topic Re: Chase Sapphire vs Barclaycard Arrival in Credit Cards

Chase Sapphire vs Barclaycard Arrival

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Jul 2014 16:38:47 GMT

What's the opinion on one verus the other?

Re: Chase Sapphire vs Barclaycard Arrival

longtime_lurker — Wed, 02 Jul 2014 16:42:58 GMT

I assume we're talking CSP vs. Arrival, correct? Otherwise, there is 0 comparison, lol.

Re: Chase Sapphire vs Barclaycard Arrival

mongstradamus — Wed, 02 Jul 2014 16:44:58 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
What's the opinion on one verus the other?

I think are number of factors if you have freedom to pair with CSP? Also what's your yearly spending look like ? If your spending isn't that high I don't think arrival plus is worth the AF when you can get something like fidelity a!ex that performs similar function .

More experienced travel gurus can chime in to give better advice

Re: Chase Sapphire vs Barclaycard Arrival

nachoslibres — Wed, 02 Jul 2014 16:54:12 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
What's the opinion on one verus the other?

I think both aren't that great.

So, with the no AF Chase Sapphire you basically get 2% back on restaurants and 1% back on everything else. You can also get 2% back on travel if you book it through the Chase UR site.

With the no AF Arrival you get an effective 2.22% back on travel and dining and 1.11% back on every thing else IF you redeem that against travel purchases. If you just redeem for straight up cash back you are earning 1% back on travel and dining and 0.5% back on every thing else.

So, if you are looking for a no AF card I would not get either of these. The Amex Fidelity card would be much better because it gives you straight up 2% back on every thing and you don't have to redeem it against travel.

Now, if we are talking about the premium versions of theses cards - i.e. the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the Barclaycard Arrival Plus - then that is a totally different and much more in depth discussion.

Re: Chase Sapphire vs Barclaycard Arrival

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Jul 2014 17:56:38 GMT

I was talking about ordinary (no annual fee) Chase Sapphire vs ordinary (no annual fee) Barclaycard Arrival.

My use case is, I travel sometimes. But not a whole lot. Having some points in travel does me some good over cash back, if the travel points can do me better than FIA (which I have). I just don't travel enough to make good use of the annual fee versions of either of those cards though. This would just be for when my company puts us up at a hotel that isn't covered by a hotel card I'm going to try to get (I want the ChoicePrivileges and the Carlson Club Premier), and for any flight I take personally (could be any airline), that does be more use than 2%.

Re: Chase Sapphire vs Barclaycard Arrival

nachoslibres — Wed, 02 Jul 2014 18:09:04 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I was talking about ordinary (no annual fee) Chase Sapphire vs ordinary (no annual fee) Barclaycard Arrival.

My use case is, I travel sometimes. But not a whole lot. Having some points in travel does me some good over cash back, if the travel points can do me better than FIA (which I have). I just don't travel enough to make good use of the annual fee versions of either of those cards though. This would just be for when my company puts us up at a hotel that isn't covered by a hotel card I'm going to try to get (I want the ChoicePrivileges and the Carlson Club Premier), and for any flight I take personally (could be any airline), that does be more use than 2%.

Well, both of those cards are effectively "cash back" cards. The Arrival gives you cash back when you redeem against a travel charge (or you can cash it out anytime for the horrible return rate I discussed earlier) while the Chase Sapphire gives you UR points but you can't transfer these to mileage partners since it isn't the preferred card - so you are basically restricted to earning $0.01/UR on the Sapphire. Just because they say they are travel cards doesn't mean they are any better for you than a regular cash back card.

With that said, if you are going to be using your "cash back" that you earn for future personal related travel (i.e. a hotel charge, cruise, flight, etc.) then the Arrival gives you a better return rate at 2.22% on travel, plus you also get 2.22% on restaurants as well. The Chase Sapphire only gets you 2% back on travel purchased through their site and 2% back on restaurants.

If you aren't looking to use the Arrival miles towards future personal travel then it isn't a good fit at all because although you can cash out the miles at any time - whether in the form of a statement credit or gift cards, you are only earning 1% back on travel and restaurants.

