How to Use the Shopping Cart Trick at Walmart for Credit Card Approval

The Walmart shopping cart trick is a potential way to earn approval for the store’s credit card without a “hard pull” to your credit.

Hard pulls — when banks or lenders pull your full credit history for review — can negatively affect your credit score, lowering it by up to five points.

If you have poor or no credit, hard pulls can set you back further on the road to rebuilding your credit history. You also have an increased potential for being denied approval for a new card.

When you use the shopping cart trick, Walmart may approve you for a store credit card without doing a hard pull on your credit. If you have low credit, this means you’re more likely to get approved and you avoid having points docked from your credit score.

For more details on how to try the shopping cart trick at Walmart, see below.

What to Know Before Trying the Shopping Cart Trick

Before you try the shopping cart trick at Walmart, there are four important things you should know:

There is no guarantee this trick will work. There have been reports of shoppers still getting a hard pull on their credit reports when using the shopping cart trick at Walmart. Use your own discretion when trying the trick.
You must allow pop-ups. The shopping cart trick only works when the pop-up ad for the store’s credit card appears. Before you try out the Walmart shopping cart trick, make sure your browser’s pop-up blocker is disabled. An uncleared cache can also interfere with the process, so be sure to clear out your browser’s cache before beginning.
You must be opted-in to credit card offers. Make sure you didn’t previously opt out of receiving credit card offers. If you did or aren’t sure, call (888) 567-8688 or visit www.optoutprescreen.com to opt back in.
During the process, you should be asked to provide only the last four digits of your Social Security number. If you’re asked for the full number, exit out of the application as this means there is likely to be a hard pull on your history.

Should You Use the Shopping Cart Trick?

You should consider how a new credit card will affect your credit score before you decide to try the shopping cart trick. The shopping cart trick is handy if you have low credit because a “soft pull” on your credit report means the issuing bank and stores won’t see your full credit history.

A hard pull can lower your credit score by around five points. Typically, a hard pull requests your full Social Security number while a soft pull needs just the last four digits.

If you’ve got poor credit, get denied for credit cards, and need one to raise your score, the shopping card trick can help. While having a newly opened card can lower your credit score slightly, the increase to your overall available credit will eventually help raise your credit score — as long as you can make your monthly payments on time.

If you struggle with paying off credit cards in a timely manner, it may not be wise to apply for another card. Getting into more debt in order to pay off previous debt is never a good solution.

Owning a Walmart credit card has some additional perks. You’ll save 3% on store purchases and earn reward points. The card also typically comes with an extra discount on the first purchase you make with the new card. And, there’s no annual fee.

How to Use the Shopping Cart Trick at Walmart

Here are the steps for successfully using the shopping cart trick:

Register for a Walmart online account by hovering on the “Account” symbol in the top right corner of the home page. Select “Create Account” and fill out your information in the provided form.
Pretend you’re going to purchase an item from Walmart.com by adding something to your shopping cart.
Go to the checkout page and enter all your information as if you’re about to purchase the item. You don’t actually need to buy the item, so be careful not to complete the purchase accidentally. Do not enter any payment information. Do not use autofill and make sure that when you type anything, it appears exactly as the information in your credit report (if “Street” is written out on your credit report, don’t use “St.” when applying for the card). This also includes minute details such as your middle initial.
At this stage, look for a pop-up ad inviting you to apply for a Walmart credit card. Make sure you’re only asked to enter the last four digits of your Social Security number and proceed with the application. Once you’re done, you can empty your shopping cart. Again, note that there is no guarantee that this trick will work or only issue a soft credit pull, but some people do report success.

If the trick doesn’t work, one reason may be that your information did not match what’s on your credit report. You can try clearing your cookies and going through the steps again. If it still doesn’t work after the second try, take a break, and try again the next day.

Most stores that allow the shopping cart trick issue their cards through Comenity Bank. Walmart, however, issues its card through Synchrony Bank. This difference doesn’t affect the process. With Walmart or any other applicable store, you can do the trick by following the steps listed above.

For more places where you may be able to use this option to get approval, see our list of shopping cart trick stores.