What to do with no AF Arrival card?

[celluloid17]

With the demise of the Sallie Mae card over a year ago ( ), I ended up with the now defunct no AF Barclays Arrival card through a PC.  I really don't have use for this as I don't fly/travel that often and if/when I do, I'd prefer to use Costco Anywhere Visa that has just eliminated FTF and offers 3% back on travel expenses.  I've never actually used this card and have already had some fraudulent charges on it, so it's not exactly one that I can move to the back of the "sock drawer" and forget without concern.

My questions:

Is this card worth keeping to sustain a relationship with Barclays for a future PC to a better card?  

Is the no fee Arrival card worth holding onto for any hidden benefits that I'm not considering or aware of?

Are there any other no fee Barclays cards that are worth PC'ing to at this point?

I don't necessarily need the TL because I have enough available credit without it.  It has maintained the age of the former Sallie Mae card, but I opened it the same month and year as my US Bank Cash + card (February 2014), which I do still use, so I don't know if or how it would impact my AAoA?  

I don't have any particular feelings one way or another about Barclays, unlike some that have very strong negative feelings about them.  I loved the Sallie Mae card and I love(d) their website and app, but my customer service experiences have been mixed (some good, some bad).  

Should I just close this thing?  Thoughts?

[AverageJoesCredit]

As for keeping it to maintain your relationship with Barclays either now or future, I wouldnt put credence on that. We are all just numbers to the banks so whether we close or not theyll continue to make money.

If you have had frsud issues on it already and see no need to keep it I'd close it. You can always pick up another credit card when you desire, since ad seems to not be an option for you, at least from what you alluded to, let go of the dead weight jmo

[celluloid17]

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@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
As for keeping it to maintain your relationship with Barclays either now or future, I wouldnt put credence on that. We are all just numbers to the banks so whether we close or not theyll continue to make money.

If you have had frsud issues on it already and see no need to keep it I'd close it. You can always pick up another credit card when you desire, since ad seems to not be an option for you, at least from what you alluded to, let go of the dead weight jmo

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Thank you so much for your reply!

I'm definitely leaning towards closing it, I just thought I'd check in with this forum to see if I'd be missing out on something if I do.  As always, I appreciate the clarity that so many posters have on these matters.

[wasCB14]

I have a no-AF Arrival, along with a CSR. An extra 1% or 2% cash back isn't going to make me use the Arrival a lot more. The benefits and customer service are nothing special, either. I haven't had any fraud on it, though. I don't really need the utilization padding.

At one point I was keeping Arrival because it was my only no-AF, no-FTF Visa or MC. I have plenty of AF travel cards but figured nerfing was always possible. Since Costco went no-FTF and I'd be a member, anyway, Arrival is no longer unique in that respect.

I tried to join First Tech but got my membership denied (even after they had approved me for a CC) because I suppose they didn't like my then-recent address change. Maybe I should try to join again...before I have another likely address change. Then I'd have a proper PIN CC and could maybe drop Arrival or not need to use a Schwab debit card. Most of my travel is domestic or to Canada, and Chase cards have worked pretty well.

I guess I just keep mine due to some vague idea it might work when other cards don't.

At least in general, Barclaycard does not allow PCs between cobrand cards and proprietary cards. Otherwise, a PC to Uber could be pretty good. Of course, with a CSR, Uber would also be superfluous from a rewards standpoint.

[kdm31091]

It sounds like the card has little to no use to you. I would just close it and move on.

[celluloid17]

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@wasCB14 wrote:

 At one point I was keeping Arrival because it was my only no-AF, no-FTF Visa or MC. I have plenty of AF travel cards but figured nerfing was always possible. Since Costco went no-FTF and I'd be a member, anyway, Arrival is no longer unique in that respect.

I guess I just keep mine due to some vague idea it might work when other cards don't.

At least in general, Barclaycard does not allow PCs between cobrand cards and proprietary cards. Otherwise, a PC to Uber could be pretty good. Of course, with a CSR, Uber would also be superfluous from a rewards standpoint.

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Thank you so much for your post!!

The no AF/no FTF thing was the reason I choose the Arrival card over Rewards when I was initialy offered the PC.  Now, it's sort of dwarfed by other cards that fill a similar role for me (Costco Visa and PenFed Power Cash).  

Like you, I've been keeping it as a "just in case" card.  

The Uber card is the only current Barclays card that's appealing, but I probably wouldn't apply for it and if a PC is out of the question, then it there really isn't much point to keeping the Arrival unless they come out with a non-cobranded card that's decent (unlikely).

[Anonymous]

I keep my Arrival card and take it with me when I travel because it is the only real chip + pin card in my collection, and it has saved me a lot of trouble a few times when traveling to Europe where various train ticket machines or unattended gas stations required a chip + pin card and none of my other cards worked. But that's the only use I've found for it so far!

[UpperNwGuy]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I keep my Arrival card and take it with me when I travel because it is the only real chip + pin card in my collection, and it has saved me a lot of trouble a few times when traveling to Europe where various train ticket machines or unattended gas stations required a chip + pin card and none of my other cards worked. But that's the only use I've found for it so far!

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This is a good reason to keep the card.

[Anonymous]

I PC'ed my Arrival Plus to their Rewards card awhile back. I only keep it for AoAA reasons. It has 2% cashback on utilities so I have setup my cable/internet bill to auto-charge the card to maintain active status.

On a related note...something to also look into and consider - many larger cities in Europe have a decent contactless payment presence. Assuming your cards are compatible or enrolled in Apple Pay (never tried Apple Pay though), you may not need to provide signature or PIN for small transactions.