When you’re checking out at a store and the cashier offers you 20% off just for opening a rewards card, it sounds harmless enough. For one woman, though, that quick “sure, why not” at Ulta turned into a years-long credit nightmare.
Woman Says an Ulta Rewards Card Ruined Her Credit
TikTok creator Sumner (@sum36329) shared a story that started with a casual Ulta purchase and ended with a bill in collections.
“Hi, I’m Sumner, and I’m gonna tell you how an Ulta credit card, a rewards card, ruined my credit,” she begins. “And it’s not how you think.”
She says that during a visit to Ulta in 2023, an employee asked if she wanted to open a rewards card. “I finally obliged,” she says. “Put the balance on the card and I’ll pay it off.”
She did just that, or at least she thought she did. “It was $130-something dollars that I paid off. I specifically remember being in the Starbucks drive-thru and calling the Ulta people and paying the balance.”
A few months later, though, Sumner began getting text messages from a bank claiming she still owed money. “I thought it was a scam,” she says. “They send a link, you click it, and they steal your info.”
The strange part was that she never received the actual card. “I guess when I told them my address, it was typed in wrong,” she explains. “I never got a physical copy.”
So when those messages kept coming, she assumed it was a phishing attempt, until one text said her account had been sent to collections.
Her Credit Took a Hit
“I check my credit,” she says. “We’re not gonna talk about it.”
When she called Ulta, they told her they no longer had the account. It had already been sent to a debt collector. “I’m like, what the f–k? Can you tell me the last purchase?” she asks in the video. “He said, there hasn’t been one since your last payment, which was me, in the Starbucks drive-thru.”
That’s when she found out the truth: the employee she paid over the phone processed the payment incorrectly, off by a single dollar. “That $1 doubled to $2, which doubled to $4, then to $8,” she says. “Late fees upon late fees.”
By the time she found out, her “unpaid balance” had ballooned to $237, which she had to pay to clear her credit. “That wasn’t even my fault,” she says. “If that ain’t some bullsh-t, I don’t know what is.”
Sumner ends the video with one clear takeaway: “Ulta will never get my business ever again. Because what the f–k.”
Viewers Offer Explanations and Advice
In the comments, people shared similar experiences and some inside knowledge.
“It’s not Ulta. It’s the credit card company,” one person writes. “You technically can’t pay it in full. There’s always a $1 left over. It’s the same with Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works, and several others that use the same company.”
Another adds, “When you call the number, it’s never Ulta, it’s Comenity Bank, now Bread Financial. They handle the credit cards.”
Others warned her to never trust phone payments again. “Always pay through the bank website or app,” one user says. “You see it paid, not just hope on someone’s word.”
What Could Have Happened Here?
While there are no public reports suggesting Ulta’s store card can’t be paid in full, many customers online claim to have had similar issues. One Reddit user wrote, “I paid in full, but Ulta tacked on $4.23 the next month that turned into hundreds in fees because I thought it was paid off.”
The Ulta Rewards card is issued by Comenity Capital Bank, the same company behind cards for Victoria’s Secret, Wayfair, and TJX stores. The card itself has no annual fee, but according to Ulta’s own site, “fees may apply for payments made by phone,” which could explain the missing $1 on Sumner’s account.
@sum36329 #ulta #fyp ♬ original sound – Sum ?
How to Use the Ulta Credit Card Wisely
According to NerdWallet, the Ulta credit card can be worth it for frequent shoppers, but it’s risky for anyone who doesn’t track payments closely. There are two versions: the Ulta Beauty Rewards Credit Card, which can only be used at Ulta, and the Ulta Beauty Rewards Mastercard, which can be used anywhere Mastercard is accepted. Both earn points toward Ulta’s loyalty program.
Shoppers earn 2 points per $1 spent at Ulta, and Mastercard holders earn an additional point for every $3 spent outside the store. The points are valuable, up to 6 cents per point depending on how you redeem them, but they expire after a year unless you’re in the higher loyalty tiers.
Still, the biggest catch is the interest rate. As of 2025, the Ulta card carries an APR as high as 31.49%, which means even a small unpaid balance can snowball fast.
For anyone thinking of opening one, the best advice is simple: pay your balance in full, directly through the bank’s website, and double-check your statements every month.
The Mary Sue has reached out to Ulta Beauty for comment and to Sumner via TikTok messages.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
