CSP vs Barclaycard® Arriva World MasterCard

[Necromancer]

Which is the better of the two cards for travel/rewards?

[bigbang91]

chase SCP AND BARCLAY promotional term are almost identical. However, personally i would go with Chase since it has so many branches, better to deal with.

[Necromancer]

Thanks for the reply, I hadn't considered the availability of bank branches.

[DigitalArk]

I've heard that if you have Chase Freedom, it works better with CSP. Also, CSP have very good CS. I might apply for CSP next year.

[09Lexie]

Besides the combo DigitalArk mentioned...the value of the URs and the 1:1 transfer.

Plus, it's metal.

[lg8302ch]

It depends what you are looking for.  CSP is great for combo use with 5 x categories (Freedom) and then a good deal if you want to fly C or F class and the Arrival is more kind of cash back. Basically you erase travel purchases. I love mine very much but still will target CSP next year

[enharu]

It really depends on your personal spending and travel preferences.

For people who either travel first class and/or fly international on UA and/or star alliance airlines, the CSP will be a much better card. Hyatt redemptions are rates are decent too, especially for suites in larger and more popular destinations. That being said, a lot of UR points are required for such redemptions, in order to milk out a high ccp value. This in turn correlates to the amount of spending one can do on the card itself. If you don't plan to charge a lot on the card, or if you don't really fly international or first class or stay in luxury hotels much, then CSP may not be worthwhile after all. The sign-up bonus is still nice though, so you can keep it for a year, even though chase does not like sign-up bonus chasers.

The Barclay arrival has a nice sign-up bonus too. Essentially 400 off with 1000 in spending (40% discount essentially, except towards travel expenses only). Its 2% on everything, so depending on your spending habits, one may come up in front over CSP, which only gives 2UR on dining and travel. You can redeem the Barclays points towards any travel expenses, and the points are given immediately after transaction posts, which is nice. For budget conscious travelers, such as those who prefer staying in cheaper hotels (courtyard, best western, etc) or flying in coach or on budget airlines , the arrival probably will make a lot more sense. Then again, the level of spending should offset the AF itself.

So at the end of the day, it all boils down to how much you can spend on the card, and your travel preferences.

[lg8302ch]

For me this here is another reason why Barclays Arrival became my favorite card:

Looks good to me

[wHiTeSoL]

lg8302ch, did you get this via email? I have an arrival card too but dont know if this is just a targeted offer.

[longtimelurker]

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@lg8302ch wrote:

For me this here is another reason why Barclays Arrival became my favorite card:

Looks good to me

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Yes, but as was pointed out with similar offers on the Citi cards, this is worth a max of $25 extra (more or less).  Which is better than nothing, but not exactly a game changer for those that use the transfer features of CSP.