T.J. Maxx Credit Card Review: Great for Shoppers but Lacking Elsewhere

If you're a fashionista on a budget (or if you just have a lot of kids to clothe), the T.J. Maxx credit cards might have piqued your interest. There are two of them -- the TJX Rewards® Platinum Mastercard® that can be used anywhere, and the TJX Rewards® Credit Card that can only be used in-store.

Since they don't carry an annual fee, you may think there's no harm in applying for either card -- it's essentially free rewards, right? That's largely true, but as you'll see in our T.J. Maxx credit card review, for most people these cards are a bit more of a tired tchotchke than a shiny bargain. If you're good at scoping out deals on your wardrobe, it's likely you can find better deals for your wallet as well.

Top perks

Good earnings rate for TJX brand purchases: Each card will give you 5% back in TJX stores towards TJX Rewards Certificates. This is a pretty good rewards rate, on par with some of the highest cash back credit cards.

Use your card to earn rewards from multiple brands: The cards say "T.J. Maxx" on them, but you can also use them to buy things at Marshalls, HomeGoods, Sierra (formerly Sierra Trading Post), and Homesense stores. These are all great stores for people scouting out deals.

Automatic rewards redemptions: These cards have one of the easier rewards redemption options we've seen. Instead of fussing with external accounts or debit cards, you'll simply get a Rewards Certificate in the mail with your statement when you've accumulated enough points. These are sent out automatically in $10 or $20 amounts, so if you don't have enough points they'll roll over until you do.

No annual fee: These cards don't come with an annual fee. Which is a good thing, considering there's a pretty long list of drawbacks.

Read more: Best No Annual Fee Credit Cards

What could be improved

Application process: There's only one application for both cards. You don't get to choose which one to apply for -- you fill out the form and see which one they decide to offer you, if any. If you're hoping for the higher-end TJX Rewards® Platinum Mastercard® and all you get offered is the TJX Rewards® Credit Card, for example, you've just added another credit inquiry to your report and potentially dinged your credit score for nothing.

Poor earnings rate on non-TJX spending: Speaking of the differences between these cards, you can only use the TJX Rewards® Credit Card at TJX stores and nowhere else. You can, however, use the TJX Rewards® Platinum Mastercard® elsewhere, but you'd be better off avoiding it if you have better rewards card options. That's because it only earns 1 point per dollar spent on non-TJX purchases.

Limited rewards use: We hope you like these brands, because you can't use your Rewards Certificates for anything else. You can't get cash back or gift cards -- just discounts on T.J. Maxx brands, and that's it.

Rewards Certificates expire: It's nice that the company sends out your rewards automatically. But that also means you have to actually use the rewards on a regular basis, because each Rewards Certificate has a two-year expiration date. In other words, you can't save up your rewards and then redeem them on a mega shopping spree.

High interest rate: We recommend avoiding this card entirely if you think you might carry any balance at all. If you pay off your balance each month you won't have to pay any interest. But if you don't, you'll have to pay a sky-high interest rate. If you need to finance your clothes or other purchases, choose a credit card with a lower interest rate or better yet, one with a 0% intro APR offer.

No 0% intro APR offer: Speaking of 0% intro APR offers, these cards don't have any of them. It's pretty standard for retail credit cards to offer you some sort of discount financing after you open the card, but this one doesn't. It's yet another reason to never carry a balance on this card.

Lackluster perks: It's also fairly common for retail cards to offer a jackpot sign-up bonus, fancy perks, or other nice touches to entice you. Don't get us wrong, the T.J. Maxx cards do offer perks -- they're just not as shiny as we would expect. The only extras you get are a 10% discount on your first purchase after you sign up and access to "exclusive private shopping events," whatever those are. We think T.J. Maxx could do much better.

You'll want fair to good credit -- a score of at least 620 -- when applying for these credit cards. Ideally, aim for a higher score of at least 670.

Remember that a high score isn't a guarantee of approval, and a low score doesn't always mean you'll be denied. Other factors, such as your income, existing debts, and credit history will be taken into consideration.

Read more: Best Credit Cards for Fair/Average Credit

If you're a frequent shopper at T.J. Maxx or one of the other store brands under the TJX umbrella, you're unlikely to find a traditional credit card product that matches the high rewards rate on purchases at TJX stores, unless it's part of a limited-time rotating bonus category.

While you could use the TJX Rewards® Platinum Mastercard® outside the TJX family of stores, frankly, the rewards rate on other purchases doesn't quite measure up to many other cash back and travel rewards credit cards. And don't forget that it has an extremely high APR.

These credit cards are only really useful only at TJX stores and websites. And only if you plan to pay off your balance in full each month because otherwise any cash back you get will be more than wiped out by interest charges. If you're not a frequent shopper at TJX stores, or you plan to carry a balance, you're probably better off looking at a traditional credit card.

Our credit card methodology

At The Motley Fool Ascent, we rate credit cards on a five-star scale (1 = poor, 5 = best). Our rating criteria includes rewards rates, welcome bonuses, fees, and perks like travel credits and 0% intro APR offers to evaluate our ratings.

We combine these factors with an evaluation of brand reputation and customer satisfaction to ensure you're getting the best card recommendations. Learn more about how The Ascent rates credit cards.