Money Management

Do Costco’s pet products justify the membership fee? Read on to find out. [[{“value”:”

It’s common to join Costco when you’re in charge of feeding a house full of humans. But what about pet parents? Is a Costco membership worth it?

You’ll pay $60 a year for a basic membership at Costco, or $120 a year for an Executive membership that gives you 2% cash back on your in-store and online purchases. But whether you should join Costco for the pet products alone depends on the specific things you need and how Costco’s prices compare to those of its competitors.

Are Costco’s pet products the cheapest?

Costco carries a host of pet products, from food to toys to general supplies. It often pays to buy groceries from Costco for the bulk discounts. And it could make sense to buy pet food and products from Costco for the same reason.

But there are many ways to find affordable pet care products outside of Costco. So if you’re thinking of getting a membership for the pet items alone, you’ll need to do some research to make sure Costco’s prices are the best ones for the items you need.

For example, Costco’s online price for a 40-pound bag of Kirkland dog food is $49.99. And usually, in-store prices are a bit cheaper — though there’s also something to be said for having dog food shipped to your door, as opposed to having to lug it home from the store.

But you can also buy a 44-pound bag of Pedigree dog food for $29.98 from Chewy. And if you sign up for automatic shipping for that item, you can save 20% on your first order, bringing your total cost to just $19.49.

Similarly, right now, Costco is offering $4.10 off of an online purchase of 42 pounds of Scoop Away scented cat litter, bringing your price to $23.89. But Chewy has the same item in the same quantity for $22.99. And that’s not Chewy’s discounted price — it’s the regular one.

While Costco might often win at the “Who has the lowest grocery prices?” game, the same isn’t necessarily true in the context of pet products. So it may not make sense to join Costco to only buy pet products.

An existing membership could save you money on pet care

While it may not pay to join Costco for the pet products alone, it does pay to see what pet-related benefits you’re eligible for as an existing member.

As a Costco member, you can potentially save 15% on pet insurance through Figo. And if you’re an Executive member, your $15 enrollment fee is also waived. Having pet insurance could spare you from catastrophic costs if your pet needs extensive treatment or a hospital stay.

You may also be eligible for savings of up to 40% on select pet medications. But again, Chewy also sells discounted pet medication, so it may not pay to join Costco simply to save on the pills you give your pet. However, if you’re an existing member, you should compare prices between the two based on your pet’s needs to see which has the better deals.

Of course, you may very well join Costco with the intent to use your membership for pet-related purchases only to start making the store your go-to source for groceries and household essentials as well. It’s not a terrible idea to try out a membership and see how it goes. Costco allows you to cancel that membership for a refund at any time before the one-year mark. So if you’re on the fence about joining as a pet owner, you could always give it a go and see what happens.

Top credit card to use at Costco (and everywhere else!)

If you’re shopping with a debit card, you could be missing out on hundreds or even thousands of dollars each year. These versatile credit cards offer huge rewards everywhere, including Costco, and are rated the best cards of 2024 by our experts because they offer hefty sign-up bonuses and outstanding cash rewards. Plus, you’ll save on credit card interest because all of these recommendations include a competitive 0% interest period.

Click here to read our expert recommendations for free!

We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.Maurie Backman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Costco Wholesale. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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We all make silly choices when we’re young and naive. Take a look at one financial decision that probably would have been better to avoid. [[{“value”:”

It’s not always a bad idea to sign up for a store credit card. If you shop at a particular retailer often and the credit card offers significant savings or rewards you can take advantage of, then it can be a good fit for you. But often, store credit cards are fairly limited in how you can use them and spend your rewards. A more general credit card that offers rewards on a wider swath of your regular spending is a better bet.

Unfortunately, it can be all too easy to be swayed into signing up for one of these cards in store. Here’s how that happened to me.

An in-store misunderstanding

When I was in my early 20s, I received a gift certificate to a department store I rarely shopped at, but I was happy for the little shopping spree. When I went to the cashier to check out, they asked me if I wanted to sign up for the store card. I don’t remember the exact wording they used, but I’m gonna go ahead and say they did not make it very clear upfront that it was a credit card and not a store loyalty card. But it did come with a nice discount on that day’s purchase for signing up.

Even though I’d never shopped in that store before and didn’t plan to again anytime soon, I was all about saving money, so I said sure. Who was I to turn down a free discount? Then out came the paperwork, which seemed a little excessive to me. And then there was a mention of a credit check. You’d think that would have tipped me off, but I was so deep in the process at that point, I just kept going. At that point in my life, I only had one credit card, which had been upgraded from a student credit card just the year before. I didn’t know much of anything about what that credit check meant.

A waste of wallet space

I walked out of the store that day with a pretty new shirt and an unnecessary new credit card. I wasn’t in the habit of checking my credit score back then, but I can assume I took a small ding thanks to the credit check that ran when I opened the card. For most people, the hit will be fewer than five points, so it probably wasn’t a big disruption. But now I was carrying around a credit card that I would literally never use again.

