Best cards for department stores
Max Cash Preferred Card leads with 5% (choose this category; up to $2,000/qtr (combined)).
Rankings use issuer rates verified as of August 16, 2026.
Department stores (Macy's, Kohl's, Nordstrom) — recurring rotating-quarter category.
#15%5%Max Cash Preferred Card
Elan Financial Services · Visa · No annual fee · Choose this category · up to $2,000/qtr (combined)
#25%5%U.S. Bank Cash+ Visa Signature Card
U.S. Bank · Visa · No annual fee · Choose this category · up to $2,000/qtr (combined)
#33x3xHuntington Voice Rewards Credit Card
Huntington · Mastercard · No annual fee · Choose this category · up to $2,000/qtr (combined)
#42%2%Apple Card
Goldman Sachs · Mastercard · No annual fee · Pay with the mobile wallet
#55x5xKroger Rewards World Elite Mastercard
U.S. Bank · Mastercard · ≈1.17x after the cap · No annual fee · up to $3,000/yr · Lower rate after the cap · Pay with the mobile wallet
How to choose
At department stores like Macy's, Kohl's, and Nordstrom, one card breaks away from the flat-rate pack: the Max Cash Preferred Card pays 5%, and that rate is conditional in two ways. You have to name department stores as one of the two 5% categories you select from a list of nine, and the 5% only covers the first $2,000 of combined quarterly spend across both of your picks — everything after that earns 1%. The card carries no annual fee, so what the rate costs you is attention, not money.
The harder caveat is availability. Elan distributes the Max Cash Preferred Card only through partner banks and credit unions; there is no national application, so you either bank somewhere that offers it or you don't. If you can't get it, the U.S. Bank Cash+ Visa Signature Card ties it at 5% on the same terms, and the Huntington Voice Rewards Credit Card pays 3x behind them before the field flattens at 2%. Blue Business Cash Card from American Express and The Blue Business Plus Credit Card from American Express are both no-annual-fee cards whose 2% applies on up to $50,000 a year, and Apple Card matches them at 2% on one condition: pay with the mobile wallet.
Below them, Capital One's Spark Cash Plus ($150 a year), Venture Business and Venture Rewards ($95 each), and the two Venture X cards ($395) all land at the same 2% equivalent, so those fees don't buy a better rate here. Department stores also turn up as a rotating-quarter category on cards like Chase Freedom Flex and Discover it Cash Back, but those pay 5% only in a quarter that covers the category, only after you activate, and only on $1,500 of spend. The practical read: if the Max Cash Preferred Card is available to you and department stores are a real line in your budget, select the category and spend that $2,000 bucket deliberately — otherwise a no-fee 2% card covers Macy's, Kohl's, and Nordstrom with no quarterly calendar to watch and no fee to justify.
The math
On $100 a month of department stores, Max Cash Preferred Card returns about $60 a year at our valuations — a flat 2% card returns $24. Mind the ceiling: Max Cash Preferred Card's top rate applies only up to $2,000/qtr (combined); past that, purchases drop to its lower rate.
Common questions
- What is the best credit card for department stores?
- Max Cash Preferred Card leads with 5% (choose this category; up to $2,000/qtr (combined)).
- How does SwipeCaddy pick the best department stores card?
- We rank each card by its reward rate times a conservative cash value of its points or miles — no inflated transfer valuations — and surface the fine print so the "best" rate is one you can actually get.
- Is a 2% flat-rate card enough for department stores?
- It is the honest default for most wallets. The joint-highest rate in this ranking is 5%, from both the Max Cash Preferred Card and the U.S. Bank Cash+ Visa Signature Card, which requires selecting department stores as one of your two 5% categories, stops at $2,000 of combined quarterly spend across both picks, and is sold only through Elan's partner banks and credit unions. If that card isn't available to you, a no-annual-fee 2% card — such as either American Express Blue Business card, whose 2% runs to $50,000 a year — puts you at the practical ceiling.
- Do I need an annual-fee card to earn top rewards at department stores?
- No. The 5% leader, the Max Cash Preferred Card, charges no annual fee, and neither do the 2% cards behind it — both American Express Blue Business cards and Apple Card, which needs the mobile wallet for its rate. The fee cards below them, from $95 to $395 a year, earn the same 2% equivalent here, so a fee only makes sense if it earns its keep elsewhere in your spending.
Rankings reflect published earn rates and a conservative valuation of each rewards currency. SwipeCaddy earns no affiliate commission.