Barclays Credit Cards

There’s currently no way to check for Barclaycard pre-approval. At least, that’s the case for Americans: You can use Barclays’ credit card eligibility checker if you live in the UK. The only hope the rest of us have of Barclaycard pre-approval is to get a pre-approved offer in the mail. And there’s no way to summon such a letter. Barclaycard pre-approves people on its own schedule, according to its own criteria. And they obviously aren’t public.

Getting pre-approved for a credit card is helpful because it means you have a roughly 90% chance of being approved for an account when you actually apply. But just because you can’t do an official Barclaycard pre-approval check doesn’t mean you’re flying blind. There’s a lot of information available that can help you estimate your odds of being approved for whichever Barclaycard you have your eye on.

Here’s what to consider in place of Barclaycard pre-approval:

• Minimum Credit Score: All of the Barclaycard credit card offers on the market right now require at least good credit for approval. And even good credit isn’t enough in a couple cases. What is good credit? You may think it’s a credit score of 660-719. But we’ve seen a lot of people with such scores get rejected for credit cards with good-credit requirements. So we recommend applying for Barclaycards that require good credit or better only if your credit score is 700+. And Barclaycards that require excellent credit should be reserved for people with scores of 750+. You can check your latest credit score for free on WalletHub, the only site with free daily updates.
• Ability to Pay: If your income level or your financial obligations indicate you can’t afford a new line of credit, Barclaycard won’t approve you.
• Good Credit Barclaycards: You need good credit or better to have a chance at qualifying for the Mastercard® Black Card, Lufthansa Credit Card, American Airlines AAdvantage® Aviator™ Silver Credit Card, and Holland America Line Credit Card.
• Excellent Credit Barclaycards: You won’t have a shot at JetBlue Plus Card unless you have excellent credit.

Reportedly, there once was a Barclaycard pre-approval screening tool. And while there isn’t one now, that shouldn’t be too big of a deal. Pre-approval lets you check your chances without a hard inquiry, but even pre-approved people have to submit a formal application. And if you’re up to date on your credit score and have a clear picture of your finances, you should be able to decide if applying for a Barclaycard is worth it.

If it’s not the right call because your credit score is less than good, there are plenty of credit cards for people with fair, limited and bad credit from other issuers. Many of them let you check for pre-approval, too.

A Barclays business credit card is best for frequent business travelers. That’s because all three Barclays business cards offered in the U.S. are co-branded with a specific airline. You can choose from American Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and JetBlue, as of February 2019.

Here are the best Barclays business credit cards:

• American Airlines AAdvantage® Aviator™ Business Credit Card
• Hawaiian Airlines Credit Card
• JetBlue Business Credit Card

If you want maximum travel rewards but don’t want to be tied to a single airline, consider a general-purpose travel rewards card. Some allow you to redeem points or miles for statement credits toward any travel purchase, and you’ll have more choices when booking flights.

There isn’t an official Barclaycard credit score requirement, but you probably won’t be approved for any of the current offers without good or excellent credit. In fact, we only recommend applying for a Barclaycard if you have a credit score of 700+. 

True, that’s toward the upper end of what we’d normally call the good credit range. But barely meeting the absolute minimum Barclaycard credit score requirement probably won’t give you very high odds of approval. For the same reasons, Barclaycards that require “excellent” credit should be reserved for people with scores of 750+. 

These Barclaycards require excellent credit:

• Barclaycard Arrival® Plus World Elite Mastercard®
• Barclaycard CashForward™ World Mastercard®
• JetBlue Plus Card

These Barclaycards require good credit (or better):

• Mastercard® Black Card
• Lufthansa Credit Card
• American Airlines AAdvantage® Aviator™ Silver Credit Card
• Frontier Airlines Credit Card with No Annual Fee

It’s also important to note that your credit score isn’t the be-all and end-all of credit card approval. Credit card issuers also consider factors such as your income and how much debt you owe. But comparing your rating to a given Barclaycard’s credit score requirement is an easy way to get a rough sense of your approval odds.

If you don’t know whether your credit puts you in the Barclaycard ballgame, you can check your latest credit score for free on WalletHub, the only site with free daily updates.

The Barclaycard Arrival login page is located at barclaycardus.com.There isn’t a special page for Arrival Plus cardholders. All of Barclaycard’s U.S. credit card customers log in the same way. On that note, Barclays is an international banking institution. So make sure not to use one of the login pages for foreign customers.

Once you arrive at the Barclaycard login page, you’ll just need to enter your username and password to access your account. You can view your transactions, request a credit limit increase, do balance transfers, redeem rewards and more.

