Does anyone know if I would be able to use the travel credit on AA giftcards? I need to move on this in the next few days because I have a couple hundred tied up in awards. Yes I would be able to keep the rewards if I downgrade, but if redeeming for travel would I be able to redeem at the same rate as the arrival+?
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@SouthJamaica wrote:
@red259 wrote:I'm going to downgrade or PC this card shortly. What would be a good card to PC it to? Also, I need to burn off my travel rewards what options do I have to quickly liquidate those rewards? Will an AA gift card do the trick? I spent money on some train tickets and apparently that doesn't qualify as a travel purchase with barclays.
The Barclay Rewards card is good for grocery, utility, and gas purchases.
The LL Bean card is good if you like to buy things occasionally at LL Bean. And it's an esthetically beautiful card.
My favorite Barclays card, actually my favorite card overall, is the Ring card, but you can't just PC to it. You would have to apply for it, and then -- whether you get accepted or denied -- call recon and try to get them to transfer the Arrival credit limit to Ring. But I wouldn't bother applying unless your TU score is pretty strong, and you don't have a lot of new accounts and inquiries.
They will be coming out with a JetBlue card soon, which you might want to look at if JetBlue's a go-to airline for you.
Oh I didn't know you can't PC to the ring card directly. That is disappointing. I'm not really interested in apping for the ring card though. the barclays rewards card sounds interesting because I don't have a bonus card for utilities yet. I'm not looking for a store card. Since the jetblue card is not out yet I cant really pc to it. Besides depending upon their signup bonus I may want to app for it.
@Anonymous wrote:
@red259 wrote:
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@red259 wrote:I'm going to downgrade or PC this card shortly. What would be a good card to PC it to? Also, I need to burn off my travel rewards what options do I have to quickly liquidate those rewards? Will an AA gift card do the trick? I spent money on some train tickets and apparently that doesn't qualify as a travel purchase with barclays.
The Barclay Rewards card is good for grocery, utility, and gas purchases.
The LL Bean card is good if you like to buy things occasionally at LL Bean. And it's an esthetically beautiful card.
My favorite Barclays card, actually my favorite card overall, is the Ring card, but you can't just PC to it. You would have to apply for it, and then -- whether you get accepted or denied -- call recon and try to get them to transfer the Arrival credit limit to Ring. But I wouldn't bother applying unless your TU score is pretty strong, and you don't have a lot of new accounts and inquiries.
They will be coming out with a JetBlue card soon, which you might want to look at if JetBlue's a go-to airline for you.
Oh I didn't know you can't PC to the ring card directly. That is disappointing. I'm not really interested in apping for the ring card though. the barclays rewards card sounds interesting because I don't have a bonus card for utilities yet. I'm not looking for a store card. Since the jetblue card is not out yet I cant really pc to it. Besides depending upon their signup bonus I may want to app for it.
The Rewards is 2% on its categories, 1% elsewhere, so if you have a double cash or Fidelity card, no advantage to it.
I don't have the double cash yet. I will PC one of my citi cards to it eventually so that I have a 2% card. I never bothered with the fidelity card.
@red259 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@red259 wrote:
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@red259 wrote:I'm going to downgrade or PC this card shortly. What would be a good card to PC it to? Also, I need to burn off my travel rewards what options do I have to quickly liquidate those rewards? Will an AA gift card do the trick? I spent money on some train tickets and apparently that doesn't qualify as a travel purchase with barclays.
The Barclay Rewards card is good for grocery, utility, and gas purchases.
The LL Bean card is good if you like to buy things occasionally at LL Bean. And it's an esthetically beautiful card.
My favorite Barclays card, actually my favorite card overall, is the Ring card, but you can't just PC to it. You would have to apply for it, and then -- whether you get accepted or denied -- call recon and try to get them to transfer the Arrival credit limit to Ring. But I wouldn't bother applying unless your TU score is pretty strong, and you don't have a lot of new accounts and inquiries.
They will be coming out with a JetBlue card soon, which you might want to look at if JetBlue's a go-to airline for you.
Oh I didn't know you can't PC to the ring card directly. That is disappointing. I'm not really interested in apping for the ring card though. the barclays rewards card sounds interesting because I don't have a bonus card for utilities yet. I'm not looking for a store card. Since the jetblue card is not out yet I cant really pc to it. Besides depending upon their signup bonus I may want to app for it.
The Rewards is 2% on its categories, 1% elsewhere, so if you have a double cash or Fidelity card, no advantage to it.
I don't have the double cash yet. I will PC one of my citi cards to it eventually so that I have a 2% card. I never bothered with the fidelity card.
Follow-up questions. The non-AF version of the arrival card does that give me the same redemption rate has the arrival+ on travel redemptions or do I need to redeem now before doing a PC/downgrade? Also, I asked this earlier but have not gotten any feedback. If I need to liquidate my rewards right now can I do so by buying an AA giftcard for later use and that would count as a travel expense for the better redemption rate? If I can just downgrade to the non-AF version and keep the same redemption rate then there is no rush, otherwise I need to make a decision within a day or two. Finally, what is Barlcay's policy on AFs when you downgrade. Do they give you 30 days to decide if you want to keep the card after the fee posts or once it posts then you can't get it back or is it pro rata?
I called into Barclays to see if there was a retention offer and the CSR told me she didn't know what a retention offer was. I was transferred to another agent and they wouldn't waive the AF (they will do it with other cards apparently but not arrival+ which iis what I suspected), but gave the standard downgrade offer to the no-AF version. Basically I keep my reward points so I can use them later and instead of getting 2 points per dollar on everything I only get it on travel and restaurants. Since I don't use the card anymore anyway this doesn't really matter. In addition, I get 1k bonus points for the first time I use it.
On a side note I searched the internet and I found reports of people saying that things like AA gift cards didn't get coded as travel purchases for the travel redemption bonus, which is unfortunate. My card will also be downgraded from world mastercard elite to the basic version. I'm wondering if this will have any impact when it comes to renting cars and the rental insurance, since I may use my travel redemptions that way.I wish the credit line on the card was higher than 7.5k, but I'm not willing to take a HP to try for an increase. There was really no way for me to justify the AF on the card given the changes they made to the program last year.