Barclays 45,000 Wyndham Offer is Back! [USA]
Barclays, a US credit card issuer, is offering their Wyndham Rewards Visa with a 45,000 point offer [this is not an affiliate link] after spending $2,000 in the first 90 days of card ownership. This is a promotion. This card has a $75 annual fee, which is well worth it for the sign-up bonus.
This isn’t a terribly interesting product for everyday use, however, this card is highly churnable, with reports of rotating accounts every three months. You’ll get Wyndham Platinum status, which has a number of perks: free Wi-Fi, early check-in, late check-out, but most interestingly, you get a 3,000 point annual bonus.
Using Wyndham Rewards
Wyndham Rewards points are redeemable for 15,000 points at any of their properties. While many of their properties are kind of gross (e.g., Howard Johnson, Super 8), they have some high-end properties. For example, the Wyndham Koloa Landing at Poipu Beach often goes for over $500/night. The Wyndham New Yorker Hotel, a nice property in central New York City, is usually available for around $300. Both of these hotels would go for 15,000 points a night, which means you can have three free nights under this offer.
Note that Barclays doesn’t issue credit cards to individuals with an ITIN – you have to have a SSN.
What’s the best way for a Canadian to be able to sign up for these American credit cards?
You’d need to get an ITIN for most cards. There’s an excellent thread on RFD that will give you some ideas. Unfortunately, this particular card requires an SSN, which is not easy to get.
Someone should expose that the Wyndham rewards programs is a bit of a scam. For example, try to find a rewards room at the high end hotels like the Shelborne in South Beach Florida and you’ll find none available.
I called their rewards services group and they can’t offer any explanation. The programs no-blackout claim is a misrepresentation.
The Wyndham Koloa Landing at Poipu Beach doesn’t seem to have any dates available for points users.
Koloa landing will be rebranded as Marriott Autograph Collection in January, Could be the reason for no availability.
Some people on RFD have reported being able to get a Barclay card using SIN instead of SSN (they subsequently notified Barclay of that though). That was a couple of years ago… I wouldn’t want to try that, but if anyone has had success, please advise. Would love to have that card. (I have an ITIN & a US address now