Ulta Credit Card: 5 things to know
Frequent retailers and salon goers may accumulate unexpectedly substantial, if rigid, incentives. If you need to carry a balance, this card is not for you.
The Ulta credit card from Comenity might not be for everyone. It has some of the same flaws as many other shop cards, such as a lack of reward flexibility and a high continuous APR.
However, if you're a frequent Ulta shopper — especially if you utilize the Ulta salon — it's a fairly useful store card, due to its high point values.
The Ulta credit card comes in two varieties
Depending on your creditworthiness and financial history, you may be offered one of two types of the Ulta credit card when you apply:
The Ultamate Rewards Credit Card
is a "closed-loop" card, which means it can only be used at Ulta Beauty and on Ulta.com.
The Ultamate Rewards Mastercard
is a "open-loop" card, which means it may be used everywhere Mastercard is accepted.
These cards have no annual cost, but the Mastercard version provides additional flexibility and perks for people with good credit. Ultamate Rewards Mastercard holders, for example, can get a minor sign-up bonus until September 2022. (The shop version does not have this extra.)
They collaborate with Ulta's customer loyalty programme.
Ulta credit cards feature the name of Ulta's customer loyalty programme, Ultamate Rewards, which is free to join whether or not you have a credit card. In that loyalty programme, the Ulta credit cards earn points at the following rates:
Ulta offers 2 points for every $1 spent. (1 point for Ultamate Rewards membership, 1 point for credit card).
1 point for every $3 spent away from Ulta Beauty (Mastercard version only)
Those aren't particularly outstanding rates at first sight. Many general-purpose, no-annual-fee credit cards provide 2x cash back on all purchases. However, depending on how much you spend with the company, you may increase your Ulta card's earning rates to as much as 2.5x back.
Point values are high, however keep in mind the expiry policy.As with many retail cards, points may only be used inside the Ulta brand, limiting their versatility. The good news is that Ultamate Rewards points are worth far more than the industry norm of a cent per point. Furthermore, unlike many shop cards, the minimum redemption level is fairly low — starting at only 100 points — and you get to choose when and how much to redeem at any given moment.
In fact, waiting to utilise a greater quantity in one transaction can more than double the worth of your points.
However, for base-level members, points expire after one year. If you don't spend enough money at Ulta to achieve the Platinum or Diamond levels (where points don't expire), create a calendar reminder so you don't miss out on any point redemption possibilities.
🤞 Brainy tip
Because Ulta Beauty at Target is treated as a distinct company, purchases made with your Ultamate Rewards Mastercard at Target will earn points solely at the "outside of Ulta Beauty" rate of 1 point every $3 spent. This also implies that rewards points cannot be redeemed for products at Ulta Beauty at Target, and the Ulta credit card cannot be used at Target stores.
This is the most impressive of the Ulta credit card's features. The Ulta salon offers the same perks that you earn and redeem via the Ultamate rewards programme.
Salon service bonus benefits are uncommon among general-purpose credit cards. So, if you spend a lot of money on salon treatments and buy the majority of your hair products and cosmetics at Ulta, you're going to get a lot of important points.
To determine the true worth of the Ulta credit card, I estimated my own potential savings if I moved all of my normal services to the Ulta salon and purchased all of my usual hair, skin care, and cosmetic goods from Ulta. For reference, I get my hair cut and coloured every six to eight weeks, and I allocated $600 per year for product purchases for these calculations.
What were the outcomes?
I discovered that I could easily earn at least 3,600 points in a single year, which is worth well over $200 off product or service purchases. That's more than 12% in rewards before taking into account Platinum or Diamond level points, as well as any further discounts or special incentives. Furthermore, because points may be exchanged for cash,
However, be wary with the high interest rate.
The Ulta credit card incentives are enough to get any beauty queen excited. However, if you want to carry a load from month to month, this card is not the way to go.
The continuing APR on the Ultamate Rewards Mastercard ranged from 18.49% to 27.49% based on creditworthiness as of September 2022, and the Ultamate Rewards Credit Card had a 27.49% ongoing APR.
They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but that interest rate is a touch too severe. If you plan to carry a balance, you're far better off combining the free Ultamate Rewards programme with a credit card with a 0% initial APR.
🤞 Brainy Tip
Although the names of the Ultamate Rewards programme and the Chase Ultimate Rewards® programme are similar, they are unrelated.
