Tuesday, June 25, 2013

How to build points and use them almost immediately

Earning credit card points is great long-term for those who want to book travel a few months from now. But not all of us are on our game enough to plan that far in advance, and sometimes we find ourselves needing to book something relatively soon. The problem is that if you don’t have points, it’s not necessarily a quick process to earn them. Signup bonuses usually don’t show up on your account at least until your first statement comes, which is generally a month after you get your card. No good if you’re trying to book something ASAP.

Enter the Barclaycard Arrival.

The Arrival card earns you 40,000 points after you spend $1,000 within 90 days. Like other credit cards, if you meet the minimum spend, you’ll receive the points at the end of that statement cycle. But there’s a catch with this card that makes this card’s points basically available as soon as you receive the card.

Unlike most points, which are redeemed directly for travel via an airline or a credit card travel site, Arrival points are really “purchase erasers”. This means that you actually make the travel purchase on your credit card, and then you use your points to take that purchase off of your credit card bill. Barclaycard allows you to use your points for any travel purchase up to 90 days prior. That means if you book travel today, you have 3 statement cycles to earn the points to cover it. What a deal!

What this means for you is that if you’re trying to book travel within the next few days, you can apply for the Arrival card and make your travel purchase as soon as you receive it. If you earn enough points in the next 90 days, you can erase that purchase. So theoretically you could use points about five days from now if you applied today.

Here’s a link to the card: Barclaycard Arrival

Got other questions about credit cards? Head over to WenneTravel at www.wennecorp.com and we’d be happy to answer anything you’re wondering for free.


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