Update: Three new cards were released under the Luxury Card brand.
Barclaycard have finally released details about their rebranding of their Black Card to the Luxury Card (we first knew about this back in early July). Existing customers will be converted on October 1st (and new sign ups should start on October 1st).
Changes
- Becoming a Mastercard World Elite (previously Visa Signature)
- Annual fee will remain the same
- Keeping the Black Card branding (I really don’t get this one as I believe they lost a lawsuit in regards to this which sparked the change to Luxury Card in the first place. Luxury Card is only mentioned on the website and not on the card mock up)
Added Benefits
Keep in mind this card earns 1x points on all purchases with no bonus categories.
- $100 annual airline credit for qualifying airline purchases
- $100 Global Entry fee credit
- Points are worth 1.5¢ when redeeming for cash back/statement credit (previously 1¢)
- EMV chip (presumably with some PIN functionality like other Barclaycard products)
- Access to Mastercard Priceless Cities & Priceless Golf Privileges
Removed Benefits
- Lost Luggage Reimbursement
- Roadside Dispatch
- Trip Delay Reimbursement
Our Thoughts
This card sucked before and now it still sucks. It’s crazy that a card with a $450 annual fee earns at a lower rate than multiple cards with no annual fee (e.g Citi Double Cash & American Express Fidelity which both earn at 2% cash back on all purchases). A lot of premium cards have low earning rates though like the American Express Platinum or Citi Prestige, but they actually have useful benefits (better lounge access, free golf, higher redemption rates for existing points for paid airfare etc etc) and also come with better credits (e.g $250 or $200 in airline credits). In addition to that the sign up bonuses are actually attractive, 50,000 points for the Prestige and 100,000 points for Platinum (sometimes even as high as 150,000).
The only reason you’d possibly sign up for this card is because it’s a black card and you think that makes you important/impressive, I daresay Barclaycard has gotten a lot of idiots to sign up using this tactic which is why they are hesistant to make big improvements to this card and actually make it somewhat competitive.
Unless they launch the new Barclaycard Luxury Black Card World Elite Mastercard (can you have card three times in your name?) with a huge sign up bonus, I can’t see why anybody would even remotely considering applying for it.
