topic Re: What happened to Barclays Arrival cards? in Credit Cards

What happened to Barclays Arrival cards?

mxp114 — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 08:20:25 GMT

Barclays Arrival, Barclays Arrival Plus and Barclays Arrival Premier have all vanished? I remember a while ago they intended to bring the cards back with new features and benefits and improvements. Anyone have any information? I searched online and can't find a single article about it. I remember these cards were highly rated and desired and now no one's talking about them.

Re: What happened to Barclays Arrival cards?

coldfusion — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 12:12:00 GMT

Arrival Premier was a card and only had a lifespan of like 10 months before they stopped accepting new applications and reopened the Arrival+.

Barclay stopped accepting applications for all of their core cards last year including the Arrival+ although if you already have the card they are still servicing it. Everything in their current portfolio that is accepting applications at the moment I believe is a co-branded card.

Re: What happened to Barclays Arrival cards?

JR_TX — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 21:22:17 GMT

I think they might be pulling out of the US market and I'm not seeing anything that can convince me otherwise. Hope I'm wrong!

Re: What happened to Barclays Arrival cards?

coldfusion — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 02:24:07 GMT

Don't forget that BarclayUS sold off $1.6 billion in balances to CreditShop held by a whole bunch of cardholders across pretty much their entire core portfolio a couple of years ago. Those cardholders were mostly in the near-prime/sub-prime ranges and they were issued Mercury-branded cards as replacements, there were a number of threads here from directly affected members.

A bunch of Arrival+ cardholders were included and they were issued Mercury-branded World Elite Mastercards as replacements.

I don't think that was a function of looking to extricate themselves from the US market, rather they were acting on a broader business decision made to refocus their target market more toward prime cardholders.

Re: What happened to Barclays Arrival cards?

NoHardLimits — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 05:32:20 GMT

Barclays recently announced that they were purchasing the AARP credit card portfolio from JP Morgan Chase. I'm not sure that they would have pursued this deal if they had plans to leave the US market.

Re: What happened to Barclays Arrival cards?

mxp114 — Fri, 15 Jan 2021 20:03:14 GMT

@coldfusion In other words, no new information. They haven't even issued the cards as contactless or the original two with the new Mastercard logo. Good point on Mercury, I forgot all about that.

@NoHardLimits Unless they will focus on co-brand only. The products languish and no news about the future. I want to PC to another product but can't.

Re: What happened to Barclays Arrival cards?

coldfusion — Fri, 15 Jan 2021 20:16:40 GMT

My current Arrival+ is contactless, in fact I used it as such last night. I'm taking advantage of the promotion allowing grocery purchases to be treated a travel to draw down my miles.

Re: What happened to Barclays Arrival cards?

mxp114 — Fri, 15 Jan 2021 20:17:54 GMT

@coldfusion wrote:
My current Arrival+ is contactless, in fact I used it as such last night. I'm taking advantage of the promotion allowing grocery purchases to be treated a travel to draw down my miles.

Is it the same design? Have they updated any part of the physical card besides contactless?

Re: What happened to Barclays Arrival cards?

NoHardLimits — Fri, 15 Jan 2021 20:42:55 GMT

Focusing on co-brands only

@mxp114 wrote:
@coldfusion In other words, no new information. They haven't even issued the cards as contactless or the original two with the new Mastercard logo. Good point on Mercury, I forgot all about that.

@NoHardLimits Unless they will focus on co-brand only. The products languish and no news about the future. I want to PC to another product but can't.

Focusing on co-brands only is a distinct possibility. Yes, Barclays cards are notoriously difficult to product change. I spent years trying to product change an old USAir card that was transferred from Bank of America. I finally gave up and cancelled the card. I will most likely do the same with my current American Airlines Aviator Red unless they allow a downgrade to the no annual fee version.

Re: What happened to Barclays Arrival cards?

coldfusion — Fri, 15 Jan 2021 23:47:43 GMT

@mxp114 wrote:
@coldfusion wrote:
My current Arrival+ is contactless, in fact I used it as such last night. I'm taking advantage of the promotion allowing grocery purchases to be treated a travel to draw down my miles.
Is it the same design? Have they updated any part of the physical card besides contactless?

It appears identical including the raised/embossed name/expiration/card number. The only substantive difference I had noticed is that the card now has the contactless logo on the lower right on the back.

Re: What happened to Barclays Arrival cards?

coldfusion — Fri, 15 Jan 2021 23:55:38 GMT

Front looks like this.