Total Rewards Shopping Cart Trick: How Does It Work? We Explain

The shopping cart trick is a potential way to get approved for a credit card through a “soft pull” on your credit report, which doesn’t affect your credit score. In many cases, this trick works for store credit cards. You may also be able to use the shopping cart trick to get a Total Rewards Visa, the credit card affiliated with Caesars Entertainment’s customer rewards program. Learn more about the Total Rewards shopping cart trick below.

Total Rewards Shopping Cart Trick

The Total Rewards Visa is a Visa card with perks designed for customers of Caesars Entertainment, one of the largest national gaming companies with more than 50 casinos and resorts across the U.S. and Canada. The card is issued by Comenity Bank, which is the issuing bank for dozens of store cards and also the most likely to get the shopping cart trick approved.

Total Rewards offers pre-approved credit card invitations using popup ads on the Caesars website, customer service representatives for Total Rewards said. Using this trick, you may be able to get pre-approved for the card and complete the application without having a hard pull on your credit — instead, the bank will perform a “soft pull” that doesn’t affect your credit score.

The shopping cart trick works by generating a pre-approved popup ad during online checkout, which allows you to apply and get approved for a card without a full credit check. Here’s how to do the Total Rewards shopping cart trick:

Make sure you’re opted in to receive promotions and pre-screened offers from credit companies. Opt-in is automatic, so unless you’ve opted out in the past, you should already be opted in. If you’re not sure, you can visit OptOutPrescreen.com to check your status.
Disable any ad blockers and popup blockers on your browser, since pre-screened credit offers are typically in the form of popup ads.
Optional: Some users have found that using Incognito mode or other strong privacy settings on your browser can increase your chances of getting the shopping cart trick to work.
Visit Caesars Entertainment and begin booking a reservation. Remember that you won’t be completing check out, so the booking will be canceled before you have to pay anything.
Make sure the home address you fill in exactly matches the address information on your credit report. (This includes things like spelling out or abbreviating Road or Street.)
Complete the process until you get to the checkout page. At this point, you should receive a popup asking if you’d like to apply for a Total Rewards Visa.
Accept the offer and proceed with the application, but keep in mind that it should only ask for the last four digits of your Social Security number. If you’re asked to provide your full Social Security number, the bank will likely perform a hard pull on your credit.
Once you’re approved, cancel the reservation process and clear your shopping cart.

Note: Before applying for a credit card, remember to check its interest rate, fees, and payment policies so you’re aware of them before using the card. You can find the Total Rewards Visa rates and fees at Comenity’s website.

The shopping cart trick may not work the first time you try it. If this happens, try clearing your browser’s cache and cookies, and start the process over. If you still don’t receive the pre-approved popup, you can try on another day. If the shopping cart trick still isn’t working, see our article about ways to fix the shopping cart trick.

In Summary

You may be able to use the shopping cart trick to get approved for a Total Rewards Visa card, issued for Caesars Entertainment by Comenity Bank, by starting the hotel reservation process on the Caesars website and accepting a popup offer for a pre-qualified card. If you’d like to use the shopping cart trick for other credit cards, check out our article on the complete list of shopping cart trick stores.