If I were in your shoes I would get the regular Arrival (which has a decent sign up bonus) and then just use the miles to offset personal travel charges (you can redeem them when you get as low as $25 in rewards). If you aren't putting much spend on the card you likely won't ever get enough to pay for full hotels or airfare but every little bit helps and you could use this to offset those expenses. The other option would be to apply for the $89 AF Arrival Plus, which has an even better sign on bonus, earns 2.22% on every thing (when redeemed against travel), and then just downgrade to the regular Arrival once the AF comes due.

Re: Chase Sapphire vs Barclaycard Arrival

red259 — Wed, 02 Jul 2014 18:57:08 GMT

@nachoslibres wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I was talking about ordinary (no annual fee) Chase Sapphire vs ordinary (no annual fee) Barclaycard Arrival.

My use case is, I travel sometimes. But not a whole lot. Having some points in travel does me some good over cash back, if the travel points can do me better than FIA (which I have). I just don't travel enough to make good use of the annual fee versions of either of those cards though. This would just be for when my company puts us up at a hotel that isn't covered by a hotel card I'm going to try to get (I want the ChoicePrivileges and the Carlson Club Premier), and for any flight I take personally (could be any airline), that does be more use than 2%.
Well, both of those cards are effectively "cash back" cards. The Arrival gives you cash back when you redeem against a travel charge (or you can cash it out anytime for the horrible return rate I discussed earlier) while the Chase Sapphire gives you UR points but you can't transfer these to mileage partners since it isn't the preferred card - so you are basically restricted to earning $0.01/UR on the Sapphire. Just because they say they are travel cards doesn't mean they are any better for you than a regular cash back card.

With that said, if you are going to be using your "cash back" that you earn for future personal related travel (i.e. a hotel charge, cruise, flight, etc.) then the Arrival gives you a better return rate at 2.22% on travel, plus you also get 2.22% on restaurants as well. The Chase Sapphire only gets you 2% back on travel purchased through their site and 2% back on restaurants.

If you aren't looking to use the Arrival miles towards future personal travel then it isn't a good fit at all because although you can cash out the miles at any time - whether in the form of a statement credit or gift cards, you are only earning 1% back on travel and restaurants.

If I were in your shoes I would get the regular Arrival (which has a decent sign up bonus) and then just use the miles to offset personal travel charges (you can redeem them when you get as low as $25 in rewards). If you aren't putting much spend on the card you likely won't ever get enough to pay for full hotels or airfare but every little bit helps and you could use this to offset those expenses. The other option would be to apply for the $89 AF Arrival Plus, which has an even better sign on bonus, earns 2.22% on every thing (when redeemed against travel), and then just downgrade to the regular Arrival once the AF comes due.

+1 The non-AF vesions of these cards aren't worth it IMO. Just get a good cashback card. That being said I think the question you should be asking yourself is which premium version is better for you. Since the first year fee is waived I would get that and then reevaluate when AF comes up to see if you want to keep or downgrade it.

Re: Chase Sapphire vs Barclaycard Arrival

-NewGuy- — Wed, 02 Jul 2014 20:17:23 GMT

@red259 wrote:
@nachoslibres wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I was talking about ordinary (no annual fee) Chase Sapphire vs ordinary (no annual fee) Barclaycard Arrival.

My use case is, I travel sometimes. But not a whole lot. Having some points in travel does me some good over cash back, if the travel points can do me better than FIA (which I have). I just don't travel enough to make good use of the annual fee versions of either of those cards though. This would just be for when my company puts us up at a hotel that isn't covered by a hotel card I'm going to try to get (I want the ChoicePrivileges and the Carlson Club Premier), and for any flight I take personally (could be any airline), that does be more use than 2%.
Well, both of those cards are effectively "cash back" cards. The Arrival gives you cash back when you redeem against a travel charge (or you can cash it out anytime for the horrible return rate I discussed earlier) while the Chase Sapphire gives you UR points but you can't transfer these to mileage partners since it isn't the preferred card - so you are basically restricted to earning $0.01/UR on the Sapphire. Just because they say they are travel cards doesn't mean they are any better for you than a regular cash back card.

