You can easily apply for a Barclay credit card when you meet the requirements. The Barclay credit card is issued by Barclays Bank Delaware, which is part of the global Barclays banking and financial services group.
Barclay credit cards come with some lucrative rewards rates and benefits. Most Barclay cards offer very good welcome bonuses and have no foreign transaction fees. However, most cards have annual fees ranging from $0 to $95.
This post covers everything you need to know about this popular credit card – from rewards and benefits to fees, approval odds, and ideal users.
Types of Barclay Credit Cards
Barclay issues several types of credit cards for consumers and businesses in various categories like travel, cash back, balance transfers, etc. Below are some of the most popular Barclay cards:
- Barclaycard Arrival Plus® World Elite Mastercard®
- Offers 70,000 miles welcome bonus
- Gives 2x miles on every purchase
- Provides 5% miles refund on redemptions
- Has a $95 annual fee
- Wyndham Rewards® Visa® Card
- Comes with a 30,000 points new account bonus
- Earns 6x points at Wyndham hotels
- Gives 5,000 bonus points every cardmember anniversary
- Has no annual fee
- Ring® Mastercard®
- Pre-qualified credit card needing no SSN
- Reports to all 3 major credit bureaus
- Helps build credit from on-time payments
- No annual or foreign transaction fees
Several other Barclay cards exist for other spending categories and uses cases like the AAdvantage Aviator cards, JetBlue cards, Choice Privileges cards, and NFL Extra Points cards.
Pros of the Barclay Credit Card
Here are some of the advantages of having a Barclay credit card:
- Lucrative Welcome Bonuses
Most Barclay cards offer very generous new account bonuses in points, miles or cash to acquire new cardholders. Their upfront bonuses can be extremely handy in offsetting high travel costs.
- Additional User Rewards
Many no-annual-fee Barclay cards allow adding authorized users easily to pool points and unlock rewards faster. Extra users get card numbers to earn rewards together.
- Balance Transfers Options
Select Barclay cards allow easy balance transfers from high-APR cards. Their 0% intro APR periods save substantially on interest costs when transferring and slowly paying down credit card debt.
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
Unlike cards from Capital One or Bank of America, Barclay credit cards have no annoying foreign transaction or currency conversion fees on overseas purchases.
Cons of the Barclay Credit Card
However, Barclay cards also come with some drawbacks such as:
- Difficult Applications
Barclay card applications ask for detailed financial information making approval odds lower, especially for applicants with short credit histories or high credit utilization ratios.
- Low Credit Limits
Even for approved applicants, many new Barclay cardmembers receive frustratingly low initial spending limits under $1000 or $2000 requiring limit increase requests.
- Account Locking
Barclay aggressively monitors accounts for potential fraud and locks accounts with short notice for suspiciously high spending amounts until cardholders verify activities.
Who Should Get the Barclay Credit Card?
Given their pros and cons, here are the types of applicants ideal for acquiring and using Barclay credit cards:
Frequent Travelers
People who travel often domestically or overseas for work or leisure should consider Barclay cards. The miles, points and no foreign transaction fees help maximize travel rewards earnings.
Balance Transfer Seekers
Applicants with existing credit card debt can benefit from Barclay cards offering 0% intro APR periods to transfer and consolidate high-interest balances to slowly pay off while avoiding excessive interest fees.
Authorized User Families
For families seeking to combine spending on shared household expenses, no-annual-fee Barclay cards permitting authorized users make sense to pool points together quickly.
Credit Builder Users
Those needing to build credit should start with options like the Barclay Ring card reporting to credit bureaus without requiring social security numbers.
What Credit Score is Needed for Barclay Card?
The minimum credit score requirement varies among Barclay credit cards but on average approved applicants have:
- Excellent credit – Credit scores above 720
- Good credit – Credit scores from 670 to 719
- Fair credit – Credit scores between 580 and 669
Those with no credit or scores below 580 will likely need secured cards initially before qualifying for unsecured Barclay cards.
How to Apply for a Barclay Credit Card?
To start your application process for a suitable Barclay card, follow these steps:
- Compare different Barclay cards and select one matching your spending or financial needs from their rewards, fees or promotional offers.
- Pre-qualify without impacting your credit score to see approval odds from the initial results.
- Apply directly on Barclays.com or its mobile app by filling the form for your chosen card requiring personal, employment and financial details.
- Provide documents if requested about income, identity or address while your application decision gets finalized within 10 days.
- Use online account access from your account dashboard to pick payment dates, view statements or set travel notices after approval.
With multiple application options through online, mail, or in branches pre-qualification lets you see your chances before a hard inquiry gets recorded from the full application.
How Does the Barclay Credit Card Compare?
How do Barclay cards fare compared to competitors? Let’s evaluate:
Rewards – Barclay cards earn unlimited points or miles that combine easily across brands unlike Capital One limiting rewards pooling for their Venture and Spark cards.
Benefits – Barclay’s average insurance protections and shopping discounts get beaten by premium cards from American Express providing better purchase protection and global assistance services.
Approval Odds – Citibank and Chase have simpler application criteria with lower credit score requirements than Barclay approving only borrowers with pristine credit records minimizing risks.
Foreign Fees – Unlike Bank of America and Wells Fargo charging 3% on international transactions, Barclay cards have no foreign transaction fees making them better for global travelers.
So for flexible rewards redemption across household members and overseas usage Barclay credit cards remain highly competitive choices even among premium card offerings.
Tips for Managing Your Barclay Credit Card
Optimizing your account usage can help extract full value from Barclay credit cards. Here are some expert tips:
- Pay bills in full every month before the due date to avoid high penalty interest charges ranging from 24% to 29% compounding debt quickly if you carry balances.
- Setup autopay from your checking account for at least the minimum amount due so you never miss payments even if travelling or busy avoiding late fees and credit score damage.
- Use online access on Barclays.com or the mobile app to track balances, receive custom alerts on various account activities for better transparency.
- Keep utilization below 30% as higher balances compared to your limits hurt credit scores and approval odds for future loans or credit line increases.
- Ask for limit increases every 6 months proactively if your income rose or your score improved over time rather than waiting for automatic upgrades to maximize approval chances.
Following these tips and using credit cards responsibly prevents unnecessary fees while helping you improve your credit profile over time.
Conclusion on How to Apply for a Barclay Credit Card
We have now explored all key aspects in this complete guide to the Barclay credit card covering suitable products for different consumer segments.
To conclude –
- Barclay offers valuable welcome bonuses and allows combining rewards across multiple cards.
- But their applications demand pristine credit records for approval which gets frustrating for many subprime borrowers.
- No foreign transaction fees provide big savings for overseas travelers.
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