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Blase
04-27-2015, 02:31 AM
Over the next few days I'm going to make some posts in here regarding how I fund/afford most of our travel with credit card sign up bonuses (and still maintain a kick-ass credit score!). I thought I'd start out with this one, because as far as I'm concerned it's one of the best pure travel credit cards out there right now because it is not affiliated with any one program, rather it gives you 2.2% cash back as long as you use it on travel related purchases. It also has a great sign-up bonus of $400 cash back once you spend $3000 on the card within 90 days.

The link to apply:
http://www.findmybarclaycard.com/barclaycard-credit-cards/?campaignId=2043&cellNumber=9&referrerid=BCSBA0315PRD

Here is a good post discussing the benefits of the credit card from one of my favorite blogs, The Frequent Miler.
http://frequentmiler.boardingarea.com/2014/05/27/the-arrival-plus-more-than-just-a-new-name/

The $89 annual fee is waived for the 1st year, so this means that you’re getting at least $400 in statement credits after spending $3,000 within 3 months.

Barclays says that you earn “miles” but you’re actually earning cash back with the card since you can’t transfer your Barclays miles to airlines. But you can redeem them for statement credits at 0.5 cents per mile (poor value) or 1.1 cent per mile if you redeem for travel.

You get 10% of your miles back if you redeem for travel, so 40,000 miles gets you $400 towards travel and 4,000 miles back (10% of your miles back). You can then redeem these 4,000 miles which you got back for $40 towards travel. And so on…

You earn 2X miles on all purchases, so you’re effectively getting 2% cash back for each purchase. But since you get 10% of your miles back when you redeem for travel, this is effectively a 2.2% cash back card when miles are redeemed for travel.

So for those of you on the fence for Lake Tahoe, @nhchris dvandentop, this would be a good credit card to get! Even better is if you get one for yourself and one for your spouse, then you'll have $800 in travel credits to use in your household amongst the two cards. What I would suggest, say airfare pp is around $500, you put that on the card and that's already 1/6 of your $3000 required spend. And then since you have 120 days to reimburse yourself, and you're going to get the 40,000 miles within 90 days, your airfare is almost free! Reimbursing is incredibly simple online through your account login.

$3000 in minimum spend *may* sound like a lot (or $6000 for a couple), but it really isn't if you charge everything on the card, down to large diet cokes at McDonald's like I do! HHH! Little things that you'd normally use your debit card for, use this card for. As long as you pay it off every month!! Once you start incurring credit card interest then the miles and points game makes no sense.

I have had this card for a while now but Scott does not, and I think I'm going to apply for him as we have an upcoming Seattle trip planned. Even though we've used miles for the airfare and will use Hyatt points for the hotel, there will be a lot of other little expenses like a food tour, ferry tickets, etc.... all reimburseable with this card! It will be nice to get another $400 in free travel!

Let me know if you have any questions!!
~Jen

Luckylinda123
04-27-2015, 02:35 AM
Good info thanks Jen

Blase
04-27-2015, 02:42 AM
Here is the FlyerTalk thread regarding this CC. Lots of in-depth info here!

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credit-card-programs/1577043-barclays-arrival-arrival-cards-1-1-2-2-travel-credits.html

dvandentop
04-27-2015, 02:43 AM
Sounds good since airfare to Tahoe is around $1200 for us right now rt

Blase
04-27-2015, 02:48 AM
Sounds good since airfare to Tahoe is around $1200 for us right now rt

Online approval in seconds... just sayin' :)

Also I keep hoping that damn airfare will go down for you.

moemoe
04-27-2015, 02:56 AM
Wow thank you for taking the time to give us an indepth analysis + well done !!! Getting ready to take a hard look at all of my cc's in the next few months and do some strategic payoffs or transfers - great information on this card, appreciate it!!

dvandentop
04-27-2015, 03:12 AM
Online approval in seconds... just sayin' :)

Also I keep hoping that damn airfare will go down for you.
Return flight went apeshit

Blase
04-27-2015, 05:14 PM
By the way, I had "someone" who shall remain nameless ask if I was getting a referral bonus since the application link says "referral id" or something like that. I do not. The link to apply is from a blog I like, thefrequentmiler.com. He *does* get a referral bonus, not sure how much it is per application. I only wish I had the pull like that to get my own referral link!

I like to support certain bloggers wherever possible. Other bloggers that constantly push credit card links in their content, I do not support. But this guy doesn't.

Anyway, just thought I should add that!

CPT
04-27-2015, 05:25 PM
I have the Amex Blue Sky card. $1 = 1 Point on all purchased. 7500 points = $100 statement credit on travel. I wonder how that translates to miles with this card. Like you, I use it for everything, love them points!

SoCalRob
04-27-2015, 05:49 PM
I have the Delta Skymiles Card(only airline I travel when I travel East because I know the awesome service I'm getting). Have no clue how the points are earned, but I know I have about 60,000 miles accrued. Though, I'm now thinking maybe this Barclay card sounds like a good deal!

dvandentop
04-27-2015, 08:54 PM
cool got signed up thanks

Nhcris
04-28-2015, 11:11 PM
Looks like a good value card for sure Blasé! Thanks for the info.

dvandentop
05-13-2015, 04:17 AM
Just redeemed $400 back on my tahoe flights. Also still have around another $102 left on rewards for other purchases as well. Wohooo Love this card especially with vegas flights and room charges etc...

Blase
05-13-2015, 04:56 AM
Glad it's working out for you, dvandentop!

boots
08-09-2015, 06:35 PM
Blase, I have the Barclaycard Arrival and agree, it's great for travel, with the rebate and all. Plus they waive international credit card transaction fees (which can add 3% extra on top of your purchase). So it makes even more sense for booking things like European train travel, prepaid transit cards, hotels, cars, and regional flights.

My SPG AmEx is about to start waiving international credit card transaction fees this month. So I'll have to balance these two cards against each other and see who would win in a fight. :) The SPG AmEx card signup bonus is super sweet, but after that you have to spend like $30K with them annually to reach the lowest SPG tier (Gold) that gets any worthwhile benefits. I wish I liked Starwood hotels a little more...some of them are pretty good, but others just aren't, especially for the price.

As Blasé says, the nice thing about the Barclaycard Arrival is that you're not bound to one hotel chain or airline group. Also you don't have to get to some rarefied level to start getting real benefits from it. So I guess I may have just answered my own question, at least for my own purposes: the Barclaycard would win.