Barclays retention offers (all cards)
 

Haven't seen a thread discussing this, hope I'm not wrong. US Air card is up for renewal, any experiences in calling Barclay's to have the fee waived? Any special number to call?

Thx

They will probably offer you bonus miles for certain category purchases (e.g. one extra mile per dollar for groceries) for a few months.

I called the regular CSR and the supervisor waived the $89 fee.

Had the USAir card for nearly 20 years. You'd think they would want to keep a long time card holder with high spends and great credit, right? So I called to request a retention bonus; they offered 1k. No thanks, I cancelled. Now trying to figure out how long I need to wait to apply for a new one to get the sign up bonus. I have never tried churning a card before, so I'm clueless.:(

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...5k-benies.html

Most people in that thread report being able to get a second card while they still have the first card. And many people in that thread have reported being able to get a new card within months (6 or maybe even 3?) after getting the previous card.

So, like at Citi, I'm not sure that "cancelling" has anything to do with it at Barclays/Juniper. (Note: Things are very fluid recently, and you may only be able to get a 35k rather than 40k bonus with no annual fee. But it may depend on the exact hour you apply. :) ) But anyway, all the latest data points are in that thread.

(Some banks care how long ago you last had the card, but others, like definitely Citi, only care how long ago you got your most recent card of that type, not whether you cancelled it or not.)

Thanks for that sdsearch. It looks like I may be safer putting off that new application for a few months. I recently jumped on the American Advantage card from citi for 50K... so that may be another reason to wait it out and just hope there are still some decent offers out there.

Annual Fee Posted Yesterday
 

I actually had no intention of cancelling this card as I want the 10k bonus miles and am willing to spend $89 to get them. However I decided to call anyway just to see if they would waive the fee (I did not threaten to cancel). The CSR transferred me to a specialist who answered in seconds (Calling on a Saturday is a good thing) and I was told they could not waive the annual fee because it had already posted. She did offer me 2,000 bonus miles for a single purchase within 90 days. I accepted. Next year (if the card is still around) I will be calling before the annual fee posts. Spend in 2012 was about $3750 ($1250/month/3 months for 15k) and I also used it for a 0% balance transfer offer.

Don't think i would have paid $89 for 2000 miles. I believe the rep. didn't tell you the truth about the annual fee. They could, and do, issue credits. Next time hang up and call back.

My ann. fee will be posting in a few days & I'll cancel unless they waive the fee or give me at least 10K miles. The club pass also adds some value but not sure about the companion pass.

Note regarding my previous post above, I requested reinstatement of my account after having second thoughts. Request was granted.

Please post back here with your results. I've tried the "loyal longstanding high spend cardholder route" for a retention bonus and the best they offered was 1000 miles... I didn't even ask for a waiver of the annual fee! Heck, I don't even have the 10k at annual renewal bonus. Original World Elite benefits are hard to give up though.

I got the 2,000 plus the contractual 10k, so 12,000 miles for $89 fee. To me it was worth it.

I called in regarding mine (annual fee hits 3/31), and the CSR transfered me to a specialist. That specialist told me there were no offers to waive or retain, because the annual fee hadn't been charged yet, but encouraged me to call on 4/1, because they give a 60-day grace period in which you can cancel and get the AF refunded. So, I'll call on 4/1 and update what happens!

When I called I received a credit for half the annual fee ($44.50). I did not have a lot of activity on the card, and none for the last six months. Worth it for the 10K annual, and 5K savings on rewards.

10K bonus miles posted and annual fee $89 few days later. I called and was offered additional 2,500 for a single purchase within 90 days to keep account active. Took the offer.

Called to cancel my US Air MC world elite. Got a $90 statement credit and 5000 dm with $1000 spend over the next 90 days. Had no intention of canceling so it was a good deal.

Wow! I tried that route a year ago and they offered nada. Just got a second card with the 35K bonus, so I'd be afraid to try that route with my World Elite this soon. I'll try again in about four months though. Thanks for that data point!

I too have the 35k version. Got it last December.

My anniversary miles posted before I got the statement with the fee. I'm just going to cancel as 2,000 points doesn't seem to be worth the $89.

2K annual bonus???
 

Are you sure you only got an annual bonus of 2K? The annual bonus is usually 10K and well worth the $89.

I called today and asked the CSR to waive the $89 fee, he just said ok, I don't even need to talk a supervisor or retention department. I am a little disappointed, was hoping for miles offer to rack up more easy miles..

