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Barclays Card... why so special?

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Anomalous
Senior Contributor

Re: Barclays Card... why so special?

I app'd for the Apple Visa last year when I was looking to buy a new MacBook Pro but was denied due to negatives (ended up upgrading the hardware in my old one). This year I app'd again and was approved for $1200. Probably could've gotten more but when asked how much I needed I chose the $500-$1000 range. Still a couple of negatives lingering, but they gave me a chance. Can't complain about them at the moment.

Keep both your credit and your body in top shape!

Message 31 of 71
Vegasr
Regular Contributor

Re: Barclays Card... why so special?

Barclay's has been pretty great to me. I was instant approved for thier NFL card two years ago with a $1K CL (2nd cc after BK). Recieved an auto CL to 3K after 6 months, than after a year they bumped it up to $6k after my request then recon (this after running with a 80% util on their card for most of that year)  Earlier this month I was instantly approved for the Arrival + card for $3k, then recon'ed it to $5k.  I've experienced great customer service, generous CL increases and no issues from them. 

To each is own though but my Arrival + is now my primary card.

Embarrassing amount of credit cards
AoOA: 25yrs
Message 32 of 71
grillandwinemaster
Valued Contributor

Re: Barclays Card... why so special?

Awesome! So a good re biuilding  plan could be to go for the avg credit card in about 6 to 9 months, and then after a year or so, try for the "arrival?"  

Thank you all for your replies. Very helpful!😀


Current Scores 3/2016 Equifax 676 Transunion 697 Experian 648 Goal Scores: 720's accross the board. Gardening Goal: 3/2017
Message 33 of 71
Membersince2013
Valued Contributor

Re: Barclays Card... why so special?

Well, it depends on what you value. I like miles. I dont really mess with cashback cards. Those cards i mentioned give you 2 miles per dollar. Barclay Arrival gives 2.2 miles. Lets say you put 5k spend on the card each month, You'd have enough points for a couple of domestic tickets or 1 international tickets somewhere....or parking at your destination...Hotel food. Both of those cards are the best cards in my wallet right now.

Arrival+ | Barclaycard Rewards Mastercard | Citi Double Cash | CapOne QS (2) | Citi Diamond P | Freedom | Fidelity Amex | Amex Plat | Old Blue Cash | PRG | SPG | BCP | HHonors Surpass | Cap1 Venture | Discover | CSP | Cap1 Venture1 | BOA CR&TR (2) | Ritz Carlton | Southwest Rapid Rewards | Hyatt (2) | US Airways Mastercard (2) | Wells Fargo Rewards Visa | Marriott Premier (2) |

Fico Scores as of 2/21/15 - EX: total crap, TU: total crap, EQ: total crap
Message 34 of 71
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Barclays Card... why so special?


@Membersince2013 wrote:

Well, it depends on what you value. I like miles. I dont really mess with cashback cards. Those cards i mentioned give you 2 miles per dollar. Barclay Arrival gives 2.2 miles. Lets say you put 5k spend on the card each month, You'd have enough points for a couple of domestic tickets or 1 international tickets somewhere....or parking at your destination...Hotel food. Both of those cards are the best cards in my wallet right now.


The arrival plus and venture rewards are both good. But they are flat rewards cards. They are nice because you have flexibility with using them. But unlike Chase ultimate rewards points or Amex points you cannot redeem them are greater values. The Arrival plus will always give you 2.2 cents of travel credit per dollar. A 5% cash back card for a specific category would be a better spend than 2.2 cents per dollar (or 2 with the Capital One Venture Card). Both are excellent cards for their bonus points on meeting the spend requirements (40k points each). But after meeting the spend requirements, they are decent cards but should not be used when a 3-5% category card could be used instead. 

 

Now flexible spending rewards like those you get from Chase and Amex are often worth more than the standard 1 cent per mile. Through redemptions and transfers to partners you can often get much better rates of return. Thus, a card like the chase sapphire preferred with 2 points per mile for dining might be worth using over a 3-5% cashback card for dining because of the redemption rates. 

 

Don't get me wrong, both cards you mentioned are awesome. But if you have a 5k spend per month that is 60k per year or 120k miles with those cards. 120k miles is basically 1200 dollars (bit more with Arrival Plus). 60k spent on cash back cards (if you have a 5% restaurant, 6% grocery, 5% gas, 2% everything else type set up) would be at the very least 2% of 60k which is 1,200 dollars (most likely more since some of your spend will be in higher reward tiers). The money can always be spent on the same trip. Since the Arrival Plus and Venture Rewards cards are both fixed value points you don't really get much more value than cash back after their initial bonus advantage is taken into account (with a 5k spend it would take little over a month before discontinuing full-time usage). 

