Barclaycard Arrival 40,000 bonus miles - my turn!

I’ve introduced you all to the Barclaycard Arrival credit card a few months ago.  My wife applied for the card and was instantly approved.  We easily spent $1,000 (now $3,000) on normal purchases to receive the hefty 40,000 mile sign up bonus.

Last month, I wrote a post describing our experience redeeming our Arrival miles for cash back as a statement credit for our free flight to Portland.  

We are always looking to travel, and are already interested in travel within the next few months.  One idea we have been considering is going on a week long cruise.  One of our friends has been on several cruises and reports having a great time on each of his experiences. 

While I don’t know much about cruises, I do know that if we were to book a cruise, we would not be able to use any of our regular credit card points (i.e Chase Ultimate Rewards points or Starwood Preferred Guest points). 

There are several credit cards that can offer points on travel redemption for cruise purchases, such as the Priceline Rewards Visa Card, or the Travelocity Rewards American Express Card.  However, these cards only give you a sign up bonus of points valued at $100.

This is where having extra Barclaycard Arrival miles can be put to great use. 

While Arrival miles cannot be transferred to airline carriers or cruise lines directly, these miles can be redeemed for statement credits on all travel purchases including: airline tickets, hotel stays, car rentals, rain rides, and cruises. 

I think of the Barclaycard Arrivals credit card as a 2.2% cash back card on all purchases in the form of free travel.  Your miles can be redeemed for statement credits on travel related purchases at 1 mile = 1 cent, with a 10% miles credited back to your account, giving a 1.11 cent value of each Arrival mile. 

For example, if one cruise ticket costs $400, we can use 40,000 Arrival miles to convert to a $400 statement credit after we charge the cruise ticket on our Arrival credit card.  We would also get 10%, or 4,000 miles deposited back into our account. 

To be prepared for a potential upcoming cruise trip, I decided that we needed some more Arrival miles.  While manufactured spending can increase our bank of Arrival miles, the fastest way to get the most amount of miles is a nice, big sign up bonus.

I always check my credit score before applying for a new credit card.

First I logged into Credit Karma to check my simulated Transunion score:

Then I logged into Credit Sesame to check my simulated Experian score:

For good measure, I also logged into Credit.com to check my simulated Experian score:

Once I determined that my credit score was adequate, I filled in all of my personal information on the Barclaycard website, hit submit, and was greeted with this:

My new card should arrive in a week or two and soon we will have an extra 40,000 miles worth $440 in our Arrival account!  When I logged into my Barclaycard account online, my new account was already displayed.  I was also given the option to check my official FICO score.  I was surprised to see how high it’s gotten:

I’m looking forward to receiving the new card and the travel possibilities it offers.  You can apply for your Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite Mastercard here.