• If you don’t have your Barclaycard Arrival login credentials yet, there’s a box labelled “New Cardmembers,” followed by a button that says, “Set up online access.” Once you click that, you’ll need to provide the last 4 digits of your SSN as well as your date of birth, account number and citizenship status. After verifying your identity, you will be able to create a username and password.
• If you’ve submitted an application but have yet to heard back, you can check its status using the Barclaycard login page, too. Below “Forgot username or password?”, you’ll find the following: “Already applied? Check the statusof your application now.” Just click it and enter your name, last 4 SSN digits, zip code and email. And you’ll get an update.

Lastly, you can also log into your Arrival account through the Barclaycard mobile app, available for both Apple and Android devices. Once you log in, you’ll be able to access all the same functions of the Barclaycard website right from your phone or other device.

There isn’t one standard Barclaycard foreign transaction fee. But most Barclaycards don’t charge foreign fees. That includes Arrival Plus, which is the best Barclaycard in my opinion. Others have a 3% foreign transaction fee though, so it’s a good idea to check before applying.

Here are the Barclaycards with no foreign transaction fee:

• American Airlines AAdvantage Aviator Silver Credit Card
• Barclaycard Arrival Plus
• JetBlue Plus Card
• Lufthansa credit card
• Mastercard Black Card

These Barclaycards have a 3% foreign transaction fee:

• Barclaycard CashForward World Mastercard
• Frontier Airlines Credit Card with No Annual Fee

If you’re planning to travel overseas a lot, I’d definitely recommend getting one of the cards with no foreign transaction fee. After all, vacations are expensive enough without adding an extra 3% to the price of everything. And I’d say Barclaycard Arrival Plus is probably the best option of all these credit cards. There’s no foreign transaction fee, and it doesn’t tie you to a specific airline like some of the others. It has a really solid initial bonus too.

It’s also good to remember that you don’t have to travel to be charged a foreign fee. If you buy something online from a vendor in another country and get it shipped to you, foreign transaction fees apply there too. 

Barclaycard reconsideration works sometimes, or else they wouldn’t offer it. But I definitely wouldn’t get your hopes up, unless something important has changed since you applied. For example, it’s worth calling the Barclaycard reconsideration line (1-888-232-0780) if:

• There was a major mistake on your credit report;
• You just paid off a big debt; or
• You got a raise at work.

Basically, anything that improves your borrowing profile in a meaningful way could be relevant for reconsideration. But if nothing has changed, the result is unlikely to either.  

Your rationale for reconsideration should ideally address the reason you got rejected, which credit card companies are required to disclose. If you think there’s an argument to be made, there are two ways to contact the Barclaycard reconsideration department.

• Phone: 1-888-232-0780
• Mail: Card Services, P.O. Box 8801, Wilmington, DE 19899-8801

Seeing if your credit score has improved is one easy way to gauge whether you’re eligible for reconsideration. Most Barclaycards seem to require good or excellent credit. So if you’re not firmly in one of those buckets, you might want to just move on. If you have limited or fair credit, I’d look into Capital One QuicksilverOne.

The Barclaycard business products offered in the United States are limited to just three business credit cards: the AAdvantage Aviator Business Mastercard, the Hawaiian Airlines Business Mastercard, and the JetBlue Business Card. You’ll need good credit, a score of 700+, to qualify for any of these cards. 

Barclays Bank is based in London, and its U.S. operations are headquartered in New York City. It offers business banking in the U.K., but not in the U.S. Its corporate focus stateside is just on business credit cards. 

Here’s what you should know about Barclaycard business credit cards:

• AAdvantage Aviator Business Mastercard:2 miles for every $1 spent on American Airlines purchases and at office supply stores, car rental agencies, and telecom merchants. 1 mile per $1 on everything else. $95 annual fee.
                                             
  First checked bag free for up to four passengers. Companion certificate each year when you spend $30,000. 25% statement credit on American Airlines food and beverage purchases. Good credit required.
• Hawaiian Airlines Business Mastercard:50,000 bonus miles when you make a purchase in the first 90 days. 20,000 bonus miles when you spend $50,000-$99,999 in a year, or 40,000 when you spend $100,000+. 2 miles per $1 on Hawaiian Airlines purchases and 1 on everything else.
                         
  One-time 50% off companion discount for round-trip between Hawaii and North America. $99 annual fee. Good credit required.
• JetBlue Business Card: Limited time 40,000 bonus points when you spend $1,000 in your first 90 days. 5,000 points every account anniversary. 6 points per $1 on JetBlue purchases, 2 points per $1 at restaurants and office supply stores, and 1 on everything else.
                 
  10% of your points back when you redeem. 50% savings on JetBlue in-flight purchases. Free first checked bag for you and 3 companions. $100 annual statement credit for purchasing a JetBlue Getaways vacation package of $100+. $99 annual fee. Good credit required.

