Barclay Luxury Card PC | upgrade

[rhapsody1]

Has anyone had any success doing product changes to or from this card line ?

(I realize this card has some questionable “benefits” but that’s not what I’m asking about).

I’ve heard the luxury card reps will speak about a “card upgrade” program but have not looked into this. Can anyone elaborate ?

[wasCB14]

Gold has a $995 AF plus $295 for an AU

Black has a $495 AF plus $195 for an AU

Titanium has a $195 AF plus $95 for an AU

I don't know what PCs are allowed into or out of the Luxury family, but I'd assume "upgrade" means moving to a higher AF product.

[rhapsody1]

Oh I see. So I’d have to stay in the “portfolio” or “brand” of product.

[rhapsody1]

Are you allowed to do upgrades during the first year of having the card ? (Or before activating card )

[CreditCuriosity]

Nope...Card act would stop that

[wasCB14]

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@rhapsody1 wrote:
Oh I see. So I’d have to stay in the “portfolio” or “brand” of product.

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I'm not saying that is necessarily the case. I'm saying I don't know either way. Maybe they'll allow a PC out of the card family, maybe they won't. I don't know.

@rhapsody1 wrote:
Are you allowed to do upgrades during the first year of having the card ? (Or before activating card )

There are some regulatory rules (the CARD Act) that are designed to prevent issuers from bait-and-switch tactics. Officially, I don't think banks can increase a product's annual fee within the first year, or move a customer to a higher-AF product in the first year. Most banks follow these rules pretty strictly.

That said, I did once have a Barclaycard rep offer to move me from a no-AF Arrival to an Arrival+ (with an AF) within the first few days of having a card. Had I accepted that offer, I don't know if they would have changed my card or created a completely new account and closed the old one. Also strangely, they offered me an Arrival+ with a supposed $49 AF.

Barclaycard has a reputation for inconsistent practices and customer service reps that make stuff up.

It sounds like you just got one of these cards. Which variant did you pick? What was the appeal?

[rhapsody1]

I think it’s the entry level luxury card.

I am curious though the card act is obviously to stop abuse. But if the consumer wishes to move to a different product isn’t that a bit different ?

[wasCB14]

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@rhapsody1 wrote:
I think it’s the entry level luxury card.

I am curious though the card act is obviously to stop abuse. But if the consumer wishes to move to a different product isn’t that a bit different ?

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I think the law is written broadly as it may be hard to legally distinguish cases where a savvy customer wants X from cases where a confused customer agrees to X at the issuer's encouragement.

In principle, you could apply for a Black or Gold card as a new account. There's no law that you can't get a higher AF card as a new account and cancel the Titanium card. The law only covers annual fees on accounts that are already open. Of course, Barclaycard is not required to approve such an application.

And, having mentioned the possibility of you getting a second Luxury card, I feel compelled to state (though you've already said you know the benefits are questionable) that I agree with the consensus that the entire Luxury lineup is garbage. I have a $550 Amex Platinum, a $450 CSR, and a $450 Prestige that I'm going to get rid of soon...but even the Prestige is vastly better than any of the Luxury cards.

[rhapsody1]

Thank you for sharing that. And to be fair I was only concerned about product changes within Barclay. Not the merits of said luxury card line. That’s another topic for another day.

[wasCB14]

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@rhapsody1 wrote:
Thank you for sharing that. And to be fair I was only concerned about product changes within Barclay. Not the merits of said luxury card line. That’s another topic for another day.

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There is some limited anecdotal evidence that Barclaycard frequently rejects the second application if someone applies for two cards in a short period of time (after being approved for the first). I'm not aware of any actual rules they have, or if the rejections were due to the applicants having mediocre credit in the first place. I'm just saying you might want to look into it further, and possibly wait perhaps 6 months to apply for a second card.

But if you do want a Black or Gold card ASAP, applying for a second account could potentially get you one more quickly.

I don't know if Barclaycard would limit customers to one product at a time in this family, but I would suspect the lack of a bonus and their hunger for annual fees would encourage them to be accomodating.