The partnership was supposed to be a revolution. When Goldman Sachs and General Motors first inked their deal in 2020, it looked like the ultimate power move. You had the world’s most prestigious investment bank teaming up with a titan of Detroit to reinvent how Americans buy cars. Goldman was moving onto Main Street, and GM was getting a fresh, tech-forward way to keep customers loyal.
But things didn't go according to plan. Not even close.
Honestly, the "marriage" between the two ended more like a messy divorce. By late 2024, the news broke that Goldman Sachs was officially dumping the General Motors credit card portfolio, offloading it to Barclays. If you’ve been carrying a GM Rewards card in your wallet, you’ve likely already seen the shift. The transition wasn't just a corporate hiccup; it was a massive strategic retreat that cost Goldman Sachs hundreds of millions of dollars.
Why the Goldman Sachs General Motors Deal Fell Apart
Why did a bank that practically prints money fail at a car credit card? It comes down to a classic case of a company trying to be something it isn't. Goldman Sachs is a "White Shoe" firm. They deal with billionaires and IPOs. When they launched Marcus, their consumer banking arm, they thought they could apply that same logic to regular folks buying a Chevy Silverado.
They were wrong.
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The bank reportedly lost over $6 billion on its consumer lending experiments since 2020. Specifically, for the GM deal, Goldman paid a massive premium—around $2.5 billion—to take the portfolio over from Capital One. They expected high-spending customers and seamless integration with GM dealerships. Instead, they hit a wall of operational headaches.
Dealers weren't always enthusiastic about pushing the card. The tech integration was clunky. Most importantly, the credit profile of the average auto-rewards customer didn't always align with Goldman’s risk appetite. By the time CEO David Solomon decided to pull the plug, the bank had to take a roughly $400 million pretax hit just to get the GM business off their books.
The Great Migration: Hello Barclays, Goodbye Marcus
If you are a cardholder, the "Goldman era" is officially over. As of August 25, 2025, the transition to Barclays became the law of the land. It wasn't just a change of logos; it was a complete backend migration.
What changed for the average user?
The transition was, for lack of a better word, a logistical mountain. Barclays didn't just buy the debts; they redesigned the rewards structure. The old card was okay, but the new GM Rewards Mastercard issued by Barclays actually bumped up the earning potential for certain people.
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- The Big Earn: You now get 7x points per dollar spent on eligible GM purchases, plus another 3x for being a loyalty member. That’s 10 points per dollar.
- The Catch: They trimmed the "all other purchases" category. It used to be 4x points on everything else under Goldman. Now? It’s 3x.
- The Welcome Bonus: Barclays came out swinging with a 30,000-point bonus (worth about $300) for spending $1,000 in the first 90 days.
If you had a balance on your Goldman card, it didn't vanish. It moved. If you had points, they moved too. But the physical cards in your pocket stopped working at 6:00 AM ET on that August transition date. If you haven't activated your new blue-and-silver Barclays card yet, your old one is basically a fancy ice scraper.
The Bigger Picture: Goldman’s Total Retreat
The Goldman Sachs General Motors split wasn't an isolated incident. It was part of a total "unwinding" of their consumer ambitions. Just look at the Apple Card. For years, rumors swirled about Apple and Goldman being a "toxic" pairing. Finally, in early 2026, JPMorgan Chase stepped in to take over the Apple Card portfolio at a staggering discount.
Goldman Sachs is basically running back to its roots. They are focusing on what they do best: investment banking, wealth management, and trading. The dream of "Goldman for the masses" is dead.
For General Motors, the Barclays partnership is a return to a more traditional partner. Barclays knows the co-branded card space inside and out. They handle cards for airlines and retailers. They aren't trying to be a tech-startup-bank hybrid; they just want to run a profitable credit card program.
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What This Means for Your Credit Score
Whenever a billion-dollar portfolio changes hands, there is a risk of "reporting lag." Some users on platforms like Reddit have reported that their credit reports showed the Goldman account as "closed" before the Barclays account appeared.
Don't panic. This is usually just a reporting cycle delay.
Barclays inherited the "original open date" of your account. That means your length of credit history—a huge factor in your score—should remain intact. However, if you see a duplicate entry or a sudden drop in your score, you may need to nudge Barclays to send an "account transfer" update to the bureaus.
Actionable Next Steps for Cardholders
If you're still navigating the aftermath of the Goldman Sachs and General Motors breakup, here is your checklist:
- Check Your App: If you are still trying to log into the Marcus app to see your GM card, stop. You need to download the Barclays US App and register your new account.
- Audit Your Points: The conversion rate was 100 points for every $1 in earnings from the old system. Do the math. Make sure your "Earnings" from the Goldman era show up correctly as "Points" in the Barclays portal.
- Update Your Autopay: This is the one that trips people up. Your old autopay settings from Goldman did not always carry over perfectly to the new Barclays billing system. Log in and re-verify your bank account linking to avoid late fees.
- Redeem for Services: You can now use points for OnStar plans and even Super Cruise subscriptions. If you aren't planning on buying a new Cadillac anytime soon, using points for your monthly data plan is a smart way to clear out the balance.
The Goldman Sachs General Motors experiment will be studied in business schools for decades as a "what-not-to-do" in corporate partnerships. For you, it’s just another card in your wallet—just make sure it’s the right one.