How the sears credit card works, from benefits to rewards

If you have seen Sears-branded cards mentioned in forums or have one in your wallet already, the most useful way to think about them is by separating two products that often get conflated. There is the closed-loop store card often called the Sears Card, which is typically used for special financing on Sears purchases. There is also the Shop Your Way Mastercard, issued by Citi, that earns everyday rewards in the Shop Your Way points currency and can be used anywhere Mastercard is accepted. In April 2025 Citi also rebranded the legacy “Sears Mastercard” product to the Citi ThankYou Mastercard, which matters if you are reading older guidance and trying to work out what still applies. The rebrand was communicated by Citi for an April 12, 2025 effective date and reflected broadly in cardholder notices and coverage.

For planning purposes, start with the rewards engine, since that determines where value shows up and how quickly you can turn spending into something you actually use. The Shop Your Way Mastercard earns points at accelerated rates in everyday categories. Historically, cardholders have earned the points equivalent of 5 percent back at gas stations and 3 percent back at restaurants and grocery stores, with a cap that resets each calendar year before dropping to a base earn on the excess. Independent card guides and the program’s own materials point to a combined cap of the first 10,000 US dollars spent per calendar year across those three bonus categories, after which the earn rate falls to the base level. That cap resets every December 31, so if you front-load those categories in the first half of the year you may see your effective earn rate step down sooner than expected.

Understanding the points currency is the next step. Shop Your Way points are a fixed-value currency. The program explains that 1,000 points equal 1 US dollar, which makes the math straightforward if you prefer predictability over travel-style points. What matters more is redemption access. You can redeem through Shop Your Way’s portal for a wide range of merchant gift cards and, more recently, for a Prepaid Mastercard e-gift, which behaves much closer to cash for many online uses within the United States. That upgrade has made the currency more flexible in practice for cardholders who do not shop at Sears or Kmart, but it is still a gift-card centered ecosystem rather than pure statement credit cash back.

Expiry is where many people lose value, often without noticing until it is too late. Shop Your Way’s terms describe typical 12-month lifespans for many point types, with some promotional or affiliate buckets expiring even quicker. Forums that track redemptions also remind cardholders that there can be daily redemption limits on certain gift-card denominations, which means you should not wait until the last week to move a large balance. A quiet but useful habit is to redeem on a rolling cadence that fits your spending, for example, converting a portion of points monthly or quarterly rather than stockpiling for a once-a-year conversion.

If you primarily want a store financing tool rather than a general-spend Mastercard, the Sears Card operates differently. Store financing offers are often framed as “no interest if paid in full” for a set promotional period on qualifying larger purchases. That phrasing signals deferred interest rather than a true zero percent APR, and it deserves caution. If any portion of the promotional purchase remains unpaid when the clock runs out, the issuer can charge interest retroactively back to the purchase date on the entire original amount. Reviewers tracking Sears store promotions continue to flag this structure as a core feature, which can be very helpful when planned correctly but expensive if cash flow runs tight. If you intend to use financing, treat the payoff date as immovable and schedule payments that retire the balance a month early.

The 2025 product changes matter for anyone carrying older guidance in their head. Citi announced that the “Sears Mastercard” name would change to Citi ThankYou Mastercard beginning April 12, 2025. In practical terms, card numbers and account histories were slated to carry over, and the earn structure tied to ThankYou points is different from Shop Your Way points. The Shop Your Way Mastercard itself has continued to exist for existing cardholders, but new applications have been intermittently unavailable during mid-2025, as the product disappeared from Citi’s retail page and application links on Shop Your Way’s site were removed at various points. If you are trying to apply today, check the live status first, because availability has not been consistent.

