I just want to know- if everyone thinks Belks is “going under” , what’s the point of the Belk’s rewards credit cards then? Why is there such a push to get them? If Belks falls the cards will be useless to anyone/everyone. So, why’s there a push for this if so many people think Belk’s is not doing so great? Do you think the credit cards will save a company from collapse?
Help me understand.
Aside from exorbitant fees and maintenance charges, the information harvested from credit card applications alone is worth money to the company as they can sell that specific demographic/personal info, often with names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and birthdate conveniently attached, to other "partners" for targeted advertising, purchase habit tracking and other nefarious reasons. Yes, that is still a thing.
Read all the fine print and you'll see that you can opt-out of that sales program, usually about 3-4 months after they have had ample chance to sell it and even after receiving written notice of opt-out you'll find no specific guarantee that you won't still receive targeted advertising beyond that point. As they say about posts on The Internets: Once the information is out there, it's out there!
It's like a paper-trail version of a computer "cookie" that can be used to track your every move. And it amounts to extra, easy, side income for the business.
The money they get from the credit is part of the deleveraging deal with KKR and Hein Park. A securitization facility backed by the credit card.
A retail company saying sales are not the priority, opening credit cards is, Make that make sense.
So, BELK Mastercards will not be useless.
They will still work just like Sears Mastercards did after they went under. The store cards will be useless, unless they have an online only business which is what some companies owned by private equity are now doing.