Is a barclays card anything special?

[Scott90]

I get pre-approved offers in the mail all the time and today I got for the first time, a barclays rewards card offer in the mail. 

I do not know much about Barclay's at all.  I see it in a few posts here and there but I have no idea where it ranks as far as anything special.  To me, i am not really impressed.  It is the Barclays rewards card (blue and white card).  0% for 18 months after that 14.99%. 2 points per dollar on gas, groceries, utilities, and 1 point for everything else. 

I would much rather user quicksilver/freedom than this.  Just seeing your opinions maybe i am missing something?

[enharu]

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@Scott90 wrote:

I get pre-approved offers in the mail all the time and today I got for the first time, a barclays rewards card offer in the mail. 

I do not know much about Barclay's at all.  I see it in a few posts here and there but I have no idea where it ranks as far as anything special.  To me, i am not really impressed.  It is the Barclays rewards card (blue and white card).  0% for 18 months after that 14.99%. 2 points per dollar on gas, groceries, utilities, and 1 point for everything else. 

I would much rather user quicksilver/freedom than this.  Just seeing your opinions maybe i am missing something?

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for some people it works well, for some others, not so much.

if the card doesn't seem to be of much use / value to you, then yea don't apply for it.

[bigblue7722]

What are your credit scores. Imo the barclaycard is worth it just for the free fico if you cant get approved for discover it. I know you can get the free fico with walmart but u get no rewards and can only use it there which for me is not very useful. The rewards are worth it to me cause of the 2 points back on utilities no other card offers that. They also have a pretty good website that allows you to get more points if you do online shopping. So you would go to barclaycard first then go to the retailers website. I have done it a couple times already for staples. 

[longtimelurker]

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@Scott90 wrote:

I get pre-approved offers in the mail all the time and today I got for the first time, a barclays rewards card offer in the mail. 

I do not know much about Barclay's at all.  I see it in a few posts here and there but I have no idea where it ranks as far as anything special.  To me, i am not really impressed.  It is the Barclays rewards card (blue and white card).  0% for 18 months after that 14.99%. 2 points per dollar on gas, groceries, utilities, and 1 point for everything else. 

I would much rather user quicksilver/freedom than this.  Just seeing your opinions maybe i am missing something?

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The card is certainly not amazing but it can be pretty good depending on your spending (as can the quicksilver).   If you spend a lot on gas groceries and utilities, the 2% can be better than QS overall 1.5%.  Also people here have found that some unlisted things, like drug stores, will also give 2%.   If you spend less on those categories, or have other cards that are better on those categories, then this isn't a good match.

Barclays is one of the biggest banks in the world, just not so well-known in the US.   They have a wide range of cards here, some of which are now popular, such as the Arrival and Sallie Mae.

But as enharu says, if the card doesn't interest you, ignore it.  Getting a preapproval means very little!

[gdale6]

Not in my opinion, some love them others don't like them. I am bombarded constantly with offers from Barclays they all get circular filed, the main reason for me is I don't like being told that I have to use a card every 90 days or face possible closure. The score that they offer I already get from Discover & Walmart so I see no advantage to a crad from them.

[red259]

I wouldn't say its a special card, but for some people it can fit in well with their needs. For it to be of value you would need to spend 15k at least on it in a year. If you were going to put less than 15k spend the venture card  is similiar and would be a better value.  

[baller4life]

^^^^^THIS^^^^^

[enharu]

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@red259 wrote:

I wouldn't say its a special card, but for some people it can fit in well with their needs. For it to be of value you would need to spend 15k at least on it in a year. If you were going to put less than 15k spend the venture card  is similiar and would be a better value.  

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the venture and barclay rewards card are very different products.

for the venture, you need to have "excellent" credit history as well, while all you need is "average" credit history for the barclay rewards.

the venture has an AF, the barclays rewards doesn't. So even if you put $10 annual spend on the barclays card, it doesn't really matter. You're still not making a loss.

[red259]

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@enharu wrote:

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@red259 wrote:

I wouldn't say its a special card, but for some people it can fit in well with their needs. For it to be of value you would need to spend 15k at least on it in a year. If you were going to put less than 15k spend the venture card  is similiar and would be a better value.  

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the venture and barclay rewards card are very different products.

for the venture, you need to have "excellent" credit history as well, while all you need is "average" credit history for the barclay rewards.

the venture has an AF, the barclays rewards doesn't. So even if you put $10 annual spend on the barclays card, it doesn't really matter. You're still not making a loss.

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Sorry, I thought OP was asking about barclays arrival card (just glanced at title and didn't see OP specified the rewards card), since that is the barclays card I normally see asked about and that is the card I was referring to. Its been a long week, so to be clear my analysis was not meant to apply to the barclays reward card which I have never looked into. 

[enharu]

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@red259 wrote:

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@enharu wrote:

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@red259 wrote:

I wouldn't say its a special card, but for some people it can fit in well with their needs. For it to be of value you would need to spend 15k at least on it in a year. If you were going to put less than 15k spend the venture card  is similiar and would be a better value.  

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the venture and barclay rewards card are very different products.

for the venture, you need to have "excellent" credit history as well, while all you need is "average" credit history for the barclay rewards.

the venture has an AF, the barclays rewards doesn't. So even if you put $10 annual spend on the barclays card, it doesn't really matter. You're still not making a loss.

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Sorry, I thought OP was asking about barclays arrival card (just glanced at title and didn't see OP specified the rewards card), since that is the barclays card I normally see asked about and that is the card I was referring to. Its been a long week, so to be clear my analysis was not meant to apply to the barclays reward card which I have never looked into. 

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ah i see. yea the rewards card doesn't get much press on most sites so it's not too surprising a lot of people won't know about it.