B & H Photo Payboo credit card.

[John_G]

I have been pricing out a new camera, media cards, L bracket and an extra battery. The total is a hefty chunk of change and in my locality the sales tax is over 9%. The B&H marketing says the tax comes right off the CC bill if you use the Payboo card. Note The card has an annual rate of 29.99%. I decided to do a little bit of digging and the current reviews look pretty dismal, difficulty paying your bill and not being able to get through to support.
I'm wondering what experience any of the DPREVIEW members have had with this credit card since the new bank (Comenity Capital Bank) took it over? As of now I'm inclined to pass on this.

Thanks for any info.

 

[LeicaEye]

I have been pricing out a new camera, media cards, L bracket and an extra battery. The total is a hefty chunk of change and in my locality the sales tax is over 9%. The B&H marketing says the tax comes right off the CC bill if you use the Payboo card. Note The card has an annual rate of 29.99%. I decided to do a little bit of digging and the current reviews look pretty dismal, difficulty paying your bill and not being able to get through to support.
I'm wondering what experience any of the DPREVIEW members have had with this credit card since the new bank (Comenity Capital Bank) took it over? As of now I'm inclined to pass on this.

Thanks for any info.

 

[Victor Engel]

My experience is that when I applied, I was instantly approved. I made a purchase, and then I waited for any sort of bill to arrive so that I could pay it off. When it finally came, I made a test payment using bill pay through my credit union. When it went through, I paid off the balance. That was rejected. The credit union said it was rejected by the receiver. Comenity bank said they never received anything. Because of the mixup, I decided to pay the bill by snail mail. For some strange reason, the snail mail took something like two weeks when it normally takes two days. Fortunately, I had documented everything, and it all got sorted. I've made additional purchases since then then they went through fine via bill pay.

Now that it's all behind me and I've had more time to learn the details, it seems that part of the problem may have been an intermediate step, where there's some algorithm used to figure out where to route the funds. Someone at the credit union speculated that the funds got routed to the wrong place and that's why it was rejected by the recipient (wrong recipient). On the other hand, since I had sent a test payment that worked, that wasn't a completely satisfactory explanation.

Around the same time Comenity Bank was having technical issues related I think to starting up this account. They were down for some time and it wasn't possible to pay through the website - another reason I used snail mail.

Partly with Henry Posner's help, this all got sorted. I wasn't charged anything, and all seems to be working as advertised now. I chalk it up to working out some bugs with a new process. That said, it's not new anymore, so all those issues should be ironed out by now.

 

[Tom_N]

I have been pricing out a new camera, media cards, L bracket and an extra battery. The total is a hefty chunk of change and in my locality the sales tax is over 9%. The B&H marketing says the tax comes right off the CC bill if you use the Payboo card.

B&H and the PayBoo credit card bank give you an instant credit equal to the amount of the sales/use tax. They still collect the actual sales/use tax from you, on behalf of the tax authorities in your state.

If you take the instant credit, you can't use B&H's "long-term special financing," or whatever benefits (cash back, travel points) might be available with your own credit card.

Note The card has an annual rate of 29.99%.

You don't want to carry balances from month to month on any of the "Payboo" cards, or the interest charges will very quickly eat up all of the savings and then some.

 

[henryp]

Victor Engel wrote:
Partly with Henry Posner's help, this all got sorted. I wasn't charged anything, and all seems to be working as advertised now. I chalk it up to working out some bugs with a new process. That said, it's not new anymore, so all those issues should be ironed out by now.

Thank you. I am glad I was able to help.

 

[DMKAlex]

I have been pricing out a new camera, media cards, L bracket and an extra battery. The total is a hefty chunk of change and in my locality the sales tax is over 9%. The B&H marketing says the tax comes right off the CC bill if you use the Payboo card. Note The card has an annual rate of 29.99%. I decided to do a little bit of digging and the current reviews look pretty dismal, difficulty paying your bill and not being able to get through to support.
I'm wondering what experience any of the DPREVIEW members have had with this credit card since the new bank (Comenity Capital Bank) took it over? As of now I'm inclined to pass on this.

Thanks for any info.

I never had any problem.

I use it because it saves me the 8% sales tax. I don't borrow with my credit card. The minute I make the purchase, I put a reminder on my calendar to schedule the payment. That gives me time to receive the item and make sure it works. Then I schedule the payment on the next due day directly from my bank account.

This day of age, customer service are all automated. Try talk to United Airlines and you would spend 3 hours back and forth repeating yourself 15 times. They don't care about customer anymore.

For all fairness, I don't have problem calling up a live person in B&H.

 

[bikerguy]

I have use the Payboo account several times including shortly after it was offered and have had no issues. My second purchase was larger than my initial credit limit with one phone call to Commity and one to B&H my limit was raised and the purchase went through. As others have stated, I always pay the balance in full through my bank's electronic bill paying system. Anytime I get a new credit card I do a small test payment to ensure that everything is working.

 

[ZodiacPhoto]

Make sure that if you need to return your purchase, the return is processed within the same billing cycle.

Otherwise, you will have to pay off the balance first, to avoid paying interest, and later, your refund credited back to your Payboo account. Now, your money are "parked", because you can't spend them anywhere else, beside B&H. If you buy often, it may be not a problem for you.

Having said that, I never had any problems with Payboo card.

 

[abe4652]

I have been pricing out a new camera, media cards, L bracket and an extra battery. The total is a hefty chunk of change and in my locality the sales tax is over 9%. The B&H marketing says the tax comes right off the CC bill if you use the Payboo card. Note The card has an annual rate of 29.99%. I decided to do a little bit of digging and the current reviews look pretty dismal, difficulty paying your bill and not being able to get through to support.
I'm wondering what experience any of the DPREVIEW members have had with this credit card since the new bank (Comenity Capital Bank) took it over? As of now I'm inclined to pass on this.

