The Crate & Barrel Credit Card is a good credit card for someone with a credit score of 640 or higher who likes to shop at Crate & Barrel, Crate & Kids, and CB2. Cardholders earn 10% cash back in reward dollars on purchases from those stores, and the card does not charge an annual fee. 

You’re not going to earn rewards on purchases from the Crate & Barrel family of brands at a higher rate with an unaffiliated credit card. But you have to put the rewards you earn with the Crate & Barrel Credit Card toward other Crate & Barrel purchases. So, how useful this card will be depends on how often you shop from Crate & Barrel brands.

What I Like About the Crate & Barrel Credit Card

$0 Annual Fee

Not having to pay a fee is always better than the alternative, all else being equal. Plus, this saves you an average of $26.75 per year compared to other credit card offers, according to WalletHub research. It also makes owning a credit card just for purchases from a limited number of stores easier to justify. But pretty much all store credit cards have $0 fees, so this isn’t unique. 
 

10% Cash Back in Reward Dollars  

That’s around 10 times more than the average credit card will give you. You’ll earn rewards at this rate on all Crate & Barrel, Crate & Kids, and CB2 purchases, except when you opt for special financing. 

If you get the Mastercard version of the Crate & Barrel Credit Card, you’ll earn 2% back on grocery store purchases and 1% back on all other purchases.
 

Available to People With Fair Credit or Better

If your credit is good enough and you have plenty of income to afford a new line of credit, you might be approved for the Mastercard version of the card, which can be used pretty much everywhere. If you don’t qualify for that, you will be considered for the store credit card version, which can only be used for purchases from Crate & Barrel-owned stores.
 

Can Help You Build Credit

The Crate & Barrel Credit Card reports to the major credit bureaus every month. If you always pay your balance by the due date and you avoid maxing out your spending limit, having this card open should help your credit score over time. 

What I Don’t Like About the Crate & Barrel Credit Card

No Initial Bonus

A lot of store credit cards will give you a first-purchase discount. You can even save as much as 40% in some cases. But the Crate & Barrel Credit Card doesn’t have any such sign-up incentive, unfortunately.
 

33.99% (V) APR

Avoid carrying a balance from month to month with this card because interest charges will cost you big time. Like many other store credit cards, the Crate & Barrel Credit Card has an extremely high interest rate. For context, the average APR among credit card offers available right now is just 22.76%, and even that is pretty high. 
 

Deferred Interest Financing Promotions

If you opt for one of the card’s special financing offers, make sure to pay off your entire balance before the promotional period ends. If you don’t, a high interest rate will retroactively apply to the original purchase amount, like the interest-free promotion never existed. This is called deferred interest. 
 

Reward Dollars Have Some Fine Print

Reward Dollars are like real dollars, except that they only get you reward certificates, which can only be used to pay for Crate & Barrel purchases. The reward certificates expire after 90 days, too.