Update: The minimum spending has gone up to $3,000 in 3 months.
The Points Guy wrote yesterday that a source at Barclays said that the minimum spending on the Barclaycard Arrival World Mastercard was going up from $1,000 in 3 months to $3,000 in 3 months. I know many people have been wondering if they should apply for the Barclay Arrival card now before the increase in minimum spending comes. Hopefully, this post will help you with your application decision.
Should the coming increase on the minimum spend make you apply now?
I wrote a post last week about how I think the Barclay Arrival card is the best credit card for all around travel. The truth is, even with an increase in the required minimum spending (by 300%), it is still the best card for all around travel. Does the increase in the minimum spending make it imperative for you to apply right away? For just about everyone, NO!
The reason that increase really does not matter is because most people will be using this card for a lot of their daily spending anyway considering what a strong everyday card it is. Earning 2 miles per dollar on everything means that the additional $2,000 in minimum spending will help you to add another 4,000 miles to your Arrival total. Most people are not applying for this card just for the bonus – they are going to continue using it to rack up those valuable miles for all kinds of travel redemptions. While 40,000 points is nothing to sneeze at, you really are not getting the most out of the card if you stop using it after meeting the minimum spending.
The only people that would benefit by applying before the minimum increase are the people that would only be putting the minimum on it. If that is you, I would go ahead and apply now. Otherwise, don’t change your application strategy just because of this increase. If you need help meeting the increased spending requirements, check this post.
Many people like to apply for credit cards in bunches and to do so every 3 months or so. The only time that most people break from that cycle is if something huge comes up (like the Citi Executive AAdvantage card at 100,000 miles). I do not think the increased spending requirement on the Barclay card is something to make someone break their application cycle. Of course, everyone is free to make their own decisions, but I did want to lay the case out to help readers who may have been wondering if it was imperative to apply quickly.