By the way, I have only spend $400 total on the card, nothing in the last 3 months

Well, you could have explicitly asked for the miles.
That's what I did: "either remove the AF or give some points"

I have no intention to cancel the card but called anyway to see what I could get -- 2500 miles if make 5 purchases of $50 or more within 3 months.

Got the same offer when I tried asking about the 15K bonus over 3 months spending (on 7th month since opening). CSR told me to check again in the next quarter for that. Might just cancel after 2500 miles posted as I want to churn this once more before the merger.

I called up today and they said they couldn't waive the annual fee, but they did offer up 2500 US Airways miles for spending $500 in 3 months. I'm going to keep the card for the 12500 miles (10k anniversary +2500 bonus for spending).

Anyone have any luck with churning the NFL card? How about the Arrival card?

Any more confirmations about Barclays 60 day grace period and refund of AF during that time ?

I recently called and had my fee waived. I'll take 10K free miles any day of the week.

Just called and had a very surprising call -- frontline CSR did nothing but transferred me to a 'relationship manager', who read me the long spiel about the benefits, then offered me 1 bonus mile per dollar on gas, grocery, and utilities for the next 90 days, up to 8000 bonus miles. Asked for any other offers and there weren't any, so I accepted that.

She went to her manager to get approval or something, then came back and said she could ALSO waive the annual fee. Awesome.

This is my only Barclays card, it has a pathetically small limit, and I basically never use it.

AF posted last month. Called today and asked the frontline CSR about annual fee waiver (did not threaten cancel) and she said no dice, so I said no problem but cancel the card. Forwarded to manager, and asked him about annual fee waiver (did not threaten cancel, although I guess that is assumed at this point). He read me the spiel and at the very end said annual fee waiver OK.

Happy to keep the card another year and give them some business.

I thought the 10k is for spending and it is not really actual miles but qualifying miles. Am I wrong? I canceled 2 out of 5 cards in the family through email since I am looking to churn but would keep the rest for an extra montg and see if 10k hits if they exist.

Two separate benefits. It really depends on the initial offer you used. Many (most?) of the links posted in the FT thread had an additional benefit of 10k redeemable miles at anniversary, separate from the spending related PQM benefit.

I've had card #1 for 15 months and received the bonus and paid the AF. I got card #2 4 months ago. Is there any point keeping card #1 when I can (hopefully) get card #3 and another 35k bonus in a few months after closing out card #1?

ETA: Crap, should've posted this in the other thread.

I have three Barclay's US Air cards. First cancelled in 11 months, no retention, spent about $2000.

Second one I have open for 10 months, I called to cancel, and was offered $89 fee waiver and confirmed that I will get the renewal mile bonus. Used the card once, charged $16 to get the first use bonus.

Third one I have open for about 4 months now. Will call on the 10th month to cancel.

My AF is coming due this month on my US Airways MC, so I just called in to see if they'd have any available retention offers. The CSR I spoke with only gave me one option - to downgrade to the no-fee version (to be honest, I didn't even know this was available). I told her no thank you, and that I'd probably just cancel and her response was "Ok, well thank you - have a nice day." Is it worth calling back, or will I continue to receive the same response? I haven't used the card much this year, except to get the initial bonus, and then the $750/15k offer this Spring - it's gone unused for the past few months.

Anybody have any experience with the VX card?

Cancel the card and then apply for another one in a few weeks to get another 35k bonus. Even if you get the 10k at anniversary 35k is more, plus no annual fee that way either.

Called for a waiver or credit of the annual fee for the US Airways MC. I did not threaten to cancel. I was transferred to a "specialist" who offered to credit me 75 percent of the fee ($66.25). I asked for additional bonus miles, but was only offered the targeted 2500 bonus miles for spending in certain categories for Oct 1- Dec 31. I already had received an email about that targeted bonus. I accepted the partial fee waiver since I am also getting the 10K miles on the anniversary. My spend for the card was about 2K.

Another data point on the USAir card: $89 annual fee charged on 9/30, called today 10/7 and said I wasn't really using the card and didn't want to pay for it, the phone rep offered to waive the fee and I accepted. I didn't receive an offer of additional points for targeted spending categories. Total spend on the card over the last two months was about $4.5K. I still plan to cancel the card and open a new one for 35K but wanted to see what I would be offered.

US MC, first year anniversary. Call was incredibly easy. Fee posted a few days ago. Called in to the front line rep, simply asked him to offset the fee - brief hold and it was arranged.

I had used the card periodically - never a huge amount. Probably total of $3000 spend.

Why not just cancel the card and get a new card with another 35k bonus? This card is churnable.