topic Re: CSP vs Barclaycard® Arriva World MasterCard in Credit Cards

CSP vs Barclaycard® Arriva World MasterCard

Necromancer — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 12:52:32 GMT

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

Re: CSP vs Barclaycard® Arriva World MasterCard

bigbang91 — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 13:26:20 GMT

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.

Re: CSP vs Barclaycard® Arrival World MasterCard

Necromancer — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 13:32:27 GMT

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

Re: CSP vs Barclaycard® Arrival World MasterCard

DigitalArk — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 17:58:11 GMT

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.

Re: CSP vs Barclaycard® Arrival World MasterCard

09Lexie — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 18:47:00 GMT

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

Plus, it's metal.

Re: CSP vs Barclaycard® Arrival World MasterCard

lg8302ch — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 18:54:40 GMT

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

Re: CSP vs Barclaycard® Arriva World MasterCard

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 18:59:28 GMT

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.

Re: CSP vs Barclaycard® Arriva World MasterCard

lg8302ch — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 20:13:37 GMT

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

Looks good to me

Re: CSP vs Barclaycard® Arriva World MasterCard

wHiTeSoL — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 20:54:40 GMT

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

Re: CSP vs Barclaycard® Arriva World MasterCard

Anonymous — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 20:57:23 GMT

@lg8302ch wrote:
For me this here is another reason why Barclays Arrival became my favorite card:

Looks good to me

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.

Re: CSP vs Barclaycard® Arriva World MasterCard

JonStur — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 21:23:11 GMT

@Necromancer wrote:
Which is the better of the two cards for travel/rewards?

Are you steadfast on those two cards or would you consider another, like the Venture?

Re: CSP vs Barclaycard® Arriva World MasterCard

lg8302ch — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 21:39:25 GMT

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

Yes I got it via email - similar than the rotating categories with Freedom or Discover - no experience yet as I got it for the first time. Also have not used the "online mall" from Barclays for extra points yet... but will certainly try it out.

Re: CSP vs Barclaycard® Arriva World MasterCard

lg8302ch — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 21:41:04 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@lg8302ch wrote:
For me this here is another reason why Barclays Arrival became my favorite card:

Looks good to me
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.

Of course but my income does not allow me to really rack up charges in such a way ..also I like to use all my cards and not depend on a single lender Enharu's post is pretty good and explains the pros and the cons of either card quite well. For my spending the Arrival is very nice - simply love it

Re: CSP vs Barclaycard® Arriva World MasterCard

youngandcreditwrthy — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 23:05:12 GMT

Ive gotten that 5x points offer on my Travelocity Amex... Well, it's travelocity points I guess but same 5x points offer. Looks like Barclay's is trying to get every day users.

Re: CSP vs Barclaycard® Arriva World MasterCard

IcEWoLF — Sat, 28 Sep 2013 02:33:07 GMT

No one can touch the Chase UR! It's the best system I've ever used with my CSP.

Like others said, the CSP+ Chase Freedom Combo = unbeatable.

Plus the Chase Customer service and direct dial to a CSR is amazing.

Chase CSP hands down the best card.

Re: CSP vs Barclaycard® Arriva World MasterCard

improvingmycredit — Sat, 28 Sep 2013 02:36:00 GMT

Really depends on what you are looking for. For the average spender- the Arrival is the best. Frequent travelers- a good argument can be made for the CSP.
Here's a good article on the subject:
http://creditcardforum.com/blog/barclaycard-arrival-world-mastercard-review/

Re: CSP vs Barclaycard® Arriva World MasterCard

Anonymous — Sat, 28 Sep 2013 03:00:53 GMT

@improvingmycredit wrote:
Really depends on what you are looking for. For the average spender- the Arrival is the best. Frequent travelers- a good argument can be made for the CSP.
Here's a good article on the subject:
http://creditcardforum.com/blog/barclaycard-arrival-world-mastercard-review/

Interesting. I agree with enharu's analysis more than that article, but I guess it depends what your premise is. The article makes most sense if Arrival is your only/major card, and you use it for all your spending (because there the 2.2% beats the 1.07% for CSP). But many of us have other cards for some good portion of "other", such as BCP for groceries, various "5%" cards for gas etc.

Some CSP die-hards would agree that it is hard to get 2.2cents per point for UR, as the real value is 4-8cents! But for most 1.5 - 2 cents probably is accurate. So that's in favour of the Arrival.

Arrival can only be redeemed for travel, which is a drawback for a cashback card, but going against the CSP that is perhaps less critical, as the best use of CSP is for travel. But if you use Arrival to get a statement credit/cash, isn't the redemption rate less than 1 c per point?

Re: CSP vs Barclaycard® Arriva World MasterCard

improvingmycredit — Sat, 28 Sep 2013 03:37:18 GMT

The redemption rate is less if not applied to travel expense. If applied to travel reimbursement, one also gets the 10% back in points for the redemption.
I agree- most people other than those on this forum typically use one or 2 cards and are happy with them for the entirety of their lives. We here tend to be more CC savvy.

Re: CSP vs Barclaycard® Arriva World MasterCard

mikey78 — Sat, 28 Sep 2013 04:19:11 GMT

EEK CSP =95 AF
i don't think i can handle that lol.. sorry not much of a traveler or diner

Re: CSP vs Barclaycard® Arriva World MasterCard

09Lexie — Sat, 28 Sep 2013 04:24:15 GMT

There's always the CS with no AF but you lose the 1:1 transfer feature.