Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard with 40,000 point sign-up bonus and 2.2% cashback

The Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard is offering a 40,000 mile sign-up bonus after spending $1,000 within the first 3 months of card membership, which is an easy threshold to reach.  Barclay "miles" are actual currency that can be converted to statement credit for 1 cent per mile, so the 40k mile sign-up bonus is worth $400.  But the real kicker is that the Barclaycard offers 2X miles for ALL purchases with no annual cap.  And if that's not already sweet enough, the card also gives you 10% miles back when you redeem your miles towards travel purchases, effectively increasing your cashback to 2.2% and your sign-up bonus to $440.


Typically, cashback cards aren't noteworthy because frequent flyer miles are worth more.  However, the Barclaycard is an exception with their 2.2% cashback.  One of the biggest advantage of cashback cards is the freedom to book without restrictions.  In the case of frequent flyer miles, you'll have to find an off-peak date with award availability in order to make your miles worthwhile.  But with Barclay miles, just book whatever flight, hotel, train, cruise, car, etc. that you want through any portal and you'll be able to redeem your miles towards it in the form of a statement credit.  You'll also be able to earn frequent flyer points with your respective carrier since your purchase still counts as a revenue ticket.  Some of the other card benefits include the following:

-No foreign exchange transaction fees
-$89 annual fee waived for the first year
-0% introductory APR for the first 12 months of card membership
-MasterCard's renowned purchase and travel protection coverage

The 40k sign-up bonus is for a limited time, so as always, don't delay.

2 comments:

  1. This seems like a better deal than the targeted offer I received in January -- that was for 40,000 points after $500 spend and no annual fee ever. But the 2 times points was only for restaurant and travel purchases. I blog about my experiences with the Arrival card here: http://fishing4deals.com/2013/03/08/barclaycard-arrival-targeted-credit-card-offer-450-in-free-travel-or-not/

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    1. Your targeted offer was pretty sweet, especially if you plan on keeping the card for the long run. 2% cashback is nice, but the $89 annual fee after the first year brings it down a notch.

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