Academy Sports + Outdoors Credit Card review: High-risk and low-reward, even for a store card

Although the Academy card is only usable on the sporting goods store’s purchases online and in-store, it’s essentially an evolved version of the myAcademy Rewards program, which doesn’t actually earn rewards. The Academy card doesn’t have many features worth writing home about, but its rewards program is remarkably easy to use for a store card and it can provide solid savings.

Rewards: Solid, easy-to-use store rewards

Unlike many rewards programs, the Academy card doesn’t actually earn rewards points or cash back to redeem. Instead, paying with the card will apply an automatic 5 percent discount at checkout in-store or online. This rewards rate is quite good considering 5 percent back is the highest rewards rate we typically see on a no-annual-fee card, especially since there’s no rewards spending limit like many 5 percent rewards categories impose.

People typically have a hard time finding retail cards worth it due to their high rates and fees, low rewards rates and sometimes frustrating rewards programs. The Academy Sports card at least removes the rewards pain point because you won’t need to manage a rewards balance at all. The 5 percent off is also on par with the store rewards rate that competing sporting goods store cards like the REI Co-Op® Mastercard®* and Bass Pro Shops CLUB Card* earn.

However, being a closed-loop credit card severely limits the Academy card’s rewards potential compared to these cards from other brands, let alone how much you’d be able to use this card by comparison.  Most competing sporting goods stores offer co-branded cards that can be used outside their store. For example, the REI Co-Op Mastercard earns a decent 1.5 percent flat rewards rate on purchases with any other merchant that accepts Mastercard.

Approval: Easily accessible and fast approval

Besides rewards or discounts with a certain retailer, one of the only other reasons to consider a close-looped store card is that they’re easier to qualify for than general-purpose credit cards. Granted, there are other closed-loop options out that you could use outside Academy sporting goods stores — like gas cards — but the Academy Sports + Outdoors card makes sense if you regularly visit sporting goods stores and other retailers’ co-branded cards may be harder to qualify for.

However, several other credit-building options are more versatile and have more lenient rates and fees if you have bad credit. A secured credit card may be best if you don’t mind ponying up a refundable deposit upfront. There are some decent unsecured credit cards available for people with limited credit, but they often have high annual fees and rates.

Even among other sporting goods store cards, you may get better perks, welcome offer value and lower rates than you would with the Academy card.

Perks: Weak features, even for a store card

Store cards — closed-loop cards especially — typically don’t have coveted perks like travel insurance or annual credits, but they may carry benefits like exclusive savings, free shipping or extended return periods. Even the REI Co-Op card, Bass Pro Shops CLUB card, Dick’s ScoreRewards card and Target Circle™ Card* offer many of these perks. 

However, the Academy card doesn’t sprinkle in many more notable perks other than free shipping on Academy.com purchases of $15 or more, the option to add up to four authorized users and the Account Assure hardship assistance. Even then, hosting authorized users probably won’t be helpful if you’re trying to build credit yourself, and the optional card protection in case you can’t make payments could be costly (and could risk shutting down your account) unless your hardship falls under the terms’ specific circumstances.

Welcome offer: Puny, one-day value

Even for a store card, the Academy Sports + Outdoors card skimps out on the intro offer. You only receive $15 off a purchase over $15, and it has the shortest redemption timeframe I’ve ever seen in my years of reviewing credit cards. You can only redeem the offer the same business day that you apply and are approved. The timeframe is even shorter if you apply online: you have to redeem it within the same online session. That means if you log out of your device after you’re approved or you’re inactive long enough for to be automatically logged out of your Academy account, you could lose the intro offer entirely.

The intro offer is especially disappointing compared to what competing retailers’ cards — and even other closed-loop cards — provide. For example, the REI Co-Op card offers a $100 REI gift card if you make a purchase outside REI within the first 60 days, and the closed-loop Dick’s Scorerewards® Credit Card* has a bonus like the Academy that also requires a purchase within the day you’re approved but provides a $30 offer in exchange. Although intro offers shouldn’t be a deal-breaker when picking a card for long-term value, the Academy card’s measly intro offer doesn’t make its niche usability appealing compared to swapping to another sporting goods store or going for a general-purpose card.

Rates and fees: High APR and no intro APR offers

One of the main reasons store cards can be risky is their high APRs and fees, and the Academy Sports + Outdoors card charges a jaw-dropping 35.99 percent ongoing APR. A September 2024 Bankrate study found the current average retail card APR is already a record 30.45 percent, and the Academy card has one of the highest rates in the entire credit card market.

Of course, you should avoid carrying a balance on the Academy card at all costs. But there’s an  extra layer of challenge since it doesn’t have an intro APR or other financing offer like some competing sporting goods store cards and other retail cards. There’s a chance the issuer may offer a promotional plan fee for eligible purchases in your payment portal sometime, but these offers could either be a deferred interest, waived interest plan or a low APR plan. 

These offers may not be as consistently useful as a traditional intro APR offer since you don’t have much say on which type of plan you can get and when you’ll receive it. The promotional plans lose even more appeal if the issuer applies the 2 percent fee listed in the terms. Typical intro APRs on purchases don’t pose a fee, and this fee (or the deferred interest) could cost more than the regular APR may have if you’re not careful.

A closed-loop store card doesn’t offer anywhere the reward opportunities a general-purpose rewards card can.

A leading flat-rate rewards card could reward both your Academy store and general spending and ultimately save you more in overall cash rewards earnings. If you’re considering the Academy card to build credit and save on purchases, though, compare it to these cards to determine if it’s still the best option for you.

The Academy Sports + Outdoors card provides a good rewards rate for a store card but comes with the typical pitfalls of closed-loop retail credit cards. What’s more, the interest rate and fees could be even costlier than many other retail cards. This card can only be used at Academy stores, limiting its uses as a credit-building option compared to other retail cards for more versatile store brands like Amazon or Target. Meanwhile, many competing sporting goods store credit cards aren’t closed-loop and offer better perks, so the Academy card isn’t an exceptional incentive to stick to Academy Sports stores either.

With all of this in mind, the Academy credit card ultimately offers solid savings without the hassle of traditional rewards programs. However, it’s not really worth considering unless your credit doesn’t qualify you for a general-purpose rewards card or a co-branded store card, and you’re trying to avoid secured cards and other recommended credit-building options that may encourage more frequent use.

*The information about the Academy Sports + Outdoors Credit Card, REI Co-Op® Mastercard®, Bass Pro Shops CLUB Card, Dick’s Scorerewards® Credit Card, Target Circle™ Card, U.S. Bank Cash+® Visa Signature® Card and Wells Fargo Attune℠ Card has been collected independently by Bankrate.com. The card details have not been reviewed or approved by the card issuer.

We rate credit cards using a proprietary card scoring system that ranks each card’s estimated average rewards rate, estimated annual earnings, welcome bonus value, APR, fees, perks and more against those of other cards in its primary category.

Each card feature is assigned a weighting based on how important it is to people looking for a card in a given category. These features are then scored based on how they rank relative to the features on other cards in the category. Based on these calculations, each card receives an overall rating of 1-5 stars (with 5 being the highest possible score and 1 being the lowest). 

We analyzed over 150 of the most popular rewards and cash back cards to determine where each stacked up based on their value, cost, benefits and more. Here are some of the key factors that influenced this card’s overall score and how the score influenced our review: