There are many credit cards you can use with the intent of building up rewards for traveling. Some are ideal for domestic spending, and others can be used while you’re traveling to make the most out of your trip. As you explore your options, one card might come up that might perk your ears: the TJX Rewards card.

Is the TJX Rewards card a good card for traveling? Are there details you should know before you apply? Let’s talk about it!

What is the TJX Rewards Card?

The TJX Rewards card is actually two different possible credit cards. They are the TJX Rewards and the TJX Rewards Platinum cards. While it might sound like they’re basically the same thing, just with better rewards or perks for the second one, there are a few key differences worth knowing.

First, the similarities.

Both cards are T.J. Maxx branded cards. T.J. Maxx is a popular brand with over 1,000 locations throughout the United States, making it one of the largest clothing stores in the country. Outside of the US, it’s actually commonly known as T.K. Maxx to avoid confusion with T.J. Hughes, a British retailer. The company is owned by a larger department store brand called TJX Companies, which includes additional brands like HomeGoods, Sierra, and Marshalls.

Both cards have $0 annual fees. It’s always important to know whether or not a card has annual fees because a high enough annual fee can mean the rewards you earn aren’t worth the cost of admission. Fortunately, you don’t have to worry about that with either one of these cards.

The sign-up bonus is mediocre. All you get for signing up with either card is 10% off your first purchase using it at a TJX store. That includes partner brands like HomeGoods and Marshalls but does not include other purchases. Sorry, your big grocery run or that Amazon Prime Day shopping spree don’t count.

Points are relatively limited. The point value for the rewards you earn clocks in at $10 for every 1,000 points. That’s not a bad rate, but the kicker is it comes in the form of $10 reward certificates to spend at TJX stores. Effectively, it’s store credit or gift cards, not cash back or travel miles.

Reward points don’t expire, but the redemption rewards do. This is a pretty huge caveat! You can spend all you like and rack up reward points with these cards, and the points will never expire. However, once you convert those points into monetary rewards, those reward certificates expire two years after the date of issuance. This wouldn’t normally be an issue, except that TJX issues certificates automatically when you reach thresholds, so you have to remember you got them and spend them before they expire.

TJX does offer some in-store discounts and deals for rewards card holders, but these vary from time to time and are difficult to put a specific value on, so your mileage may vary with them.

Basic details of the card include a hefty 26.99% APR and $35 late fees and penalties. Neither is a problem if you don’t carry a balance you can’t pay, but it is what it is.

Now, with the similarities out of the way, let’s talk about the differences.

Details of the TJX Rewards Card

Now, let’s dig into the two cards and their unique points. First, we’ll start with the TJX Rewards card, which is the basic TJX card.

Rewards are a flat rate that never expire. You earn 5 points for every $1 you spend at a TJX store. Since the rewards convert at the rate listed above, 1,000 points for $10, that means to earn each $10 gift certificate, you need to spend $200 to earn $10, which is effectively a 5% value. The points never expire, but the caveat we mentioned above does still apply. That can be a hassle, depending on your usual card habits.

Your ability to use the card is very limited. The TJX Rewards Card is explicitly a store card, not a general credit card. It can only be used for purchases at T.J. Maxx, HomeGoods, Homesense, Marshalls, Sierra, and the websites for TJMaxx.com and Sierra.com. Again, sorry, but you aren’t putting your grocery runs on this card to earn points.

Other than that, there’s not a lot you need to know about the card. You can’t make cash advances with it, there aren’t bonuses for things like balance transfers, and there are no real perks to using the card that we haven’t already mentioned above.

What about the Platinum card?

Details of the TJX Rewards Platinum Card

If you’re disappointed reading about the TJX Rewards Card, you might be wondering if the TJX Platinum card is just as disappointing. Fortunately, it’s a bit better.

The Platinum Card is a Mastercard. That means it’s a full credit card, unlike the basic card. As such, you’re not limited to using it only at TJX stores like the rewards card; you can use it for purchases anywhere Mastercard is accepted. Mastercard is comparable to Visa in terms of widespread acceptance, so it’s really not a hindrance in all but the rarest edge cases.

You earn a lower rate for non-TJX spending. Just like the basic TJX card, you still earn five points for every $1 spent at a TJX store. However, you also earn one point per $1 spent at non-TJX stores. Finally, those grocery runs can bring in some rewards! Of course, given the lower rate, it’s a worse exchange; if you’re not shopping at TJX stores, you’re only earning effectively a 1% rate of return.

There are a few extra perks and features. Since the card is a full credit card co-branded with T.J. Maxx rather than a store card, you can make cash advances (for a 26.99% APR, a 4% fee, and a $10 minimum).

