Posted by: John S Kiernan

Rating: 3.6 / 5

The Verdict: Like most major retailers, Nordstrom offers two credit cards: one that can be used to make only Nordstrom purchases and another that works pretty much anywhere plastic is accepted. However, you cannot simply choose the version you want and apply for it directly. All applicants are first considered for the more restrictive version, the Nordstrom Retail Credit Card, whereas those with good credit and “who make frequent purchases at Nordstrom,” according to the store’s website, are offered an upgrade to the Nordstrom Rewards Visa Signature Credit Card.

The application and approval process therefore seems both vague and a bit subjective, but this ultimately shouldn’t impact you too much. Both the Nordstrom Retail Card and its Visa Signature counterpart offer a $20 rebate on a purchase of $100 or more made the day of account opening. Both also provide 2 points per $1 spent (at Nordstrom and its subsidiaries), which translates to 2% back, considering every 2,000 points you earn are worth a $20 gift certificate. Plus, you’ll get at least $100 in free alterations, at least one “triple-points day” and a variety of additional perks corresponding to how much you spend. Last but not least, neither card charges an annual fee.

The only thing the Visa really gets you is the ability to earn an additional 1 point per $1 spent on non-Nordstrom purchases, which isn’t too big of a deal given that 1 point per $1 is merely what the average rewards card provides. As a result, it shouldn’t really matter which version you get, as long as you like Nordstrom and are comfortable carrying more than one credit card (since neither is likely to be your everyday spending vehicle).

With that being said, we’ll explore both of these offers in greater detail below, including why you shouldn’t use them to carry a balance and how they compare to other notable retail-affiliated plastic.

The Highlights

• $20 Initial Bonus: Spending at least $100 at Nordstrom the day you are approved for an account will automatically earn you a $20 gift certificate, sent to you in the mail. In other words, this effectively represents a discount of as much as 20%. And who doesn’t want to get paid $20 for a purchase that would probably be made anyway?

• 2 Points Per $1 Spent At Nordstrom: No matter which Nordstrom card you get, you will earn 2 points per $1 in purchases at Nordstrom, Nordstrom Rack, Nordstrom.com, NordstromRack.com, HauteLook and Nordstrom catalogs. If you have the MasterCard, you will also accrue 1 point per $1 spent elsewhere.

  Each time you accrue 2,000 points (i.e. every $1,000 you spend), you will automatically receive a $20 gift certificate in the mail. The certificates expire after one year.

• Early Access To Sales & Other Perks: As a cardholder, you will be able to take advantage of the great deals offered during Nordstrom’s annual anniversary sale before the general public. That’s great news for any Nordstrom-loving deal hunter who would rather not fight over on-sale items. The normal dates for this year’s anniversary sale are July 21 to Aug. 6.

  You will also be assigned to a particular rewards “level,” depending on how much you spend at Nordstrom each year. Below you can find the thresholds and corresponding perks for each level.

Level	Annual Nordstrom Spending	Free Alterations	Triple Point Days	Exclusive Holiday Experience	Biannual “Extraordinary Experiences”	VIP In-Store Events
1	$0-$1,999	Up to $100	One	NO	NO	NO
2	$2,000-$4,999	Up to $200	Two	YES	NO	NO
3	$5,000-$9,999	Up to $300	Three	YES	YES	NO
4	$10,000+	Unlimited	Four	YES	YES	YES

• No Annual Fee: Most retailer-affiliated credit cards do not charge an annual fee, which means this particular perk isn’t unique. But the absence of such a charge is clearly preferable to the presence of one. This makes it easier to justify having a credit card that you don’t use every day and enables cost-effective credit building.

The Lowlights

 No 0% Intro Financing For New Purchases: Neither Nordstrom credit card will help you save money on big-ticket purchases that you cannot pay for in full within a single billing period. One of the main reasons for that is the lack of a 0% introductory rate for new purchases. Any balance that you carry from month to month will instead accrue interest at the card’s regular rate.

Other Things To Consider

• Potential For A Reasonable Regular APR: Depending on your overall creditworthiness, you could be assigned an APR as low as 11.4% or as high as 23.4% with the store-only Nordstrom card. The former is well below the market average for “good credit” credit cards, whereas the latter is a bit lower than the average for store cards. Nevertheless, this is not a reason to carry a balance from month to month. Doing so still will be expensive, just not as expensive as it would be with many other cards.

  What’s more, it’s also important to note that Nordstrom purchases and non-Nordstrom purchases will accrue interest at different rates if you’re approved for the Visa version. The maximum APR, 23.4%, is the same, but the minimum skews higher for non-Nordstrom purchases: 15.4%.

• Assorted Visa Cardholder Benefits: If you get approved for the Nordstrom Rewards Visa Signature Credit Card, you will have access to benefits such as rental-car insurance, travel accident insurance, and a 24/7 concierge.

• Balance Transfers Not Allowed: Like many other store-affiliated credit cards, neither Nordstrom card allows users to transfer existing balances from other plastic. They therefore won’t help you reduce the cost of amounts already owed or help you reach debt freedom faster, if either of those is your goal.

Compared To The Competition

 

	Nordstrom Store Card	Saks Fifth Avenue Store Card	Neiman Marcus Store Card	Target Credit Card	Macy’s Store Card	Citi Double Cash
Annual Fee	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0
Initial Bonus	$20 after spending $100 on the application day	10% discount	5,000 points after making a purchase the day you open your account	N/A	20% discount (up to $100)	N/A
Ongoing Rewards	2 points per $1	2 points per $1 if you spend less than $4,999 in a year	2 points per $1	5% discount on purchases made at Target	N/A	1% cash back when you buy, plus 1% cash back when you pay
		4 points per $1 if you spend between $5,000 and $9,999 in a year
		6 points per $1 if you spend over $10,000 in a year
2-Year Rewards	$94	$74	$124	N/A	N/A	$1,141
Intro Financing	Not offered	Not offered	Not offered	Not offered	Not offered	0% on Balance transfers for 18 months (3% fee)
Regular APR	23.40%	24.49%	24.49%	23.40%	25.74%	13.49% to 23.49%
Editors' Rating	3.6 Stars	3.5 Stars	N/A	5 Stars	3 Stars	5 Stars
Winners	Target Credit Card			Citi Double Cash

 

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