Barclaycard Visa Black Card Review (discontinued)
Updated October 27, 2014. MasterCard Black Card is a replacement that was introduced in 2016.
The Facts
The Math
The first question most readers will ask is "is it worth paying $495 in annual fee for the Visa Black Card?" Let's break it down to the four major perks of the card: 1) 2% rewards in airfare redemption, 2) Lounge Club membership, 3) Black Card VIP Hotel and Travel, and 4) concierge service. First of all, Exclusive Rewards program, unlike Chase Ultimate Rewards or Amex Membership Rewards, is a fixed value program. 2% cash back equivalent travel rewards is not bad at all; however, you can have a non-fee card such as FIA Fidelity or Citi Double Cash that offer 2% straight cash back. Also Barclays' own brilliant Arrival Plus WEMC, with an annual fee of $89 (waived for the first year), offers 2.2% cash back equivalent travel rewards and other great benefits such as waived foreign transaction fees and embedded EMV chip. So we won't value Visa Black Card's first perk more than $90. For the Lounge Club membership with unlimited access, you can have JP Morgan Ritz-Carlton, which comes with an effective annual fee of $95 and offers other great perks such as Ritz-Carlton lounge upgrades, Ritz-Carlton & Marriott Gold status after $10K spending, and primary rental car insurance at the same time. By the way, the Ritz-Carlton Card is made of pure metal, and it is also black in color but more elegant in style to our eyes. So we won't value Visa Black Card's second perk more than $95. Amex Platinum, with an effective annual fee of $250, offers FHR and Platinum Villas which is comparable to Black Card VIP program, in addition to complimentary access to Delta, Centurion, and Priority Pass Select lounges. When you split the $250 between its hotel and lounge benefits, we will say we won't value Visa Black Card's third perk more than $125. So after we tally the first three perks' value and subtract it from the $495, we have $185 left for the fourth perk - now do you want to pay $185 for Visa Black Card's concierge? 24/7 concierge service is also a selling point for the aforementioned JPM Ritz-Carlton and Amex Platinum. We understand some consumers may preferred just one card like Visa Black Card other than having three terrific cards (Arrival Plus, JPM Ritz-Carlton, and Amex Platinum), and this may justify paying a little extra in annual fees. So the bottom line is that it is probably not worth paying $495 a year for Visa Black Card since you can get similar perks plus some extra from some awesome alternatives; however, if you do want all these perks to be on one single card and are willing to pay a little extra, Visa Black Card will certainly serve you well.
The Conclusion
Compared to some of our favorite high-end cards such as Amex Platinum and JPM Ritz-Carlton, Visa Black Card doesn't stand out as much. However, for travelers who prefer all the perks in one single package, Visa Black Card may be a good choice.
The Facts
- Annual Fee: $495 for the primary card member, and $195 for each authorized user
- Signup Bonus: 25,000 points
- Rewards: 1x everywhere
- Best Use of Exclusive Rewards points: Barclays makes this program exclusive for the Visa Black Card members. Normally, the points can be redeemed for cash back, gift cards, or merchandise, at 1 cent per point. However, when you redeem for airline tickets through Exclusive Rewards, your points double in value, at exactly 2 cents per point.
- You receive Lounge Club membership that gives unlimited complimentary access to 350 lounges worldwide for you and your guests. Please see our featured review on airport lounge access for details.
- Black Card VIP Hotel & Travel program that is advertised to give you VIP treatments at over 3,000 hotels, resorts, and villas. This program actually consists of three parts. This first one is a luxury hotel collection of 560 four- and five-star hotels and resorts through Ensemble Hotel & Resort Collection network and the benefits include room upgrades when available, early check-in and late check-out when available, and hotel specific amenity such as breakfasts, spa credit, food and beverage credit, afternoon tea, lunch, etc. While anyone can find an Ensemble travel agent (or an agent associated with similar networks such as Virtuoso and Signature Travel Network) to book a hotel in the collection, Black Card's program does save you from finding such an agent that will work with you (some agents may have specific spending requirements for new clients or charge a fee). The second one is for Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group whose global portfolio has less than 30 luxury hotels. We don't have details about the program; however, we suspect it may be through a MO Fan Club travel agent and the benefits shall be similar to Ensemble's. Note that Amex Platinum Fine Hotels and Resorts (FHR) program has a larger coverage (over 750 hotels) than Ensemble and MO combined, and in general FHR's benefits are more consistent than Ensemble's. The third one is Villas of Destination for booking benefits at over 2,400 villas worldwide. Amex Platinum has a similar program called Platinum Villas. So the bottom line is that Visa Black Card's hotel offering is comparable but not superior to Amex Platinum's offering.
- Other Benefits: waived foreign transaction fees. Luxury gifts for the members from time to time. As a typical high-end card, Visa Black Card also enjoys 24-hour concierge service and member-only magazines.
- Other Facts: Visa Black Card was introduced in 2008 to mock Amex Centurion aka "the Black Card" but was not very well received. In late 2013, Barclays tried again with this new version hoping to gain some market share. The new Visa Black Card is made of stainless steel and carbon (Amex Centurion is made of titanium).
The Math
The first question most readers will ask is "is it worth paying $495 in annual fee for the Visa Black Card?" Let's break it down to the four major perks of the card: 1) 2% rewards in airfare redemption, 2) Lounge Club membership, 3) Black Card VIP Hotel and Travel, and 4) concierge service. First of all, Exclusive Rewards program, unlike Chase Ultimate Rewards or Amex Membership Rewards, is a fixed value program. 2% cash back equivalent travel rewards is not bad at all; however, you can have a non-fee card such as FIA Fidelity or Citi Double Cash that offer 2% straight cash back. Also Barclays' own brilliant Arrival Plus WEMC, with an annual fee of $89 (waived for the first year), offers 2.2% cash back equivalent travel rewards and other great benefits such as waived foreign transaction fees and embedded EMV chip. So we won't value Visa Black Card's first perk more than $90. For the Lounge Club membership with unlimited access, you can have JP Morgan Ritz-Carlton, which comes with an effective annual fee of $95 and offers other great perks such as Ritz-Carlton lounge upgrades, Ritz-Carlton & Marriott Gold status after $10K spending, and primary rental car insurance at the same time. By the way, the Ritz-Carlton Card is made of pure metal, and it is also black in color but more elegant in style to our eyes. So we won't value Visa Black Card's second perk more than $95. Amex Platinum, with an effective annual fee of $250, offers FHR and Platinum Villas which is comparable to Black Card VIP program, in addition to complimentary access to Delta, Centurion, and Priority Pass Select lounges. When you split the $250 between its hotel and lounge benefits, we will say we won't value Visa Black Card's third perk more than $125. So after we tally the first three perks' value and subtract it from the $495, we have $185 left for the fourth perk - now do you want to pay $185 for Visa Black Card's concierge? 24/7 concierge service is also a selling point for the aforementioned JPM Ritz-Carlton and Amex Platinum. We understand some consumers may preferred just one card like Visa Black Card other than having three terrific cards (Arrival Plus, JPM Ritz-Carlton, and Amex Platinum), and this may justify paying a little extra in annual fees. So the bottom line is that it is probably not worth paying $495 a year for Visa Black Card since you can get similar perks plus some extra from some awesome alternatives; however, if you do want all these perks to be on one single card and are willing to pay a little extra, Visa Black Card will certainly serve you well.
The Conclusion
Compared to some of our favorite high-end cards such as Amex Platinum and JPM Ritz-Carlton, Visa Black Card doesn't stand out as much. However, for travelers who prefer all the perks in one single package, Visa Black Card may be a good choice.