What is Barclaycard Arrival World Mastercard?
The Barclaycard Arrival is a different type of credit card designed for travelers in that it offers significant features and benefits without charging a high annual fee for them. The redemption options also make the card suitable for individuals who don’t travel often.
Applying for this card is rather easy. You can apply online for an instant decision. If you do not receive an instant decision, you may receive one through the mail within 7 to 10 days. You will also receive your card 7 to 10 days after the account has been approved. To be approved, you must be at least 18 years of age, have no active bankruptcies, and you need to have a credit file established. Of course, approval depends on creditworthiness.
When filling out the application, you will notice that you are given the opportunity to enter the details of three credit cards with balances you want to transfer. Balance transfers are very useful when you want to transfer balances on a high balance card to a card that has a lower interest rate. This is a good money-saving strategy because you are reducing the amount of money in interest that you pay in the future.
APR
Once the account is approved, you will notice that you will receive an introductory APR (See Intro APRs Cards). This APR is in effect for a specific amount of time. It is very important to note this period of time because the card will increase to its normal rate at the end of the period. The permanent rate is going to vary because it is based on creditworthiness and the Prime Rate, which determines the interest rates within the market.
If you opt for a balance transfer, then you will find that there is an APR for balance transfers. There is also a separate higher APR for cash advances, too.
Making a late payment will call a penalty APR that will be applied to your account. Just like the APRs for other services on the card, this one is based on creditworthiness. Once this rate is imposed, it could be there for the long-term, but there may be conditions in which Barclays will reduce the rate after on-time payments have been made for a specific period of time.
The best way to avoid paying interest on your purchases is to pay off your balance before your bill is due. Your due date is 23 days after the closing of your statement, so as long as you pay it off before the due date, you can receive your purchases interest-free while still taking advantage of all of the rewards that the card has to offer.
Rewards
- The rewards are rather generous. After you make a specific dollar amount in purchases within a certain period of time after opening the account, you will receive bonus miles that are enough to cover hundreds of dollars in travel costs. You then earn more than one mile for every dollar that is spent on the card. The difference between this card and the regular Arrival World card that doesn’t have an annual fee is that the miles are doubled with this one.
- What remains the same is that you can travel with ease by being able to book any airline at any time and you receive a number of protections. When traveling, you receive automatic travel accident insurance, reimbursement for any expenses you incur in case your baggage is delayed or misdirected, coverage for trip cancellation or interruption, and the MasterCard Global Service, which gives 24/7 emergency assistance to cardholders when on the go.
- Cardholders can also enjoy no foreign transaction fees when traveling abroad. If you have seen other cards charge upward of 3% per transaction when traveling abroad, this one does not do that. Instead, you can make purchases just like you would domestically.
- In addition, there are no blackout dates, seat restrictions, or caps on how many miles you can earn and redeem. Add this to the complimentary TripIt Pro subscription, which is a mobile travel organizer, and you have many of the things that are needed when traveling.
- The last travel benefit is the ability to receive 10 percent of your miles back when you redeem your miles for travel. This means you can spend 50,000 miles on a trip and receive 5,000 of them back. This results in even more significant savings.
- Even if you are not an avid traveler, you can redeem miles when you do or you can choose to redeem your miles for statement credit, gift cards, or merchandise. There is a whole list of rewards that you can redeem your miles for. Basically, you can redeem your card the way that you see fit.
Fees
Finally, there are the fees. This is not a card that has a fee for every move you make with the card, which is evidenced by the fact there is no foreign transaction fee. The annual fee is small and is especially small when compared to the number of bonus miles that are applied to the account when the required spending goal is reached. Even so, the miles do accumulate quickly, resulting in significant travel savings and savings that are achieved by redeeming miles for other rewards. In other words, the annual fee pays for itself.
Aside from the annual fee, there is the late payment fee, the returned check fee, the cash advance fee that is a percentage of the cash advance amount and the balance transfer fee that is a percentage of the balance transfer. Aside from those fees, those are the only fees that you will have to pay. This makes it an affordable card to have.
The Final Word
Overall, the Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard is a very unique travel credit card in that the annual fee is low, there is an introductory APR, there are no foreign transaction fees, and you can redeem your miles on travel to just get some of those miles back. All of these features and benefits result in money saved for the cardholder.