 

I am a huge fan of miles. Both Amex and Chase have potentially crazy redemption rates with miles and partners. Even the Arrival Plus and Capital One Venture Rewards cards are great due to their bonuses. But after the bonuses, I'd lean towards a mix of cash back cards or Amex/Chase point cards (or both) over the Arrival Plus or Capital One Venture Rewards card. 

 

 

Note: I understand there is no perfect answer here. Just giving my 2 cents Smiley Happy

Message 35 of 71
sillykitty1
Established Contributor

Re: Barclays Card... why so special?


@Membersince2013 wrote:

Well, it depends on what you value. I like miles. I dont really mess with cashback cards. Those cards i mentioned give you 2 miles per dollar. Barclay Arrival gives 2.2 miles. Lets say you put 5k spend on the card each month, You'd have enough points for a couple of domestic tickets or 1 international tickets somewhere....or parking at your destination...Hotel food. Both of those cards are the best cards in my wallet right now.


Venture and Arrival + are not miles cards, they are cash back cards.  The best cash back redemption on these cards are restricted to redeeming against travel expenses.  

 

 

Message 36 of 71
longtimelurker
Epic Contributor

Re: Barclays Card... why so special?


@sillykitty1 wrote:

@Membersince2013 wrote:

Well, it depends on what you value. I like miles. I dont really mess with cashback cards. Those cards i mentioned give you 2 miles per dollar. Barclay Arrival gives 2.2 miles. Lets say you put 5k spend on the card each month, You'd have enough points for a couple of domestic tickets or 1 international tickets somewhere....or parking at your destination...Hotel food. Both of those cards are the best cards in my wallet right now.


Venture and Arrival + are not miles cards, they are cash back cards.  The best cash back redemption on these cards are restricted to redeeming against travel expenses.  

 

 


+1!  I put this down to great marketing.   These cards ARE( restricted) cash back cards.   Unless you need the WEMC or no FTF feature (and don't have another no FTF card), Barclays Arrival is better than Citi Double Cash (or Fid Amex) only if you spend more than $40K a year.   And to get a good return, you have to redeem them on travel.  Cap One Venture is always worse, because it has the same max 2% rate and an AF.

 

Now if you do put $5K a month, every month, then the Barclays Arrival does win.   But not everyone has that level of spend on non-category purchases.

Message 37 of 71
Membersince2013
Valued Contributor

Re: Barclays Card... why so special?


@Anonymous wrote:

@Membersince2013 wrote:

Well, it depends on what you value. I like miles. I dont really mess with cashback cards. Those cards i mentioned give you 2 miles per dollar. Barclay Arrival gives 2.2 miles. Lets say you put 5k spend on the card each month, You'd have enough points for a couple of domestic tickets or 1 international tickets somewhere....or parking at your destination...Hotel food. Both of those cards are the best cards in my wallet right now.


The arrival plus and venture rewards are both good. But they are flat rewards cards. They are nice because you have flexibility with using them. But unlike Chase ultimate rewards points or Amex points you cannot redeem them are greater values. The Arrival plus will always give you 2.2 cents of travel credit per dollar. A 5% cash back card for a specific category would be a better spend than 2.2 cents per dollar (or 2 with the Capital One Venture Card). Both are excellent cards for their bonus points on meeting the spend requirements (40k points each). But after meeting the spend requirements, they are decent cards but should not be used when a 3-5% category card could be used instead. 

 

Now flexible spending rewards like those you get from Chase and Amex are often worth more than the standard 1 cent per mile. Through redemptions and transfers to partners you can often get much better rates of return. Thus, a card like the chase sapphire preferred with 2 points per mile for dining might be worth using over a 3-5% cashback card for dining because of the redemption rates. 

 

Don't get me wrong, both cards you mentioned are awesome. But if you have a 5k spend per month that is 60k per year or 120k miles with those cards. 120k miles is basically 1200 dollars (bit more with Arrival Plus). 60k spent on cash back cards (if you have a 5% restaurant, 6% grocery, 5% gas, 2% everything else type set up) would be at the very least 2% of 60k which is 1,200 dollars (most likely more since some of your spend will be in higher reward tiers). The money can always be spent on the same trip. Since the Arrival Plus and Venture Rewards cards are both fixed value points you don't really get much more value than cash back after their initial bonus advantage is taken into account (with a 5k spend it would take little over a month before discontinuing full-time usage). 

 

I am a huge fan of miles. Both Amex and Chase have potentially crazy redemption rates with miles and partners. Even the Arrival Plus and Capital One Venture Rewards cards are great due to their bonuses. But after the bonuses, I'd lean towards a mix of cash back cards or Amex/Chase point cards (or both) over the Arrival Plus or Capital One Venture Rewards card. 

