Update: This offer has now ended.
Barclaycard Arrival Plus 50K Ending
Just about a year ago Barclaycard raised the bonus on their Arrival+ from 40K to 50K points. While I believe it was supposed to be a limited time offer, it stuck around awhile. Now, it seems like the offer is finally going to be leaving. Should you apply?
The Offer
- Earn 50,000 bonus miles (~$525) after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 90 days. $89 annual fee is waived the first year.
Update: This offer has now ended.
Card Benefits
- 2X miles (2%) on every purchase.
- 5% rebate on travel redemptions.
- Chip and PIN.
- No foreign transaction fees.
Should You Apply?
In my opinion there are a couple of things to know about this card:
- You can generally get the card/bonus again even if you have had it in the past. Barclaycard generally won’t approve you if you currently have the card though.
- Barclaycard relies heavily on your past behavior as a customer and they recently have become more sensitive to people who open up a lot of new cards in a short time according to data points.
- This card works as a Chip & PIN at kiosks in Europe and elsewhere when other U.S. issued cards don’t.
- Barclaycard pulls Transunion credit reports for most people so this could be a nice card to get if you are trying to layoff Experian and Equifax hard pulls.
While there are other 2% cashback cards without an annual fee, they don’t give you a $500+ sign-up bonus and that is something to definitely consider. Add-in the true international Chip & PIN functionality and you have an attractive card to get and try out for a year or more. This is a card that I have and carry whenever on international trips.
Conclusion
While we don’t have a specific end date for this offer, it will end in the next couple of days (per OMAAT who is generally very reliable). If you were thinking of picking up this card or just like to offset your travel expenses, then take a look and consider applying for the Barclaycard Arrival+ before the bonus drops.
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Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is the old king of travel rewards cards. Right now
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Learn more about this card and its features!
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
[…] like denials for the Arrival+ card are increasing recently. Â The Arrival+ card currently has an increased bonus that is rumored to be ending soon. Because of this, a lot of people have been applying for the card in the last week or […]
Got the following when applying:
We appreciate your interest in the Barclaycard Arrival Plus Mastercard.
Unfortunately, we are not able to provide you with an immediate decision on the application you just submitted.
Your application requires further review, which can take up to 10 days.
We will notify you in writing in no more than 30 days (and often sooner) about the status of your application.
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I have great credit score. I think this may be because I have Aviator card and barely use it other than getting the sign-on bonus.
Anyone has experience with similar situation? Should I call re-con line?
Thanks!
This card is a fantastic deal for the first year, but not worth paying the AF after that. When I first got the card in 2013 it had such good perks I intended to keep it forever. But for some reason Barclay’s decided to methodically strip away all the reasons to keep the card past the first year while helpfully providing an easy downgrade path to a no-fee card. The incentives are now overwhelming to get this card whenever the intro offer is at a local high point (like now) and then downgrade or cancel before the first AF is due.
Note that it is impossible to actually get a 2.05% return on this card because of the insanely high $100 minimum redemption (used to be $25. That change was the last straw that made me drop the card). You will never escape the problem of orphaned points. So it’s really just a 2x cashback card with severe restrictions on how the cashback can be used. The best way to use the points is to make one large redemption followed by another redemption that just barely uses up 10,000 points (including the 5% bonus on the first redemption). Then never use it again.
My wife received a preapproved letter for Barclay Arrival+ that expires in Oct. is it not wise to wait then? She’s over 5/24 so we may just get it for the free $525
I had this card and downgraded to the no annual fee version a couple years ago. Will I be able to get the bonus?
They declined my application today because I kept the no fee version open. Unlike other banks, they consider them the same product so I’d cancel it before applying.
Thanks for the data point. And great name!!! 🙂
Did you try closing it on recon to get the card or would they not go for that? Are you considering closing it and then reapplying in a few weeks?