Downgrading the Barclaycard Arrival For No Annual Fee
A big part of credit cards is not just identifying the best sign-up bonuses for yourself, but also knowing your options down the line with those credit cards. We don’t want our initial rewards offset with big annual fees so we need to know which cards we can downgrade, change and which are worth the annual fee.
Many of us have picked up the Barclaycard Arrival Plus World MasterCard®, mainly for the sign-up bonus of 40,000 miles after spending $3,000 within 3 months of account opening. These 40,000 miles can be redeemed as a $440 credit for any travel expense as a statement credit, making these pretty much the easiest miles to use. We have used it for hotels, car rentals, cruises, airline tickets – pretty much anything goes as long as it’s travel. In addition, it earns 2 points per dollar spent on all spending,making the 2.2% cash back card to use toward travel among the highest returns. It’s what I use for all my base spending.
Application Link: Barclaycard Arrival Plus World MasterCard®
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Avoiding the Annual Fee
Although the $89 annual fee is waived the first year, it starts being charged in the second. I was lucky enough to have my annual fee waived along with a few fortunate others. I don’t know the formula for who gets the annual fee waived and who doesn’t, but it seems to be more likely those who put a larger fraction of their spending on the card. I put all my general spending on the Barclaycard Arrival so I happen to fall into that category.
Regardless, there is another option to avoid the annual fee on the Barclaycard Arrival. When you sign up for the card with the $440 travel credit sign-up bonus, the card you get is the Barclaycard Arrival Plus World MasterCard. This one has the $89 annual fee, waived the first year. However, there is also the regular Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard (without Plus), which does not have any annual fee. You can downgrade the Plus to this card simply by calling. The downside is that you only earn 1 mile per dollar (1.1% cash back) on regular purchases and 2 miles per dollar on travel and dining (2.2% cash back), but this is a good way to continue to keep Barclaycard Arrival miles alive for free if you haven’t had a chance to use them. It’s also a nice way to keep an ongoing long-term relationship with good payments history with Barclays bank for any great offers that come up later on.
The reason, however, you likely want to sign up for the Barclaycard Arrival Plus and not the regular to begin with is the better sign-up bonus.
- The Barclaycard Arrival Plus World MasterCard® offers 40,000 miles after spending $3000 within 3 months.
- The Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard® offers 20,000 miles after spending $1000 within 3 months.
That said, if you’re in a position to be able to meet the $3000 in spending, then the first is the better offer. As the Plus offer waives the first year annual fee anyhow, it makes sense to go for the extra 20,000 miles. Then, after a year, you can decide if the double points on base spending are worth it or just downgrade.
More posts on the Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard:
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How to Easily Redeem Barclaycard Arrival Miles for Travel
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Why It Makes Sense to Get the Barclaycard Arrival Plus Right Before a Big Trip
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My Winter Trip to Asia and Hawaii: Redeeming Barclaycard Arrival Miles To Fly Singapore to Phuket
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Barclaycard Arrival: $440 Sign-Up Bonus After Spending $3000 Within 3 Months
Thanks for the reminder! I got the Barclaycard last year and the annual fee just came up. We used it for a cruise to the Caribbean and got $900 off between the two of us. As always, thanks for the advice!
Is it churnable?
Very good reminder for me too. I was concerned about keeping the Arrival active for my November stay at Firesky because the fee should hit in October. I am hopeful to get it waived, but if not, downgrading is a great idea.
Since I have the Fidelity 2%, and the non-Plus Arrival gets 2% on travel which can then be easily reimbursed, I really won’t miss the Plus if it comes to that.
I had been debating whether to pay the fee if they refused to waive it. Now I know I won’t have too. Now I certainly know about how we can downgrade to a different version when fees hit, but I had forgotten there was an alternative for the Arrival because we hear so much about the Plus. Thanks for bringing the alternative back on my radar.
Is that possible to apply for the regular arrival while the plus is still open? So i can get another bonus and then close the plus when annual fee comes up. Finally i’ll keep the regular to build relationship with barclay. Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks.
I realize it’s slightly off topic, but I was wondering when does a travel purchase become eligible for redemption? The reason why I ask is because I have a hotel charge that is listed in my recent activity, yet my list of purchases eligible for redemption remains empty. Thanks!
For me, the option has usually appeared right away when the charge clears. However, it will only appear if the vendor uses a Travel merchant code. If it’s not a popular hotel and it’s not appearing, there may be an incorrect mapping for the code somewhere and you can send Barclays a secure message to get it fixed.
Hmm, it’s a charge at a hotel that I’ve actually redeemed points for before (a Hilton, btw), so I don’t think the merchant code is an issue. I guess I’ll just give it more time and call them if it doesn’t appear by my payment date. Thanks!
Make sure you clicked redeem travel points and check from there, not under activities page if you haven’t done so.
called today, Barclay offered 1/2 the annual fee $44.50. I said I will think about their offer. will call back in a week and try to get the whole fee waived.
I downgraded to the no fee version and I regret it. Barclay is so fussy. I have a great credit score but I was later rejected for a Lufthansa card and I suspect that I would have an easier time if I had cancelled the Arrival card and thus had less open credit with Barclay. I don’t think that Barclay does the credit shifting that other banks do when you get a new card, which means that if you are at their limit, they won’t give you a new card. I still have a US Airways card. I plan to cancel the Arrival card before I apply for another Barclay card.