Fact Checked

Barclays is changing some credit card benefits

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If you have a Barclays credit card, some of your benefits may be changing starting Nov. 1.

We’ve seen emails from Barclays to some cardholders saying it’s dropping some benefits and adding others for the AAdvantage® Aviator® Red Mastercard®, Barclaycard Arrival™ Mastercard®, Barclaycard Visa® with Apple Rewards and Wyndham Rewards® Visa® Card.

Barclays hasn’t announced how many of its cards will see benefits changes. So if you have a Barclays card that’s not mentioned here, keep an eye out for a possible notice in your email or with your monthly statement.

Benefits that Barclays is taking away from these cards includes extended warranty and price protection. Other features that may be removed, depending on your card, include satisfaction guarantee and trip delay insurance. Depending on your card, you may see benefits added for things like cellphone insurance, roadside assistance, enhancements to existing auto insurance and identity theft protection.

Purchases made on or before Oct. 31 for these cards will still be eligible for price protections.

Want to know more?

What benefits are changing for each card?

Here’s a breakdown of the benefits changes by card, based on the emails we’ve seen.

Barclaycard Arrival™ Mastercard®

  • Benefits cut: Extended warranty, price protection, purchase assurance, satisfaction guarantee and concierge.
  • What’s the upside? Cellphone insurance will be added to this card, and the auto rental collision damage waiver and identity theft benefits will be enhanced.

AAdvantage® Aviator® Red Mastercard®

  • Benefits cut: Extended warranty, price protection, purchase assurance, satisfaction guarantee and trip delay insurance.
  • What’s the upside? Cell phone insurance will be added to this card, and the auto rental collision damage waiver and identity theft benefits will be enhanced.

Wyndham Rewards® Visa® Card

  • Benefits cut: Extended warranty, satisfaction guarantee and price protection.
  • What’s the upside? Pay-per-use roadside dispatch will be added to this card.

Barclaycard Visa® with Apple Rewards

  • Benefits cut: Extended warranty and price protection.
  • What’s the upside? Pay-per-use roadside dispatch will be added to this card.

Why is Barclays doing this?

Some credit card issuers have been adjusting or removing their card benefits lately — the goal perhaps being to better protect their bottom lines while remaining competitive with other cards. Citi recently cut many benefits from some of its cards — and Mastercard made some changes earlier this year, adding cellphone insurance to World and World Elite cards.

Whether such changes will have any impact on consumers’ card use or the competitive landscape remains to be seen.


About the author: Paris Ward is a content strategist at Credit Karma, providing readers with the latest news that will aid their financial progress. She has more than a decade of experience as a writer and editor and holds a bachelor’s… Read more.