Apply for Nordstrom credit card? Not so fast! Before you fill out that Nordstrom credit card application you need to read this review!



Originally started as a shoe store in 1901, Nordstrom has now been chugging on for well over a century and has since diversified its products to say the least! They still have awesome shoes, but I love them the most for their great selection of designer clothes. Unfortunately I do notice some locations have better inventory than others. For example, their store at The Grove in Los Angeles has a way better selection of styles and sizes than their store at Somerset Collection in Troy, MI. Regardless, they still are one of the best department stores out there!

Nordstrom Credit Card Review
Since I am such a huge fan of the store, of course their credit card intrigued me. Let’s be honest here- their clothes are not cheap (they do over $8 billion a year in sales!) so any way to get rewards on my purchases there sounds good to me! But are the rewards on the Nordstrom card any better than what a regular cash back credit card offers? I was determined to find out…

There are actually 3 different Nordstrom credit cards:

Nordstrom Visa Signature Card:
This is probably their most widely used credit card and the one I’ve seen people use. What I don’t like about this one is it is a “Visa Signature” card. While that may sound nice, it’s actually not. You see the Visa Signature cards do not have a pre-set limit. That does NOT mean you can spend whatever you want, it just means that each purchase is approved or disapproved by their system on a case by case basis.

Obviously if you’re trying to spend a lot and don’t have a history of doing so the system eventually will turn you down. So in other words, you could say that this card has a limit but they just aren’t telling you what that limit is. So why is this a bad thing? Well if you don’t know your credit limit, so that can be a problem for some people's spending. But what’s really unfortunate is that because it doesn’t have an official limit, when this Nordstrom credit card is reported to the credit bureaus, no limit is listed!

How much you spend each month is reported but your credit limit is not. This is a problem because a significant portion of your credit score is based on what is called “credit utilization” or what percentage of your limits you use. Many experts recommend never exceeding 30% of your spending power. Without a limit being listed, reportedly the credit bureaus “guess” what it is compared to other cards you have. But this can backfire big time if they “guess” incorrectly.
How “No Preset Limits” Actually Hurt My Credit:
Trust me, I found this problem out the hard way - not with a Nordstrom card but with my Amex cards. For years I primarily only used my American Express cards (which I spent tens of thousands on per year) but the problem was that since the credit limit was not preset, there wasn’t a limit being reported. When I decided to get a new car I applied for a loan. It was a relatively cheap car for me and with my perfect credit history, I just did it since the financing rates were so low. When I applied, I was shocked to get denied – they said my credit score was outstanding (784) but since my Amex cards weren’t reporting credit limits, they said they couldn’t evaluate my credit utilization properly! So stay away from these types of credit cards!


Nordstrom Platinum Visa card
Unlike the above card, this one DOES have a preset limit that is reported to the credit bureaus! The only real difference between the Signature and the Platinum is that this one offers rewards at Nordstrom stores and the Signature allows an option to use reward points on travel instead. Other than that they are pretty much the same!

Nordstrom Retail card
This is your basic no-thrills department store credit card. It can only be used at Nordstrom’s stores, website, and catalog since it is not affiliated with Visa, Discover, Amex, etc. This one I would definitely stay away from since it’s not worth hassling with a card you can only use one place.

Rewards
Now, let’s talk about the rewards! I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that if you’re like me, this is the only reason you’re considering the Nordstrom credit card in the first place!
Purchases at Nordstroms: All three credit cards offers the same rewards on Nordstrom purchases. They give 2 reward points per dollar spent. Honestly, I was pretty disappointed to see this. Most department store credit cards give higher than that… only 2 points per dollar isn’t impressive.

Purchases Everywhere Else: The Nordstrom retail card gives no rewards elsewhere. The Nordstrom Visa Signature and Platinum Visa give 1 point per dollar spent elsewhere. This also isn’t anything impressive; most cards today give 1% on spending

Alternate Travel Points Option: This is the key difference with the Nordstrom Visa Signature card. INSTEAD of earning the above points, you can get 1 travel point per dollar spent at Nordstrom and elsewhere. Again, this is nothing exciting… 1 point per dollar spent is the same that everyone else is doing!
Conclusion
Like I said I love shopping at Nordstrom so much, but the rewards are pitiful to say the least. There’s no point in asking for a Nordstrom credit card application when the card is only give such crappy rewards on spending.

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