In a planning session, I would translate all of this into a few very quiet and practical questions. First, does your household’s natural spending pattern actually sit in the gas, grocery, and dining categories in a way that meaningfully uses the 10,000 dollar combined cap before the reset each year. If you do most of your grocery shopping at warehouse clubs that code differently, or you rely heavily on superstores that might not code cleanly as grocery, your realized earn rate may look more like the base 1 percent than the headline. Program fine print warns that certain superstores and warehouse clubs are excluded from the enhanced earn, and third-party coding rules can create edge cases that are not obvious in the marketing headlines. Keeping your expectations aligned with how your merchants are coded in practice is key.

Second, do you want a cash-equivalent outcome or are you comfortable with gift-card liquidity. The arrival of the Prepaid Mastercard e-gift has created a cash-like pathway for many cardholders, but if you are outside the United States, or you depend on statement credits to pad your budget during variable months, a traditional cash-back card may fit better. The Shop Your Way portal’s breadth is a strength, yet there are still operational frictions such as stock, daily redemption maximums, and occasional verification steps that make it less seamless than automatic cash back crediting your statement. Build your redemption routine around those frictions rather than hoping they will not show up.

Third, are you likely to forget about expiry. A simple calendared reminder can protect a lot of value. The program’s own terms outline the 12-month cadence for many point types, and that short runway is what differentiates this card from cash-back programs where rewards typically do not expire as long as the account remains open. If you travel or experience a busy quarter, you do not want a surprise “use by” date to meet you on your return.

If you are using the closed-loop Sears Card for a large appliance or home project, structure the financing inside your budget rather than around it. Treat the promotional period as if it were a loan with a hard maturity date, divide the balance by the number of months to create a payoff plan, and add a small buffer so a delivery delay or service dispute does not push your last payment outside the window. The advantage of this card is that it can keep cash flow smooth during a planned home expense, but only if you pay it with the discipline you would bring to a fixed personal loan. The risk is the deferred interest tail that can unwind your savings if you drift.

Existing cardholders also ask whether older benefits and targeted offers survive product changes. Citi’s rebrand notice for the legacy Sears-branded Mastercard indicated that account numbers and histories would remain intact, with benefits and earn moving under the ThankYou umbrella. That shift can change how and where you redeem, and it may change whether stacking shop-specific offers remains relevant for you. It is a good time to log in, confirm which product you hold, and re-read your benefits page rather than assuming last year’s email is still live.

For the Shop Your Way Mastercard, the operational reality is that the card’s strength has always been its everyday category earn paired with the ability to convert points into broadly usable value. The categories are household-centric, the cap is generous for many families, and the redemption catalogue is wide. The tradeoffs are clarity and cadence. Value arrives as points, not cash, the program enforces expiry, and redemptions move through a portal with its own rules and occasional limits. If you embrace that design and automate your redemptions, the card can slot neatly into a budget that prioritizes fuel and groceries. If you would rather see automatic cash back settle on your statement each month without any steps, a simpler flat-rate product will feel cleaner.

Finally, a practical setup sequence helps new cardholders avoid friction. Link your credit-card profile to a working Shop Your Way account so points post and display correctly, then verify the category coding of your favorite merchants during the first month so you are not surprised by a base-rate posting where you expected a bonus. Review the portal and test a small redemption early, even if you plan to save for a larger gift card later, so you are comfortable with the flow before a deadline. Turn on autopay set to full balance to preserve rewards value and avoid finance charges that erase any benefit. If you hold the store-only card and plan a promotional purchase, pencil the payoff date into your calendar and build payments backward from it with a one-month buffer.

If you came here wanting to know how the Sears credit card works, the answer depends on which card you hold and what you want from it. As a general-spend Mastercard, the Shop Your Way card can deliver strong value on fuel, dining, and grocery spending if you redeem consistently and avoid expiry. As a store card, the Sears Card can make a large purchase easier to manage when financing is planned precisely. With the 2025 rebrand of the legacy Sears Mastercard to Citi ThankYou Mastercard and sporadic application availability for the Shop Your Way product, the most important step is to confirm the live product terms you hold now, then match your earning and redemption behaviors to your actual goals. That sequence keeps rewards from becoming clutter and turns the card into a tool that steadily supports the rest of your plan.