If the airline miles offered by Barclaycard business credit cards aren’t for you, there are plenty of good cards from other issuers to consider. For example, the Chase Ink Preferred Card for Business offers 80,000 initial bonus points. And the Capital One Spark Cash card gets you a $500 cash bonus.

Your Barclaycard approval odds largely depend on your credit score, income and debt. All Barclays credit cards require a minimum of good or excellent credit. And that alone tells you the average American’s Barclaycard approval odds aren’t so hot. The average credit score is below 700, and you need to be above that mark for good Barclays approval odds. 

A credit score of at least 700 isn’t the only thing you need to get a Barclaycard, though. There are plenty of other requirements, like income and verifiable personal information.

Here’s what you should know about your Barclaycard approval odds:

• Barclaycard will consider your credit history, income, existing debt and number of recent inquiries, among other things, when reviewing your application. The exact approval criteria for each card aren’t public, though.
•  Barclaycard credit cards require at least good credit for approval.
• When applying, you must provide your permanent address, date of birth, Social Security number and mother’s maiden name. 
• Business card applicants must provide their company’s legal name, trade name and phone number, plus how many employees they have, how long they’ve been in business, and their annual revenue.
• You can’t check if you’re pre-approved for a Barclaycard. You could receive a pre-approved offer in the mail, but there’s no way to request that. 
• You should check your latest credit score before applying. If it’s not good enough for a Barclaycard yet, you’ll want to look into other cards for building credit.

The best thing you can do for your Barclaycard approval odds is use credit responsibly. Paying down balances, making payments on time and not maxing out your existing cards all help your chances. And if Barclaycards aren’t a realistic option right now, you still have choices. Plenty of other credit card companies have offers for people with fair, limited and bad credit. 

There is no Barclay secured card. Barclays doesn’t have any credit cards for people with bad credit. And the sole offer for people with limited or no credit history, called Barclaycard Initial, is only available in the UK. All the U.S. Barclaycards require good credit or better, and you need excellent credit to get the best ones.

You’ll have more luck with Discover or Capital One. Their secured cards both have no annual fee, which means you can build up your credit as cheaply as possible.

Here’s what to get instead of a Barclay secured credit card:

• Discover it Secured: You won’t pay any annual fees, and the minimum deposit is $200. You’ll get 2% cash back on gas and restaurants, for up to $1,000 in purchases each quarter. You’ll get 1% cash back everywhere else. And at the end of your first year, Discover will match all the cash you’ve earned.
• Capital One Secured Card: There’s no annual fee, and the minimum deposit will be $49, $99 or $200, depending on your creditworthiness. No matter which deposit you make, your credit line will be $200. There aren’t any rewards.
• Citi Secured Mastercard: There’s no annual fee, and the minimum deposit is $200. This card doesn’t offer any rewards.
• OpenSky Secured Visa Card: There is an $35 annual fee, but it is a great choice for people with damaged credit who want high approval odds, as no credit check is required for new applicants. The minimum deposit is $200. This card offers no rewards.

You won’t be able to get a Barclay secured card, but you can get one from another issuer. And if you stay on track, you’ll eventually be eligible for a Barclaycard.

There isn’t a Barclaycard for bad credit. All Barclaycards require at least good credit, and some require excellent credit. So if your credit score is below 700, Barclaycards won’t be easy to get. And bad credit is anything under 640, well below the Barclaycard range.

But Barclaycard isn’t the only issuer out there, and several others have secured cards for people who are rebuilding their credit. Secured cards are easier for people with bad credit to get because they require a security deposit. The deposit serves as your credit limit, and as collateral if you default. If you pay off your balance and close your account, you’ll get your deposit back. Some of the best options even offer rewards.

Alternatives to a Barclaycard for bad credit:

• Discover it Secured Credit Card: No annual fee. 2% cash back on $1,000 in gas and restaurant spending each quarter. Discover matches all your cash back on your 1st anniversary. Security deposit between $200 and $2,500. Your credit line is the same as your deposit.
• Capital One Secured Credit Card: No annual fee or rewards. Minimum deposit of $49, $99 or $200, depending on your creditworthiness. Your credit line is $200, plus anything you add over your minimum security deposit.
• Wells Fargo Secured Credit Card: $25 annual fee. No rewards. Minimum security deposit of $300. Your deposit serves as your credit line.
• Open Sky Secured Credit Card: $35 annual fee. No rewards. No credit check when you apply. Minimum deposit is $200. Your deposit serves as your credit limit.

The best alternative to a Barclaycard for bad credit is a secured card from another major issuer. If you pay your bills on time and avoid maxing out your credit limit, you’ll start seeing your credit score go up.