We are in the midst of posting a series on downgrade options for each bank’s credit cards. This time it’s Barclays turn (see our other posts covering Chase, Capital One, Amex, and Citi).
In this post we will discuss the downgrade options for Barclays credit cards.
Downgrade rules for Barclays credit cards
- Same family: You can only product change a card within the same card family or brand.
- Personal to business: You can only downgrade personal cards to personal cards and business cards to business cards (Barclays business cards do not have downgrade options).
- Not always available: Downgrades are NOT guaranteed. They are only available upon eligibility – it’s recommended to ask for a supervisor as they may be able to do downgrades in some cases even if the front rep is not able to.
If you swipe up a lot on your Barclays cards then that would help to make you eligible for a downgrade.
- Annual fee refund: If you downgrade or close a Barclays card within 60 days of when your annual fee was charged then Barclays will refund you the full annual fee amount.
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Downgrade options for Barclays credit cards
JetBlue Plus Card ($99)
You can downgrade the JetBlue Plus Card ($99) to the JetBlue Card ($0) upon eligibility.
Barclays AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Mastercard ($99)
You can downgrade the Barclays AAdvantage Aviator World Elite Mastercard ($99) to the Barclays AAdvantage Aviator ($0) upon eligibility.
Barclaycard Arrival Plus ($89)- No longer available for new applicants
You can downgrade the Barclaycard Arrival Plus ($89) to the Barclaycard Arrival ($0) upon eligibility.
Barclays Wyndham Earner Plus ($75)
You can downgrade the Wyndham Rewards Earner Plus Card ($75) to the Wyndham Rewards Earner Card ($0) upon eligibility.
JetBlue Business ($99)
There is no downgrade option for the JetBlue Business ($99).
Barclays Advantage Aviator Business ($95)
There is no downgrade option for the Barclays Advantage Aviator Business ($95).
What about Barclays Miles and More Lufthansa?
Curious if anyone has had success downgrading their Barclays credit card. I’ve had a Barclays Arrival Plus card for approx 8 years. Always pay my bills on time (in full) and have excellent credit. I just called and asked to downgrade the card to one with no annual fee (such as to the Barclay Arrival card that’s mentioned on this webpage). They said they had no downgrade options for me. I’m planning to close the account if I can’t downgrade the card to one without an annual fee, but I’d rather not do that since that will have a slight negative effect on my credit score. Any tips?
I was just told I could not downgrade my Barclay’s AA Red card without an “offer”. I believe that is completely wrong. They told me I had to apply for the no-annual fee card (which you cannot do) and cancel my current card. I will call in again tomorrow. If they give me the run around, I will just cancel the damn thing.
With Barclays downgrades are targeted per account