Many of us know that GameStop doesn’t have the best reputation amongst the gaming community. Now they’ve gone ahead and added even more fuel to the fire with a credit card aimed directly at gamers in the most negative way.
GameStop will soon be offering a credit card to its customers within the next few months. PowerUp Basic members get 5,000 PowerUp Points and Pro members get 15,000 PowerUp Points just for signing up; and exclusive offers will be offered to cardholders. Rumor is that you’re “pre-approved” if you’re already a member (though it’s unconfirmed at this time).
The card will offer an interest rate of 26.99% APR. That’s twice the current fixed rate for credit cards of 13%, nearly twice the variable rate of 15% and at least 3% points above the APR that people with horrible credit get.
The “Special Financing” offers allow you to buy a lot on a low-interest rate, and then get slammed with the 27% rate at the end of six months if the balance is not paid off. Imagine buying one $60 game each month for a year, then paying only the minimum amount. It’ll take you more than 8 years to pay off $720, and you’ll pay $914 just in interest–in interest! The long-term financial damage it’ll cause for those who don’t pay attention can be catastrophic.
I don’t know about you but a GameStop credit card sounds like a bad idea in every way to me. It’s a recipe for disaster aimed at getting gamers into long-term financial debt for corporate benefit, and to me that’s not good business. Let us know what you think in the comments.
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