The Pottery Barn Credit Card: Do You Want to Decorate Your Wallet With This Piece of Plastic?

Pottery Barn brings an interesting twist to the loyalty credit card: cash back or, if your purchase is big enough, special financing.

But as interesting as it is, this card is still a hard pass unless you’re such a Pottery Barn fan that you’re decking out your whole house in the retailer’s goods. There are much better credit cards on offer, particularly when it comes the “special financing.”

I mean, really: Why would you want special financing when you can get no interest financing with something like the Capital One Quicksilver credit card? But we will come back to that in a moment.

Is the Pottery Barn Credit Card Good for Me?

The short answer is, “No.” While the Pottery Barn card offers substantial cashback (and I’ll get to that in just a moment), the cashback is only useful when buying more Pottery Barn stuff. And, honestly, at some point, you have to ask, “How much Pottery Barn stuff can I have in one house?”

The longer answer is, “Maybe.” If Pottery Barn truly and seven other brands (Williams Sonoma, Williams Sonoma Home, Pottery Barn Kids, Pottery Barn Teen, West Elm, Rejuvenation and Mark & Graham) are your interior-decoration jam, then you will likely be happy with the cashback you receive for your Pottery Barn purchases. Though, if you buy so much Pottery Barn gear that you need to finance the purchase, you are much better off using a different credit card that offers 0% financing.

Benefits and Features of the Pottery Barn Credit Card: All You Need to Know

First – the cashback feature. As I said, it’s definitely generous. Here is what you can earn with the Pottery Barn Key Rewards Visa card at Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, Pottery Barn Teen, Williams Sonoma, Williams Sonoma Home, West Elm, Rejuvenation and Mark & Graham:

10% back in rewards for your first 30 days.
5% back online and in stores.
4% back at grocery stores, on food delivery, and at restaurants (excludes fast food).
1% back on any other purchases everywhere Visa is accepted.

Or, if you spend at least $750 on a single purchase, you can opt for zero interest promo financing with 12 equal monthly payments on that purchase instead of rewards.

And to be clear, you cannot double-dip with a large purchase. You can’t get special financing on a $750 purchase and get $75 in reward certificates. This is an either/or offer. You can choose one or the other – not both.

The good thing about special zero interest financing is that it is optional on every purchase of $750 or more. While the 10% back is given for the first 30 days only. So, it might be forth choosing special financing over rewards when the 10% offer is over.

However, if you need more time to pay off your purchase at 0% interest, you can still better by getting 0% for 15 months with these credit cards.

Beyond the cashback or special financing, the Pottery Barn credit card will give you access to exclusive events and member-only offers; double reward opportunities throughout the year; free standard shipping at Williams Sonoma; $25 birthday reward; and the ability to earn rewards at eight brands. And there’s no annual fee.

So, honestly, beyond the 10% cash back, there’s not a whole lot to get excited about with the Pottery Barn credit card.

What Credit Score You Need to be Considered

This is a store-branded credit card, meaning you should have no problem obtaining this card if you have good credit, which implies a credit score north of 670. Plus, the issuer offers you to find out if you’re pre-approved in minutes – with no impact to your credit score.

What if I don’t Qualify for a Pottery Barn Credit Card?

If your application is declined for some reason, then you need to consider a credit card that will help you build or repair your credit. As I regularly report, the Capital One Platinum card is one of the absolute best options for that.

Capital One Platinum charges no annual fee and offers automatic credit line reviews after six, consecutive on-time payments. Those two features will bump up your credit score because of the way scores are calculated, which will help you build or repair your credit rather fast.

Capital One Platinum won’t earn airline miles or cash-back or rewards points, but when you have no credit or bad credit, perks won’t help you. You need a card that increases your credit score.

Which Credit Cards Do a Better Job Than a Pottery Barn Credit Card?

Well, right off the bat I’ll go back to what I mentioned earlier: the Capital One Quicksilver credit card.

Let’s assume you know you’re going on buying spree at Pottery Barn and you will spend more than $750. You have a choice:

Option A (Preferred): Apply for a Capital One Quicksilver Rewards card before you go …

Option B: Apply for the Pottery Barn Key Rewards Visa credit card at the register in order to take advantage of the 12-month promotional financing instead of rewards.

The best option is easily the Capital One card.

With Capital One Quicksilver Rewards you will get:

0% financing on all new purchases in the first 12 months;
You will get 1.5% cash back on every purchase you make, so that’s $11.25 on a $750 Pottery Barn purchase;
And you will get $200 as a one-time cash back bonus after you spend $500 in the first three months, which you will meet with your single, Pottery Barn purchase.

With the Pottery Barn card, you will spend $750 and you will owe $750, and you will pay it back over 12 months at 0% interest.

With Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards, the effective cost of your $750 Pottery Barn splurge is actually just $538.75 after accounting for the 1.5% cashback and the one-time sign-up bonus.

Obviously, Capital One Quicksilver Rewards wins on a new-purchase basis.

On an ongoing basis – meaning after the one-sign up bonus and 0% financing for 12 months expires – I would argue the Capital One card is still a better bet. You have to do a lot of spending at Pottery Barn to benefit, and you have to wait until you’ve earned $10 in rewards before you see a reward certificate … and then you are forced to go back to Pottery Barn or its other seven brands to use that reward, otherwise it’s just a worthless piece of paper.

With a Capital One Quicksilver you can redeem any amount of cash in your account at any time, with no expiration date as long as your account is open.

You can apply the cash balance to your credit card account, meaning your cashback is useful for any purchase you make, not just on Pottery Barn fare. Or have the money sent to your bank account … or request a gift card.

The point is, Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards gives you unending options for how you use your cashback. The Pottery Barn credit card gives you one option, so you have to really like spending at Pottery Barn.

The best option if you need a longer 0% intro APR period: Chase Freedom Unlimited®.

Another good option I would recommend is the Chase Freedom Unlimited credit card. This card, like the Pottery Barn credit card, gives higher rewards on dining. Here’s what you will get with the Freedom Unlimited card:

0% intro APR for 15 months from account opening on new purchases;
5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
3% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service;
1.5% cash back on all other purchases;
Intro offer of $200 bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in your first three months from account opening.

This credit card is quite similar to the Quicksilver Rewards card, but it offers longer introductory period and higher rewards on dining and travel.

And even though 3% cash back on dining at restaurants is less that 4% at restaurants the Pottery Barn card offers, The Freedom Unlimited card will still be a better option in terms of redemption options and due to the fact that it is a part of Chase Ultimate Rewards.