Last month I wrote about how the Wyndham Visa was the only no fee card that allowed points transfers at a reasonable rate to many different airlines.
There’s also a $69 annual fee version of the card. And through December 31 it has a 45,000 point signup bonus.
- Earn 30,000 Bonus Points with first purchase
- Earn 15,000 bonus points after you spend $1,000 in the first 3 months of account opening
The strongest benefit of the premium version of the card is increased hotel earning. So I’d be more inclined towards the free one for ongoing spend for someone that doesn’t do a ton of credit card spend and thus wants a no annual fee card.
And to be sure that’s a bigger bonus than they usually offer for the card. And it is a no fee card offered by Barclays. But do understand that 45,000 points with Wyndham is equivalent to ~ 18,000 airline miles (so it isn’t the equivalent of the other big 50,000 point signup bonuses).
Nonetheless, the increased bonus seemed worth noting.
(HT: pfdigest)
- You can join the 30,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. You can also follow me on Twitter for the latest deals. Don’t miss out!
45,000 points would get you 8 nights at a Wyndham hotel in Orlando. Granted, most of the mega-travelers reading this blog probably wouldn’t stay at a 5,500pt/night hotel when they could stay at a nicer place, but I’m just sayin… 8 free nights for a $69 fee is a decent deal.
Is this a card you would get?
Somehow I can picture Gary staying at any hotel in the wyndham family…
Somehow I can’t*
When I was a kid we usually ended up staying at a Red Roof Inn conveniently located off the interstate. They don’t seem to have a credit card, alas.
I got mine a month or so ago when the bonus was only 30K. I sent an email to Barclays to see if they will give me the option to earn the 15K extra if I meet another spend.
The best plan is to get the 45k offer and downgrade after a year to the free version and keep for ever, to improve credit score for age of accounts.
At 69$ for the card and 20$ for lost cash back for 1k spend, it is a 89$ card for 18k airline miles = 0.5 cpm – a good value, almost at TIB levels, though not as easily scalable.
This is a “no go” for me. The only properties worth staying at are Tier 7 & 8. But they require 25K>30K pts so this card gets you ONE night at a decent hotel. Plus, they don’t have many good properties around the world.
The free no annual fee version gives 20K bonus for $1000 spend, so I am debating whether the extra 25K points is worth $69. I am leaning toward no. I would downgrade after the first year, as the 5,500 points to renew is too weak to justify paying the $69 renewal fee.
I think it effectively works out to about 4/5 airline mile per $1 spent. That’s not bad at all for a no-fee card. I’d have to do the math on how many $ spent would justify the extra 1/5 mile on a fee card but I suspect for most the Wyndham card is the winner.
(and I’ll bet the Wyndham Parc 55 on Union Square in SF is up to Gary’s standards. I consider it SF’s best bargain when you can nab it for $55.)
I just got this card and after seeing the offer spent quite a lot of time talking with Barclaycard to see if they would give me the extra 15K. They would not budge. I was given 2500 pts as a courtesy and told that I could earn an additional 5000 if I made 10 $50 purchases in 3 months.
Normally I don’t stay at Wyndham but we stay at Koloa Landing on Kauai every year. 30K gets you one of their 2 bedroom condos which is actually a good use of points.
@Kelly I called just before I read your post — and ditto on the 2500 extra points, but I have to make ONE purchase in the next 90 days (of any amount). They did not tell me about the additional 5000 points, however….
They would not budge on the 15K. I had to ask for a supervisor and supposedly the 2500 points is a “retention” offer and that is why he was able to do it. Hoping the additional 5000K is tied to it.
@nick: Nope the 5000 isn’t tied in to that. The rep I worked with dug deep on that one to be able to offer it. It took her awhile to find it because she knew I was not happy. I stressed that I was so unhappy I was not going to use the card anymore and I was going to cancel my Barclay Arrival card in a few months AND this card when the year was up without using it anymore. In order to get the 10 purchase/$50 she had to add it to my account and then read me the terms and conditions and have me verbally accept those terms and conditions. So you might try a call back.
@Kelly: Will do, thanks for the good info.