Ginny's

I bough meat and cheese gift set, and a tin with 7 Christmas treats. Products were a bit pricey, but high quality and tasty.

This site is for those who don't have a credit card to their name. They give you a small line of credit at first ($100), and as you make monthly payments, they raise your limit. Great for those who are in need of a few things, but need to make payments. I received my order on time, intact, and it was of a better quality than expected. The cost was reasonable, but not cheap. It's a "great business" in these days of foreclosures, job loss, etc.

SHIPPING 2 MUCH

I am pleased with the items I received. Thanks for every thing when I had a problem the customer service help me.

Ginny's and sister companies offer easy credit for those with poor credit (so called Choose and Charge) through Comenity Bank (banking info IS posted on your credit agreement) without requiring a credit check or proof of income. Due to the predictable issues of a target clientele seeking "easy credit" without a credit check, they charge high interest rates and generally require a partial down payment on your first order or two until you have established a credit history with their company (also common with this type of credit offer). My biggest complaint regarding the down payment, is if I've allowed my balance to drop to zero I am frequently hit up for another down payment despite my excellent payment history and high credit limit. I refuse to pay it, request a second look at my history and (except at Xmas when they were particularly busy, and I was particularly angry about it) have always been accommodated. With apologies. It appears that if you go without a balance or purchase for some period of time you are automatically treated like a brand new customer, unless you make them look at your history. Regardless, you will not get such an accommodation if your history shows missed or late payments, in which case, they WILL require a partial down payment.

In these days of tightening credit requirements it isn't unusual for credit lenders to reduce credit limits if there is history of problems--or if they have ANY reason to worry about a default; nor for a down payment to be required. It isn't likely that someone with a wide range of credit opportunities as you would have with a good credit score, would be willing to pay such a high percentage rate when you have so many other options. If your credit opportunities are limited then you take what you can get and count yourself lucky.

As is also common with this type of company, some of their merchandise is overpriced compared to other sources, but if you need to make payments and have no other credit, it may be worth it anyway. They offer frequent sales, percentage off discounts and a nice range of merchandise with easy credit increases if you keep up your payments (I suggest paying more than the minimum). They also offer self-branded items not found anywhere else. As is becoming more common, any red flag on your credit reports--such as high usage CAN affect your credit with Ginny's and affiliates regardless of your particular history with them. They may not check your credit score with the credit bureaus, but Comenity Bank has a wide reach; is a very popular catalog and merchandise credit provider, and any problems at one is going to raise a red flag at others--and not just among these sister companies.

You should be aware that establishing good credit with these companies will not do anything for your credit score as they do not report to the credit bureaus. In that sense, they won't help you re-establish your credit. While this may be problematic if you are trying to improve your credit score, it also won't count against it for late or missed payments, or for high credit usage (a good example of a typical customer here would be a relatively low income, with a high debt to income ratio--a demographic that frequently has poor credit to begin with and who may find the lack of reporting beneficial). Keeping a good history with these catalogs does matter regardless, as it can open doors to other catalog credit options, generally beginning with other Comenity Bank affiliates that DO report to the Credit Bureaus such as Blairs, Brylane, Jessica London, and more.

I've been an on and off customer of these catalogs for decades and overall I've been very satisfied. I've ordered with and without using their credit plan. I've had few problems with returns, the most frequent (and that not often) with electronics breaking down after the usual 60 day time limit--which is longer than for other catalog companies, or the cost of returns not being justified for a low cost item. I also read the customer reviews and find them helpful; you have to remember that they are just the "store", except for self-branded merchandise, they are not the guarantor of the product. In most cases you need to contact the manufacturer after that 60 days and take it up with them. You generally know very quickly if anything other than an electronic device is defective or doesn't fit or you don't like it. Unfortunately the cost and hassle of returns is the price we pay for online and catalog shopping. Not many offer shipping or free returns (though they do exist), Sometimes the catalog "specials" include free shipping.

My overall rating is a 4--with my biggest complaint the resurrecting down payment request when my balance drops to zero and I havenn't placed an order in awhile; but as I've already said, if you have an established history of regular on time payments, that is usually taken care of with a phone call. The one time this really caused problems was at Christmas when the credit customer service representative was apparently "too busy" to bother checking. It really messed up my Christmas as I hadn't even realized that there was a problem with my order until some of the products were already sold out (all of my previous orders for a couple of YEARS had sailed through without any delays,, but I had paid down all of my balances to be free for Christmas orders).

The rest of my dealings with these companies has been consistent with any other catalog company that offers "easy credit" with "no credit check" (and no proof of income). I think it's a fair trade and a reasonable opportunity to get back on my "credit" feet, plus I like a number of their products. If you are concerned about cost, just as with anywhere, compare prices (and don't use catalog or merchandise credit which is usually a much higher APR than standard credit cards). Some merchandise will be priced much higher than you can usually find it on the 'net, others will be average--pretty much the same as anywhere else, while you may even find a decent bargain or two, especially if you sign up for their newsletters and follow the sales. Keep in mind it's not Walmart! But good standing WILL open doors to greater credit opportunities without any of it hurting your credit rating with the major credit bureaus.

Be aware that if at any time in the past you've had an account closed in bad standing that will continue to haunt you--pretty much forever with these companies. While it may not show up at the Credit Bureau, it WILL show up in their records. You don't want to open an account, place an order and then think you can get away with not paying for it. That might work in the short term, and it won't hurt your public credit score, but if you ever want another account with these companies--and others you might not even think of like Carol Wright, or Miles Kimball and more (who don't even TAKE applications, they have to OFFER it to you), or with Comenity Bank for that matter, it WILL still be around to haunt you, Maybe it will help to remember that these companies are taking a risk by offering easy credit with no credit checks, it's not surprising that they would want to keep track of those who try to take advantage on their own, and it's not surprising that they would need to have ways of compensating for their higher rate of default incurred by offering this easy credit in the first place through higher interest rates and sometimes higher prices.

In my opinion, if you have to pay half upfront than you probably have really horrible credit. My credit isn't great but it's good enough that they constantly are giving me a credit increase and I don't ever have to pay anything up front.

I have bought from Ginnys and sister companies for a long time. Never encountered issues until recently. Seems they run credit checks on every order you place so if you order for christmas a few times your credit will have a hard inquiry on it every order placed. My advice is to order everything at the same time. Even with approved credit they still will run a credit check so consumers should be aware of this