Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite - underrated?

[nachoslibres]

I typically would not recommend the Arrival+ to anyone these days, because of the annual fee and the 2.1% effective cash back rate that has to be redeemed against travel.  I was a huge advocate for this card back when it earned 2.2% and you could redeem it against smaller travel thresholds - plus back then I don't think the travel reward cards were as competitive as they are now.  I used the card almost exlusively for over 2 years before Barclay nerfed the rate and redemption thresholds and I believe I got around 5 friends and family members to sign on to the card as well.

Just know I don't think the Arrival+ is as good as you think it is.  For instance, based upon your spend last year you earned $92 more than you would have with a Citi DoubleCash card, but once you figure in the $89 annual fee you really earned $3 more.  But the Citi DoubleCash allows you to cash out the rewards on a monthly basis (has a $25 minimum cash out but with your spend that would be no issue) and you don't have to redeem it against travel, you just cash it out and put it in your bank account (or transfer it somewhere to earn some good interest).

I personally don't even use cash back cards like the Barclaycard Arrival+ or Citi DoubleCash as I can eek out way more value with transferrable points, whether utilizing bonus spend on the Chase Freedom, Ink Cash, or Sapphire Reserve or the lowest effective earning rates of 2.25% or 2.5% on my Chase Freedom Unlimited and SPG Business card.

If you want a card that you can put EVERYTHING on and still get about 2% back then I would keep the Arrival+ or get the DoubleCash just for the easier and more often redemptions.  If you want to earn more value from your purchases you are more than likely going to need to have several cards and be able to split purchases on the different cards based upon category spending and how you want to split the points.

[nachoslibres]

I used the Barclaycard Arrival+ for pretty much all my purchases for over two years and got several friends and family members to sign up for it as well.  The reason being it earned 2.22% before the annual fee on all purchases when redeemed against travel and the smallest travel threshold you could redeem against was $20.  There weren't many competitive cards in my opnion that could earn such a high rate on unbonused spending and so I really loved the card.....but then Barclaycard decided to nerf it to 2.1% and much higher travel purchase thresholds needed to redeem against so I immediately PC'd it to the no-AF Arrival and replaced it with the Citi DoubleCash (which I don't even use now since I've gone all in on transferrable points vs cash back).

With the AF you have on the card you have essentially made 2% back on your purchases.  That's not bad, and if that works for you great.  However, as others have said, you could do better.  I for instance use Chase Freedom, Ink Cash, and Sapphire Reserve cards to eek out between 6% to 10% on my purchases regularly.  Even with my Freedom Unlimited I'm able to get a mimum earning value of 2.25% when paired with my Sapphire Reserve card.  For non-bonused spending I also use my Amex SPG Business card which I'm able to get around 2.5%-2.7% back on - besides all the additional benefits of automatic Gold status with $30k spend a year and free Sheraton Club access.

So, you have to ask yourself if you are ok with just getting 2% back.  The great thing with the card you have is that it is easy, just put everything on it and get 2% cash back as long as you redeem against travel.  However, if you want to earn even more, you can, you just have to figure out what cards work best for your spending and be able to juggle putting different purchases on different cards based upon bonus spending categories.