Neiman Marcus would send you a statement each month, which you would pay with a paper check or through your online banking electronic billpay, same as any other card.

Before Diners Club, American Express, Master Charge and BankAmericard (as they were originally called), virtually all US department stores, gasoline companies, and various other merchants issued cards that were valid only for purchases at their own establishments. They sent a bill through the postal service and a typical middle class household wrote many checks each month to settle these various accounts.

Department stores are no longer local businesses and their share of the consumer goods market has declined. Along the way they have sold their charge card businesses to financial institutions. Macy/Bloomindales and Sears cards are issued by Citi. Saks and Neiman Marcus/Bergdorf cards are issued by HSBC. Lord & Taylor cards are issued by GE. Nordstrom has created their own bank. Typically the banks have transformed the store accounts into general purpose cards, but the pure "charge account" cards remain.

The Neiman card that would be issued today can be used only for purchases at Neiman Marcus and associated companies. This will change when HSBC issues the Neiman Marcus branded general purpose card. When HSBC launched the Saks World Elite Mastercard they grafted it onto the existing SaksFirst rewards program in a way that was confusing. Let's hope they do a more elegant job of integrating InCircle with the forthcoming card.