The Top 7 Barclaycard Arrival Benefits

Barclaycard Arrival Benefits: Free TripIt Pro Subscription

On the surface, TripIt Pro is known for managing all of your travel reservations but it actually does so much more. I use it to track everything from hotels and reservations to flights and rental cars. It will even help you pick the best seat on your flight and send you 24 hour check-in reminders by e-mail and/or text.

TripIt Pro also automatically categorizes your travel plans into logical trips and since it’s linked to your e-mail it will auto-import new itineraries and reservations as soon as they come in. Normally you would have to pay for all of these premium features, but as an Arrival or Arrival Plus cardholder you actually get them for free.

Free FICO Score – All Cards

In the past, I was content using sites like Credit Karma that provided a ‘FAKO score’ but whenever I compared it to my actual FICO score, there would always be a wild difference. If you want to see your true FICO score, you will generally have to pay for it. But Barclaycard recently added a Free FICO score feature on all of its cards. It updates once a month and it’s the same score that lenders and banks will use when they pull your credit.

Chip & PIN

If you travel to Europe often, you know that nearly every card over there is what’s known as a Chip & PIN card. Some merchants take regular old credit cards but a lot of them actually require a Chip & PIN now. You’ll especially need a Chip & PIN card if you try to buy anything at automated kiosks like those at a train station for example.

The Arrival and Arrival Plus recently switched to this new format and coupled with no international transaction fees, that makes it a no brainer to take with you when you’re traveling abroad.

2% Cash Back on All Purchases

We all know that the standard cash back rate for most credit cards is 1% or 1 point per $1 spent. It’s nice to get that cash back, but it will often take a lot of spending before you build up a significant amount of points. The Barclaycard Arrival Plus card changes all that though since you get 2% back on every single purchase!

A lot of other reward cards limit 2% back to certain categories like groceries or gas but not the Arrival Plus. Cashing in the points is pretty easy too since you can redeem them against any travel charge over $25.

10% Miles Redemption Bonus

With the Barclaycard Arrival benefits just keep coming. Barclaycards is also one of the only card programs that offers you a bonus when you spend the miles in your account. Any time you redeem your miles for a statement credit, you’ll get an additional 10% bonus, bringing your effective cash back to just over 2.2%.

Reward Boost Online Shopping Portal

Many people might not realize that Barclaycards has one of the top online shopping portals around. Here’s how it works: any time you need to make a purchase online, just log onto their shopping portal and see what kind of cash back incentives the portal offers. By starting in the shopping portal you can get additional savings on purchases you would have made anyways.

Each Barclaycard has its own shopping portal but the Reward Boost Online Portal is specific to the Arrival Plus and the Arrival card.

Great Customer Service

Barclaycard Arrival benefits also include service; one of the things that’s been most surprising to me is the awesome customer service Barclaycard provides. I’ve opened two separate cards with Barclaycard now and both times their agents have been a pleasure to deal with.

You also have the option to send them an e-mail from your dashboard and they should respond within 24 hours. For faster service, you could also try contacting them on social media. They have an extensive team on Twitter waiting and ready to answer any questions you may have. Finally, the Barclaycard also gives you options. Wondering about the Barclay arrival fee vs no fee card? The fee is there for a reason, because often a card with a fee offers better cash back or other benefits, so compare both cards and make an educated choice.