (V). For context, the average credit card for someone with good credit charges 24.36%, while the average “fair credit” credit card charges 26.85% and the average store card charges 30.54%. And, to reinforce this point, a $1,500 balance paid down over the course of six months would accrue roughly $123 in finance charges with a 34.99% (V) interest rate.

Other Things to Consider About the TJX Credit Card

• No Foreign-Transaction Fee: If you get approved for the TJX Credit Card and wind up using it while traveling abroad or to make purchases through internationally based merchants while stateside, you’ll be pleased to know that your bills won’t be inflated by so-called foreign-transaction fees, which are usually around 1.57%. Just bear in mind that no-foreign-fee cards aren’t a rarity, so you have plenty of other options to choose from in this regard.

• No Rewards Earning Limit: Some rewards cards offer catchy earning rates yet limit them with fine print. But not the TJX Card. You can earn as much as your credit limit and ability to pay will allow.

• Rewards Expiration & Forfeiture: The points you earn with your TJX Card will not expire as long as its rewards program is in existence, but the “Rewards Certificates” for which you redeem your points expire two years from the date of issuance. Furthermore, unredeemed points are forfeited if you default on or close your account.

• Debt-Cancellation Insurance: TJX card users are able to sign up for a so-called debt-cancellation program, which involves paying regular dues in return for the vague promise of someday maybe getting some of your debt forgiven. More specifically, you have to pay $1.66 per $100 of your statement balance each month so as not to be responsible for up to three minimum monthly payments in the event of job loss, disability or, in certain cases, a leave of absence lasting up to 90 days. Full forgiveness of the balance owed may be provided for covered events that last longer than 90 days, but only up to the amount of your balance at the time the covered event started or $10,000, whichever is less. Coverage also varies depending on full- or part-time and employed or self-employed status. And in order for any benefits to kick in, you had to have been enrolled in the program for at least 30 days. As a result, we do not recommend availing yourself of this optional service. The fact that you can receive no more than the sum of a few minimum payments and your balance before your financial problems truly began defeats the whole purpose of the program. So you’re better off simply saving the monthly dues for a rainy day.

TJX Credit Card vs. The Competition

A bit of market research is always necessary to truly understand a given credit-card offer. So we compared the TJX Store Card to some of the most popular retail rewards offers available across six fundamentally important categories. We chose the TJX Store Card rather than the TJX Credit Card, as it offers all of the TJX Credit Card’s best features and more people can get approved for it.

TJX Credit Card Review Methodology

This TJX Credit Card review is based on WalletHub’s proprietary 100-point credit card rating system. By using a consistent methodology to evaluate the TJX Credit Card and all other cards, WalletHub’s credit card experts make it easy for people to compare their options and find the best credit cards for their needs.

The WalletHub rating system uses 16 key metrics grouped into seven categories: Fees, Rewards, Two-year Cost, Interest Rates, Approval Requirements, Special Features, and Reviews. Each metric has a maximum number of points allocated to it, based on the metric’s importance as determined by our editors. The points are added up to create an overall rating for the TJX Credit Card out of a maximum of 100 points, which is then converted to a 5-point scale.

Ratings for each category reflect how close TJX Credit Card is to WalletHub’s definition of a 5-star credit card, which is based on market conditions and what we believe are reasonable terms. We compare TJX Credit Card to that standard to give a numerical approximation of how reasonable and competitive its terms are compared to other cards.

To learn more about how WalletHub rates credit card offers, check out our full credit card review methodology.

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Important Disclosures