Update: Our full reviews on this card are now live and can be found here.
Barclaycard has finally unveiled their new luxury card website (replacing the previous black card website) and there are three credit cards available:
- Titanium card
- Black card (read our review here)
- Gold card
The benefits on the cards look mostly the same, but there are some key differences:
| Titanium | Black | Gold | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual fee | $195.00 | $495.00 | $995.00 |
| Authorized user | $95.00 | $195.00 | $295.00 |
| Statement credit rate | 1.00% | 1.50% | 2.00% |
| Card materials | Brushed Stainless Steel/Carbon Card | Stainless Steel/Carbon Card | 24K-Gold-Plated/Carbon Card |
| Luxury gifts | No | Yes | Yes |
| Sign up bonus | 10,000 points after $1,000 in spend | 25,000 points after $1,000 in spend | 50,000 points after $1,000 in spen |
| Airline credit | None | $100.00 | $200.00 |
| Global entry credit | No | Yes | Yes |
Our Verdict
Unless the luxury gift program is Barclaycard giving me my annual fee back in cash, I’d never apply for any of these cards. The annual fees are excessive and the rewards are average, at best you can get 2% back and there are no annual fee cards that do the same. The card comes with no lounge access and only a maximum of $200 in airline credits, both the Citi Prestige & American Express Platinum offer this but for a lower annual fee and better overall benefits.
Barclaycard are clearly trying to target people that care about appearance more than real rewards/benefits which I am sure is an extremely profitable market segment. I’ll dig into these cards a bit more and have a full review of each up shortly, just to make sure I’m not missing anything amazing.
$1k a year to hold a card…and deal with Barclay’s questionable service?
Nope, nope, nope
Doesn’t the 50,000 points (it says redeemable at 2% cash back) cancel out the first year annual fee? Then you can get the $200 airline credit and come out ahead for the year.
On top of that you get an admittedly badass gold card for a year. Sounds worth it to me, honestly.
Also, if you were to use this to fund a Citigold account opening, you’d get 2% cash back… if you have a high limit that would be an awesome bonus!
Yes,, the website says:
“$1,000 Airfare
When you redeem 50,000 points for airfare, Luxury Card points take you 2x further than our leading competitor*” They point out 50,000 amex points will only get you $500 airfare. But after the sign up bonus, you’re only earning 1 point per dollar.
However, Flexperks you can get $400 of airfare for 20,000 points – and many ways to get more than 1 point per dollar through spend.
More about the cards: http://www.luxurycard.com/
Looks like the Gold card comes with Lounge Club access.
Looks similar to most of the Priority Pass lounges, although their program is called “LOUNGE CLUB”. However, in USA, there do seem to be a few better ones, like the KLM/Air France lounge at SFO and and British Airways Galleries lounge at IAD.
Nice to see you’ve added a comic to your blog. 🙂
We may be discounting this card too quickly. First thing I think of when I hear large annual fee not waived the first year is the Ritz Carlton card and how u could get the annual fee waived if u lowered ur credit limit below a certain level. I know this trick doesnt work with citi since they wont let u lower ur credit limit to where the fee gets waived but does anyone know if this will work with Barclays?
Anyone know if there are any special approval requirements for Barclays luxury card’s? Like minimum income, or a requirement to show proof of income?
I am very interested in this also.
You think a 760 credit rating with 21% credit utilization would get a gold one?
def intrigued. wish it atleast came w/1st yr AF waived.
btw I’d assume so, but is the card fully metal like the CSP or Ritz Carlton etc?
Just wondering what happens after the first time swiping this thing. Got a scratch all across your nice card and the cashier take her nail file to scrape the gold dust out of the terminal lol
I wonder if the gold card will be fee free for military…
Barclaycard doesn’t waive fees for military, here is a list of issuers that do: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/credit-card-annual-fee-waivers-other-benefits-for-those-on-active-duty/
I’m active duty and never paid a fee for Barclaycard Aviator and Arrival plus.
http://themilitaryfrequentflyer.boardingarea.com/2014/01/27/how-to-get-your-annual-fees-waived-on-barclaycard-cards/
Thanks, will read through this and update our post.
I have the Gold Card, they waive fees for the military, VIP Lounge access is included. If you travel a lot overseas and there is a VIP Club that adds a lot of value to the card.
Glad to hear that Barclaycard waives the fee for military.
In my experience, the only two card issuers that waive fees for active duty, regardless of when you got the card, are Barclays and Amex.
But waiving $1000… You are probably asking for too much.
Maybe I’ll give it a try soon.
Barclay does waive fees for military….at least they have for my Arrival card.
Can confirm, card fees waived and card set to 0% APR before I even received it.
0% always on all purchases?
0% as in no fees period, purchase, balance transfer, late, or otherwise
I am a sucker for cards… but I see no value here compared to MANY other cards for less money. What are they thinking?
They’re thinking of somebody that wants a status symbol but doesn’t actually have the status. Think young men thinking of impressing women. People pay for that sadly. The minimal extras are assuming said people also are generally ignorant to credit card rewards program norms and this is also generally true.