 

 

Note: I understand there is no perfect answer here. Just giving my 2 cents Smiley Happy


I see your point there! Category spending gets really tideous to me though. I really dislike Chase and Discover category spending. It's just the fact that you have to activate this and that for it to work and also, you's have to wait for such and such category to even use the card. I end of only using both cards when the "gas" category rolls around. I've yet to see a "grocery" category for Discover or Chase. With that being said, i love the way Amex and some others handle this cashback categories. It's either gas, Gocery or airlines, not gas in Jan, grocery in Feb and airlines in Mar sort of thing. I hope what i just typed is easily understandable lol. I basically like knowing what i'm getting and the Venture/Arrival Plus gives me just that, but i go spread my spending around a lil.

Arrival+ | Barclaycard Rewards Mastercard | Citi Double Cash | CapOne QS (2) | Citi Diamond P | Freedom | Fidelity Amex | Amex Plat | Old Blue Cash | PRG | SPG | BCP | HHonors Surpass | Cap1 Venture | Discover | CSP | Cap1 Venture1 | BOA CR&TR (2) | Ritz Carlton | Southwest Rapid Rewards | Hyatt (2) | US Airways Mastercard (2) | Wells Fargo Rewards Visa | Marriott Premier (2) |

Fico Scores as of 2/21/15 - EX: total crap, TU: total crap, EQ: total crap
Message 38 of 71
Membersince2013
Valued Contributor

Re: Barclays Card... why so special?


@sillykitty1 wrote:

@Membersince2013 wrote:

Well, it depends on what you value. I like miles. I dont really mess with cashback cards. Those cards i mentioned give you 2 miles per dollar. Barclay Arrival gives 2.2 miles. Lets say you put 5k spend on the card each month, You'd have enough points for a couple of domestic tickets or 1 international tickets somewhere....or parking at your destination...Hotel food. Both of those cards are the best cards in my wallet right now.


Venture and Arrival + are not miles cards, they are cash back cards.  The best cash back redemption on these cards are restricted to redeeming against travel expenses.  

 

 


I suppose you're right. I referred to them as miles earning cards because i earn miles when i use them.

Arrival+ | Barclaycard Rewards Mastercard | Citi Double Cash | CapOne QS (2) | Citi Diamond P | Freedom | Fidelity Amex | Amex Plat | Old Blue Cash | PRG | SPG | BCP | HHonors Surpass | Cap1 Venture | Discover | CSP | Cap1 Venture1 | BOA CR&TR (2) | Ritz Carlton | Southwest Rapid Rewards | Hyatt (2) | US Airways Mastercard (2) | Wells Fargo Rewards Visa | Marriott Premier (2) |

Fico Scores as of 2/21/15 - EX: total crap, TU: total crap, EQ: total crap
Message 39 of 71
Membersince2013
Valued Contributor

Re: Barclays Card... why so special?


@longtimelurker wrote:

@sillykitty1 wrote:

@Membersince2013 wrote:

Well, it depends on what you value. I like miles. I dont really mess with cashback cards. Those cards i mentioned give you 2 miles per dollar. Barclay Arrival gives 2.2 miles. Lets say you put 5k spend on the card each month, You'd have enough points for a couple of domestic tickets or 1 international tickets somewhere....or parking at your destination...Hotel food. Both of those cards are the best cards in my wallet right now.


Venture and Arrival + are not miles cards, they are cash back cards.  The best cash back redemption on these cards are restricted to redeeming against travel expenses.  

 

 


+1!  I put this down to great marketing.   These cards ARE( restricted) cash back cards.   Unless you need the WEMC or no FTF feature (and don't have another no FTF card), Barclays Arrival is better than Citi Double Cash (or Fid Amex) only if you spend more than $40K a year.   And to get a good return, you have to redeem them on travel.  Cap One Venture is always worse, because it has the same max 2% rate and an AF.

 

Now if you do put $5K a month, every month, then the Barclays Arrival does win.   But not everyone has that level of spend on non-category purchases.


I put most of my spend on both cards because i travel about 3 - 4 times a year (sometimes more) and it will be great to use those miles for hotel parking (which tends to be very expensive), hotel food and some other travel expenses. Also, as previously stated, the bonus is awesome. I plan on having my GF apply after we use up my bonus miles this upcoming december. There aren't a lot of cards out there giving you $400 cash back on travel. One main reason why i can tolerate using the Venture is because of the AF. At $59 a year (0 AF first year), it's not necessarily breaking the bank. Arrival + will probably get axed next year.

Arrival+ | Barclaycard Rewards Mastercard | Citi Double Cash | CapOne QS (2) | Citi Diamond P | Freedom | Fidelity Amex | Amex Plat | Old Blue Cash | PRG | SPG | BCP | HHonors Surpass | Cap1 Venture | Discover | CSP | Cap1 Venture1 | BOA CR&TR (2) | Ritz Carlton | Southwest Rapid Rewards | Hyatt (2) | US Airways Mastercard (2) | Wells Fargo Rewards Visa | Marriott Premier (2) |

Fico Scores as of 2/21/15 - EX: total crap, TU: total crap, EQ: total crap
Message 40 of 71
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