There are a numerous reports on Reddit of people getting spend bonuses around the time that the annual fee hits on Barclay’s Arrival Plus card. All offers are 3-month spend offers so as to get the annual fee paid and done with; Barclay’s will refund the annual fee if you cancel the card within 60-days.
The exact details of the offer vary, they’re probably doing split-testing to see what works:
- 5,000 points bonus after spending $750 in each of the next three months; value of ~$52.50
- 5,000 points bonus after spending $1,500 in each of the next three months; value of ~$52.50 but harder to meet the requirements
- 15,000 points bonus after spending $500 in each of the next three months; value of ~$157.50
In the past, Barclay’s was easy about waiving the annual fee upon request, yet that seems to have changed at some point in 2015. They probably saw themselves losing customers and decided to try out various spend offers to see what works to keep cardholders.
Final Thoughts
I like the idea of spend bonuses to offset an annual fee, and it this may be a new thing that Barclay’s will send out to all Arrival Plus cardholders when their annual fee comes due. Since the Arrival Plus gets 2.1% back on all spend, there’s no loss for you to use that card over another 2% card on everyday spend.
If you get the 5,000 point offer, it will get you $55 back toward travel and this really does help offset most of the $89 annual fee. And there may be other benefits that make the Arrival+ better for you than the other 2% cards. For example, the difference the 5% bonus offered by Arrival+ can make the card worthwhile for heavy spenders. And the 0% foreign transaction fee is a must-have for international travelers.
Certainly the 15,000 point offer would easily surpass the cost of the annual fee.
