Comenity Bank is a part of a larger company, Bread, that looks like it also runs a "Pay in Four Payments" company and used to operate some loyalty programs. Comenity Bank's own main business appears to be providing private-label credit cards to retailers and to affinity programs. Since CB is a division of a publicly traded company and has the FDIC as one of its regulators, the company itself seems legitimate.
That doesn't say anything about its customer service, security, or privacy practices, though. Have a look at its annual SEC filing and if you hold any of the listed private label cards already, you can use your experience as a guide.
Personally, if I was looking to save sales tax on a single purchase at a retailer I don't regularly use, I probably would see if any of my current credit card issuers offers a card with bonuses and incentives that comes close to the tax savings first. If one does, I would give it a call and ask to get a deal on upgrading my current card (assuming my current card needed to be upgraded).
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Bread's 2021 10-K filing:
(the
Business,
Business Strategy,
Products and Services, and
Supervision and Regulation sections may be of particular interest here)
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ETA: this is
really bad:
Customers with a variety of store credit cards serviced by the Columbus-based company have been unable to access their accounts for at least a week.
www.dispatch.com
...and this article is a couple years old but it looks like Comenity has a reputation for poor customer service:
"Alliance Data Card Services is the parent company of Comenity Bank, which issues an enormous amount of store credit cards (including many of our picks, such as the Express Next Credit Card, the Pottery Barn Credit Card, and the Williams Sonoma Visa Credit Card). According to a CreditCards.com analysis of the 22,500 complaints filed in 2017, Alliance came in the top spot for the number of complaints relative to the size of its card business."
We've spent hundreds of hours determining the best apps, tools, credit cards, insurance, and more for you to get the most out of your money.
www.nytimes.com
...finally, Comenity changed its primary regulator from federal to state about a decade ago. That isn't necessarily bad but often is an indicator that a bank wants to reduce the amount and intensity of regulation it faces.
FDIC BankFind
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ETA: It looks like B&H switched Payboo's issuer from Synchrony to Comenity last year and handled the switchover very poorly. So who knows how supportive B&H would be with other Payboo problems:
Reddit: Payboo card thread