Thanks for any info.

Pay when the bill comes, and you save on the tax.

Don't buy unless you can pay it off, and then the 30% interest has nothing to do with you.

I can never understand why people complain about things that will never affect them.

 

[All Bushs Fault]

My first use of the new card resulted in a finance charge of $41, the first finance charge on a CC I've had to pay since the 1990s. What happened was I went to pay off my balance of $2900 by the automated phone system. Everything seemed to go just fine. I thought I had paid it off until I got a past due notice. After several discussions with personnel escalating up to a manager, apparently something went wrong with the telephone payment, they agreed to drop the late fee of $30 but insisted on the finance charge. By the way, they were able to see where I accessed the telephone payment system. I know Bank of America would have waived all charges. Since I believe in contracts, I paid the whole thing off including finance charge but I got a bill this month for $9.66. Apparently, you have to pay another finance charge the next month. It's all in your agreement somewhere they say. I don't understand it but the amount is too small to get all huffy about it.

I bought a couple of small things just last week from B&H but paid with my regular CC. I'd rather pay a few dollars in tax than risk another foul up for such a small amount. On large amounts, I will use the Payboo card. I am not going cut off my nose to spite my face but I will be more careful for sure and I have an online account set up now.

I have been pricing out a new camera, media cards, L bracket and an extra battery. The total is a hefty chunk of change and in my locality the sales tax is over 9%. The B&H marketing says the tax comes right off the CC bill if you use the Payboo card. Note The card has an annual rate of 29.99%. I decided to do a little bit of digging and the current reviews look pretty dismal, difficulty paying your bill and not being able to get through to support.
I'm wondering what experience any of the DPREVIEW members have had with this credit card since the new bank (Comenity Capital Bank) took it over? As of now I'm inclined to pass on this.

Thanks for any info.

 

[John_G]

Thank you.

 

[Joe Bagadonuts]

Payboo is a terrible marketing name for a credit card program. My skin crawls when I see it.

 

[LeicaEye]

Payboo is a terrible marketing name for a credit card program. My skin crawls when I see it.

They did consider boohoo, but it was rejected. Shame

 

[jffielde]

I purchased dozens of items on the original card and was delighted with it. The new one is a catastrophe and I have stopped purchasing from B&H almost completely as a result.

 

[LeicaEye]

I purchased dozens of items on the original card and was delighted with it. The new one is a catastrophe and I have stopped purchasing from B&H almost completely as a result.

The new card did have a poor runout, but thereafter my experience is positive. Order, goods delivered, tax amount refunded/credited or whatever way you want to say it. Pay through the new PayBoo website & deal done.. Pay with your AMEX card and they double the manufacturers warranty.. How much is that worth? Life is all about decisions. L

 

[JJekyll]

.... The card has an annual rate of 29.99%. ....

Ouch! That's crazy.

 

[henryp]

.... The card has an annual rate of 29.99%. ....

Ouch! That's crazy.

The interest rate for a bank card which does not include a logo or affiliation with Visa, MasterCard, Discover or Amex is almost always higher than for a card which does have that sort of affiliation.l For example:

Amazon.com Store Card or Amazon Prime Store Card accounts, standard variable purchase APR is *28.24%*
Kohl's, Macy's, JC Penney, all in the 29% range
Lord & Taylor was 28%
TJMaxx 28%
Game Stop 28%
Staples 29%
Zales 30%
Big Lots 30%
Neiman Marcus 25.49% variable APR
Apple Card As of 01/01/2019, Variable Purchase APR is 28.24%.
Gap - For new accounts: As of 01/01/2019, Variable Purchase APR is 28.24%.
Adorama 29.99%
Newegg 29.99%

 

[bikerguy]

.... The card has an annual rate of 29.99%. ....

Ouch! That's crazy.

Just pay it off and don't worry about the interest rate.

 

[JimH123]

.... The card has an annual rate of 29.99%. ....

Ouch! That's crazy.

The interest rate for a bank card which does not include a logo or affiliation with Visa, MasterCard, Discover or Amex is almost always higher than for a card which does have that sort of affiliation.l For example:

Amazon.com Store Card or Amazon Prime Store Card accounts, standard variable purchase APR is *28.24%*
Kohl's, Macy's, JC Penney, all in the 29% range
Lord & Taylor was 28%
TJMaxx 28%
Game Stop 28%
Staples 29%
Zales 30%
Big Lots 30%
Neiman Marcus 25.49% variable APR
Apple Card As of 01/01/2019, Variable Purchase APR is 28.24%.
Gap - For new accounts: As of 01/01/2019, Variable Purchase APR is 28.24%.
Adorama 29.99%
Newegg 29.99%

Exactly the reason I ALWAYS pay off my credit card debt immediately when the bill arrives. Know too many people that get themselves into a credit nightmare.

And I never purchase anything without knowing that the funds to pay it off are accessible for that very purpose.

 

[Victor Engel]

.... The card has an annual rate of 29.99%. ....

Ouch! That's crazy.

Just pay it off and don't worry about the interest rate.

The issue I had was paying off the very first bill. The various issue that cropped up used up all the time between receiving the bill and the final due date. That included an absurd 2 week delay at the post office when I used snail mail when the digital method apparently wasn't working. Once the account was set up and bill pay was set up, and the account was paid off for the first time, subsequent payments were not an issue.