The Barnes and Nobles credit card is a credit card that is specifically for those who really shop a lot at Barnes and Nobles (obviously). You get a pretty generous rewards for using the card. Let us look at this in some detail.

Rewards – The Barnes and Nobles card allows the cardholder to earn 5% rebates when you use your card at Barnes and Nobles and from their website as well (bn.com). The rebates will be given as a statement credit. Aside from getting the 5% rebates, you will earn one reward point for every dollar that you spend on the card. Once you have earned 2,500 points, you will be automatically given a $25 Barnes and Nobles Gift Card.

Fees – There is no annual fee for this card.

Barnes and Nobles Credit Card Peer Comparison

Barnes and Nobles competitors include Amazon.com and Borders. Both have credit cards as well. But Borders has filed for bankruptcy and are going under. Hence, we will look to compare this card versus the Amazon credit card. The Amazon credit card allows you to earn triple points for purchases at their online store and double points for gas, dining and drugstore purchases. Hence, from the point of earning rebates from their stores, the Barnes and Nobles MasterCard is better than Amazon’s card. But the Amazon Visa allows you to earn double points of expenses that the Barnes and Nobles card does not have. But I still think the B&N card comes out ahead because they let you earn more points from buying their products, which is the main purpose for folks getting this card.

But aside from comparing with the bookstore peers, 5% rebates also happens to be at the upper end of the range for “retail store cards”, whose rebates tend to range from 2% to 5%. Hence, 5% is pretty good.

B&N Card Alternatives

But before you rush out to get this card, you have to be aware of alternative cards that allow you to earn rebates when you shop at Barnes and Nobles (in some cases, substantially more rebates).

Firstly, the Discover More Card allows you to earn 10% rebates when you shop at bn.com going through their online shopping portal.

Chase Freedom has a reward program called the Ultimate Rewards program, which has Barnes and Nobles as their partner and right now, you can earn 7% rebates.

Is the Barnes and Nobles MasterCard Good?

The Barnes and Nobles MasterCard is one of the more generous retail cards that gives you a 5% rebate when you their books and also lets you earn additional points. For those who are always buying books or stuff from them, you might just want to consider this card. Bear in mind that the rewards are given in the form of a gift card, so you can only use them there. The other thing to consider is if you do the bulk of your purchases online. If that is the case, then a card like the Discover More Card may be a much better card because you can actually earn 10% rebates rather than just 5%. Furthermore, you can use the rebates that you’ve earned on other things (not just having to use them at B&N).