Walmart Credit Card Review

Since the Walmart credit card is a store credit card good only for Walmart, Walmart.com (including grocery pickup services), Walmart Fuel Centers, and Murphy USA fuel purchases, this card is best for someone who spends heavily at those places. If you fit that spending profile and don’t want to pay an annual fee for a credit card, you may want to consider it.

• Earn exceptional rewards on some purchases: We like the high cash-back rate you can get on Walmart.com purchases, including grocery pickup orders initiated online. That’s not half bad since many cash-back credit cards offer less than that on Walmart.com and Walmart grocery pickup purchases.
• No annual fee: The fact there’s no annual fee means you can earn unlimited rewards with this card without worrying about its long-term value.

• Wimpy welcome bonus: This card promises $25 back if you sign up and spend $75 the day you’re approved. That’s considerably less than you’ll get with most cash-back credit cards that offer sign-up bonuses.
• Limited rewards program: You can only redeem rewards for statement credits, meaning you can only redeem them for purchases you already made with your store card. This is a big downside since some rewards credit cards let you redeem points for gift cards, travel, merchandise, and more. 
• Limited use: You can’t use it for purchases outside of the Walmart stores, Walmart.com, and Murphy USA. This means it's not good if you need a credit card for emergencies or want to earn cash back on everything you buy. 

The Walmart Credit Card offers an initial bonus like some other cards, but it’s a pretty sad one, really. Currently, you’ll receive a $25 statement credit when you sign up for the card and spend $75 on the same day you open your account. 

That’s incredibly weak. Many cash-back credit cards with no annual fee give you the opportunity to earn $150 or more after signing up and meeting a minimum spending requirement within a few months). 

The Walmart Credit Card may be limited in scope as a store credit card, but you’ll have plenty of opportunity to rack up cash back if you spend a lot at Walmart, particularly online. Once you sign up, you’ll earn 3% back at Walmart.com (including grocery pickup orders), 2% back at Walmart Fuel Centers and Murphy USA, and 1% back when you shop inside Walmart stores. There are no limits to the rewards you can earn. 

One major downside of the Walmart Credit Card is the fact you can only receive rewards as statement credits, and Synchrony credits them to your account after each statement cycle.

On the plus side, you don't have to take action to reap your rewards. But this means you can’t “save up” your rewards to cover a specific purchase. 

Since the Walmart Credit Card can only be used in a few ways, your best bet is using it for all your Walmart.com and Walmart gas or Murphy USA purchases. But if you can qualify for a card that earns more than 1% cash back on all purchases, you’ll want to use that in the store and everywhere else.

Like all cash-back credit cards, the best way to benefit is earning rewards without paying credit card interest. Since this card charges a high ongoing APR, you’ll want to make sure you’re paying your balance in full each month no matter what. 

One benefit of the Walmart Credit Card is the fact you get free access to your FICO score online. This makes it easy for you to track your credit progress over time, which can be important if you’re in the midst of trying to improve your score. 

Since the Walmart Credit Card is issued by Synchrony Bank, you’ll deal with Synchrony's customer service if you have a problem with your credit card account, and the bank doesn’t get rave reviews. J.D. Power ranked Synchrony 10th in its 2019 U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction Study, putting it behind all the major card issuers. 

Synchrony Bank does offer a mobile app, so that’s a plus.

The Walmart credit card comes with standard security features. 

Synchrony Bank also offers an optional credit card security program (for a fee) that can cancel your minimum monthly payment or entire balance up to $10,000 if you lose your job, become disabled, or face other hardships.

The credit card security program cost depends on your balance each month. The fee is $1.66 per $100 of your balance, and it’s automatically added to your account. Other fees are typical of store cards, but take note that the purchase APR is higher than the average credit card interest rate.