The card also became part of my credit history, and the longer I carried it around, the bigger of an impact it would have. The age of your credit history makes up 15% of your FICO® Score; the older an account is, the better it reflects on you as a credit user.

It was also contributing to my credit utilization ratio, which makes up 30% of your FICO® Score and is the total amount of credit available to you compared to the amount you use. Since I only had one other card open at the time, this store card was making up a significant amount of my available credit. Closing it would have a negative effect on both those factors of my credit score.

When I finally got around to closing the card several years later, I’d had it long enough that I likely took a hit to my credit score when I closed it. (Again, I wish I could say by how much, but I still wasn’t looking up my score at that time.)

Consider your spending when opening a new credit card

Credit cards can offer a ton of benefits if you use them wisely. But one of the main factors to consider when applying for a card is whether you’ll actually use those benefits (not to mention the card!). If you can find a simple cash back credit card that rewards you on a lot of your spending, that’s likely a better bet than a store credit card that you can only use with one vendor.

By the way, I still have the shirt I bought that day, so at least it wasn’t a totally wasted experience.

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This credit card is not just good – it’s so exceptional that our experts use it personally. It features a 0% intro APR for 15 months, a cash back rate of up to 5%, and all somehow for no annual fee!

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We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Thinking about buying a home this year? How’s your credit? Here are three reasons to work on it before you shop. [[{“value”:”

If you’ve been dreaming of leaving the renting life behind and embarking on the adventure that is owning your own home, you’re in great company. But that company is also why it’s a competitive market out there, so before you so much as look at a random home listing online, you should be preparing your life and your finances for this substantial change.

Saving a down payment is a huge undertaking these days, but beyond that, you also need reasonable credit (note that I didn’t say you needed perfect credit). It can take years to achieve this, especially if you’ve had a crash-and-burn style life catastrophe get in your way. Medical bills, car accidents, and being out of work for sustained periods can do huge damage to your credit — but it’s not forever. You can fix those problems and return your credit to its former glory.

It’s time to get started repairing your credit, and here are three reasons why it matters.

1. You’ll be offered lower mortgage interest rates

Yep, you heard it here first, or maybe second or third, but the most important and obvious reason to repair your credit before even thinking about buying a home is that you’ll pay less in interest for the life of your mortgage.

The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) has a neat tool that can allow you to estimate your mortgage interest rate based on your location, credit score, and other elements of your future loan, like purchase price and down payment.

For example, if you’re a Missouri resident with a 620 credit score looking to buy a $350,000 home with 10% down using a 30-year fixed rate mortgage, you can expect to see a 7.750% interest rate as of May 29, 2024. On the other hand, if your score is 780 or higher, your rate will be 7.125%.

The CFPB estimates that over the first five years, the higher rate will cost you nearly $10,000 more; over 30 years, that cost goes up to $48,415.

2. Your mortgage insurance may be cheaper

Here’s a dirty little secret many lenders may not tell you: Your private mortgage insurance is “private” because it’s underwritten by a private company, and because of that, your credit score is taken into account when the rate is determined.

One of the major companies that offers this insurance, MGIC, publishes its pricing tables for borrower-paid monthly premiums, which is the portion of the mortgage insurance you’ll pay monthly. If your loan-to-value ratio is 95%, as it is for many first-time buyers, you can expect to pay significantly different rates based on your credit score.

With a 620 credit score, you’ll be paying 1.42% of your monthly payment in mortgage insurance premiums; with a 700 credit score, you’ll pay close to half, just 0.78%.

3. Your homeowners insurance premiums could be lower

This one is far less of a guarantee, since there are a lot of external factors that go into homeowners insurance premiums. For example, if you buy a house in an area prone to tornadoes, it may not matter how good your credit is; the premiums will be pretty high.

But in many states, credit scores are still part of the homeowners insurance premium calculation, which means that the better your score is, the better your rate will be. Even if you escrow your insurance, the company still wants to know that without that escrow, you’d be willing and able to make your payments on time.

This will also apply if you’re interested in additional insurance for hazards that are common in your area, but for which coverage isn’t required, like wildfire insurance or additional wind coverage. So you may save on multiple different insurance policies with a better credit score.

Improving your credit score will make housing more affordable

Part of the reason we buy our houses is to create homes where our families can grow and explore with a great deal of security. But another part of it, if we’re being honest, is to help control the cost of housing as much as we can.

Although costs like taxes and homeowners insurance are always in flux, you can more easily budget for a house payment that’s lower due to the work you’ve done to improve your credit over time. It’s tempting to rush in, and it’s easy to dismiss a fraction of a percent change in your mortgage rate, but remember that everything flows from that credit score, so the costs can really add up.

Alert: highest cash back card we’ve seen now has 0% intro APR until 2025

This credit card is not just good – it’s so exceptional that our experts use it personally. It features a 0% intro APR for 15 months, a cash back rate of up to 5%, and all somehow for no annual fee!

Click here to read our full review for free and apply in just 2 minutes.

We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.Kristi Waterworth has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Flow. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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