More importantly, for our primary concerns here on this site, there are no foreign transaction fees with the Platinum card. This is meaningful if you plan to use the card, but as we’ll talk about in a bit, that may not be very important. You also get a limited selection of extended warranty offers and price protection guarantees on select items, as well as some built-in fraud protection and identity theft benefits that are common to all Mastercards.

Important Notes About the TJX Rewards Cards

There are a few important things to note about the TJX Rewards Cards.

The first is that you don’t actually get to apply for one or the other. You apply for a TJX card, and they evaluate your credit score and overall financial situation and either deny you, approve you for the basic rewards card, or approve you for the platinum card. If you’re only approved for the basic card, that’s what you get. If you use the card over time, you may eventually be offered an upgrade, at which time you can switch to the Platinum card and enjoy the perks.

Another detail is that the APR for the TJX cards – which is the same across both cards, at 26.99% — is higher than the national average for credit cards. Of course, the actual rate you’re offered can vary depending on your personal situation and the cards you choose, but the basic stated numbers work out that way. Of course, interest rates don’t matter as much if you aren’t carrying a balance, but it’s still something to keep in mind.

What About the TJX World Card?

There is, reportedly, a secret third option for TJX cards. It’s called the TJX Rewards World Card, and it’s a step up from the Platinum card and reserved for top shoppers with TJX. There are no specific requirements for this card that we know of; only that it’s only available as an upgrade to existing cards. You can bet that it’s only available if you’re doing some serious business with TJX stores.

The TJX World card has a bunch of additional benefits, including:

• A personal travel advisor.
• 10% off a stay in their network of home-sharing locations.
• Access to air, cruise, and car programs.
• Skip the line perks for Mastercard Priceless Cities locations.
• Exclusive cardholder perks and privileges.
• Golf bonuses.
• Restaurant access.
• Contactless payment options.

All of these are generally Mastercard perks offered to higher-tier cardholders rather than anything unique to TJX; this is just one path to getting them.

We’ll also say here that there’s very little information about this card available – even the TJX website for this card doesn’t seem to exist anymore – so it’s definitely not something to count on.

A Note on TJX Reviews

One thing you may want to consider is the reputation of the TJX cards. Unfortunately, there are a lot of negative customer reviews for the TJX cards. Numerous people report having their accounts closed without notice, and there are a lot of reports of extremely poor customer service. This is very much a “buyer beware” situation; there are definitely plenty of people who never have issues, those people just don’t tend to post reviews online, so negatives frequently outweigh positives in these scenarios.

Always take reviews with a grain of salt, but don’t ignore them entirely. The TJX card has enough holding it back as it is; this may be the tipping point that makes you look elsewhere, like at one of the five best travel cards we recommend.

Is the TJX Rewards Card Good for Travel?

The answer to this question depends entirely on which version of the card you get, but the answer is still likely the same either way.

If you get the TJX Rewards card, the basic one, it’s pretty much not useful for travel at all. Since you can only use it in TJX stores, you’d have to do your shopping while traveling at those stores. There’s no guarantee there will even be one of those stores at your destination, and if there is, do you really want to be shopping at a place you can visit when you’re home? Some people do, sure, but that’s not why we travel.

Add to that the fact that the rewards points are also only spendable in TJX brands, and that they can’t be used for flights, hotel stays, or travel discounts, and they can’t be transferred to any partner programs that could, and you have a recipe for a dead piece of plastic in your wallet or purse when you’re traveling.

What about the Platinum card? As a Mastercard, the TJX Rewards Platinum card is at least usable in many places around the world. The higher APR means you probably don’t want to use it to take cash advances in foreign lands, but you can at least use it to pay for lodging and flights.

The lower rate of rewards, combined with the limit on how you can use those rewards, still makes for a pretty mediocre card when you’re hopping around the world. So, it’s slightly better in that it’s better than nothing at all, but that’s not really saying a whole lot.

As for the TJX World card, the perks and benefits are a lot more aimed at travel, but these aren’t unique to TJX; in fact, they’re generic perks for a class of Mastercards in general. That, combined with the fact that you can’t just apply for and get the TJX World card, means it’s not something we’re considering a reliable card to get or have.

The bottom line is that the TJX Platinum card is potentially better than nothing at all, but if you’re traveling outside of the US, you’re probably already equipped with something else. We’d much rather recommend something like a Chase Sapphire card or an Ink Business card to earn real travel rewards than limit yourself to just TJX brands and purchases.

If you’re an incredibly loyal customer and shop at T.J.Maxx and the related brands on a near-daily basis, then sure, the TJX rewards card is a good deal for you. Then again, if you’re that much of a Maxx fanatic, you probably already have it and don’t need us to tell you about it.