With that said, if you are going to be using your "cash back" that you earn for future personal related travel (i.e. a hotel charge, cruise, flight, etc.) then the Arrival gives you a better return rate at 2.22% on travel, plus you also get 2.22% on restaurants as well. The Chase Sapphire only gets you 2% back on travel purchased through their site and 2% back on restaurants.

If you aren't looking to use the Arrival miles towards future personal travel then it isn't a good fit at all because although you can cash out the miles at any time - whether in the form of a statement credit or gift cards, you are only earning 1% back on travel and restaurants.

If I were in your shoes I would get the regular Arrival (which has a decent sign up bonus) and then just use the miles to offset personal travel charges (you can redeem them when you get as low as $25 in rewards). If you aren't putting much spend on the card you likely won't ever get enough to pay for full hotels or airfare but every little bit helps and you could use this to offset those expenses. The other option would be to apply for the $89 AF Arrival Plus, which has an even better sign on bonus, earns 2.22% on every thing (when redeemed against travel), and then just downgrade to the regular Arrival once the AF comes due.
+1 The non-AF vesions of these cards aren't worth it IMO. Just get a good cashback card. That being said I think the question you should be asking yourself is which premium version is better for you. Since the first year fee is waived I would get that and then reevaluate when AF comes up to see if you want to keep or downgrade it.

You might surprise yourself with how much benefit you get from one of them.

Re: Chase Sapphire vs Barclaycard Arrival

csryang — Wed, 02 Jul 2014 22:37:57 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I was talking about ordinary (no annual fee) Chase Sapphire vs ordinary (no annual fee) Barclaycard Arrival.

My use case is, I travel sometimes. But not a whole lot. Having some points in travel does me some good over cash back, if the travel points can do me better than FIA (which I have). I just don't travel enough to make good use of the annual fee versions of either of those cards though. This would just be for when my company puts us up at a hotel that isn't covered by a hotel card I'm going to try to get (I want the ChoicePrivileges and the Carlson Club Premier), and for any flight I take personally (could be any airline), that does be more use than 2%.

In this case, Barclaycard arrival (2points for travel) is better than Chase Sapphire (only 2 points for dinning / 1point for travel).

Re: Chase Sapphire vs Barclaycard Arrival

mongstradamus — Thu, 03 Jul 2014 02:32:23 GMT

@csryang wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I was talking about ordinary (no annual fee) Chase Sapphire vs ordinary (no annual fee) Barclaycard Arrival.

My use case is, I travel sometimes. But not a whole lot. Having some points in travel does me some good over cash back, if the travel points can do me better than FIA (which I have). I just don't travel enough to make good use of the annual fee versions of either of those cards though. This would just be for when my company puts us up at a hotel that isn't covered by a hotel card I'm going to try to get (I want the ChoicePrivileges and the Carlson Club Premier), and for any flight I take personally (could be any airline), that does be more use than 2%.
In this case, Barclaycard arrival (2points for travel) is better than Chase Sapphire (only 2 points for dinning / 1point for travel).

Other than FTF , why wouldn't you just go for fid amex since it has no af and its 2% on everything? in that situation i think its superiour to both Arrival and CS

Re: Chase Sapphire vs Barclaycard Arrival

Open123 — Thu, 03 Jul 2014 04:35:17 GMT

@mongstradamus wrote:
Other than FTF , why wouldn't you just go for fid amex since it has no af and its 2% on everything? in that situation i think its superiour to both Arrival and CS

Right, unless most of one's spending occur in Visa/MC only merchants, such as Sam's Club. 2% cashback is infinitely superior to restricted redemptions.

Re: Chase Sapphire vs Barclaycard Arrival

red259 — Thu, 03 Jul 2014 04:58:16 GMT

@Open123 wrote:
@mongstradamus wrote:
Other than FTF , why wouldn't you just go for fid amex since it has no af and its 2% on everything? in that situation i think its superiour to both Arrival and CS
+1

Right, unless most of one's spending occur in Visa/MC only merchants, such as Sam's Club. 2% cashback is infinitely superior to restricted redemptions.