Originally Posted by
DjRocket
Well I checked out the Barclay Arrival +. Thank you for the reference. It sounds just like the Venture with a marginal extra value of giving 5% to redeemed miles. I applied and got approved with a surprisingly low 7k CL. Would like to try some MS with it to pay for car rental charges I'm planning to put on this card. Do you have any feedback on whether this card is MS friendly? I'm going to try to cycle through the CL like some folks do in these forums. Thank you.
@eccentricfusion Thank you very much for the feedback. I see what you're saying but it sounds like my circumstances and flying profile are different, which make it look like using 2% cashbacks is a better deal for me.
You may want to reconsider not getting the Barclays Arrivals + card if it's not too late. When I was researching annual fee rewards credit cards 3 years ago, the Barclays Arrivals + jumped out at me as a simple no brainer cash back credit card.
If you don't want to be bogged down with figuring out MR or UR transfer value to partners, IMO the Arrivals + is the best annual fee cash back card out there. That extra 5% redemption bonus makes your cash back to be an equivalent of 2.1% cash back. And based on my research, even gasoline purchases are eligible for reimbursement as a "travel expense".
However, IMO, today, getting that extra 0.1% cash back is not worth the annual fee on that card, only because 2 years ago Citi introduced a 2% cash back credit card with no fees, and it is beating the pants off everyone right now, though Citi doesn't offer any bonuses. This 0.1% extra you get from Arrivals + may be worth it if you spend a lot however, but if you don't, and you're not trying to manufacture spending constantly, then the Citi 2% card is the best no-brainer no fee card out there period.
Today, when my co-workers who know that I do these things ask me what card they should get, I always tell them, if they can't be bothered to manage the points, do the transfer math, or even know if they want to redeem for flights, then just get the Citi card and be done with it. Else, as others has stated before, choosing a MR or UR program card is dependent on where you want to go, who you want to flight with and who offers the best redemption at that time.
(Also, I swear 3 years ago, Arrivals + gave a 10% bonus for redemptions, not 5%, maybe I misread back then)
Edit: yes, Barclays had a major program change for Arrivals +.
http://thepointsguy.com/2015/07/barc...firms-changes/
IMO, abort, this is not a great card to keep in the long term anymore given the minimum benefit you receive, though that sign up bonus is sweet. They're basically giving you $200.