Programs: AA - ExPlat 1MM Marriott - Platinum, Hertz - Presidents Circle
Posts: 424
Quote:
Originally Posted by oneant
No, there is someone higher than the sup the OP spoke with who could have made this happen.
Something useful to keep in your pocket in situations like this:
"You're obviously not the right decision maker that I should be talking to so please let me speak to someone who can fire you."
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๑۩۞۩๑Purple๑۩۞۩๑
This place is 98% whining and 2% substance, and yes, it is difficult to tell the difference sometimes.
Something useful to keep in your pocket in situations like this:
"You're obviously not the right decision maker that I should be talking to so please let me speak to someone who can fire you."
Are you being serious or sarcastic? (Your answer will help me determine whether to flame you or not! )
Location: DFW; 2-time FT Fantasy Football Champ, now in recovery.
Programs: AA GLD 1.1MM, Marriott Gld; OMNIPat
Posts: 6,211
Quote:
Originally Posted by oneant
Seems pretty clear to me. Cancelling the accts was unnecessary. I would have kept pressing this issue out of principle until it was resolved. THEN I'd cancel the accounts if you didn't want them.
Citi typically allows you to cancel a card in the month after the annual fee posts, and get the fee credited. So if they were telling me that there was no was they could honor the first-year-free promise, I'd have cancelled too, that being the only way not to get gipped out of $85.
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Programs: AA PLT 1.4MM, Marriott PLT, Starwood GLD
Posts: 78
I just signed up for this email offer today, because it now gives me an option to rack up AA miles at places that only take AMEX, like Costco.
While I believe there could be a snafu at Citibank causing the charge when it shouldn't be, I just can't believe they didn't honor their offer. While I don't always get the best customer service when dealing with Citibank, they've always corrected any mistakes or handled any issues immediately.
We'll see what happens when I get my first statement. While I don't look forward to possibly having to deal with Citibank customer service, I'm very confident that any issue will be resolved to my satisfaction. I just hope I don't have to go through the same hassle every year come my anniversary date.
Of course, if one is going to use Amex, why not use a Starwood amex instead of Citibank? The fee is waived for the first year, and the earning is 1.25 miles/dollar spent (provided that transfers are in 20K blocks). Thus, even when the $45 fee is due, valuing miles at $0.01 means that one need only spend $18K in a year such that the 25% bonus exceeds the fee. That, and the hotel points can actually be used for hotel stays
And doesn't look good on your credit report. Closing accounts, whether it is you or the lender does not look good to your FICO scores.
That's debatable; closing a credit card account could cause a drop in your FICO scores if it happens to be a long-established account, or if it had such a high limit that by closing it, your ratio of debt to available credit significantly rises.
Otherwise, it's possible to voluntarily close your own credit card accounts without taking a big FICO hit, if any at all.
Granted, if a creditor decides to close your account without your request, that's a red flag as it may be a sign that that lender thinks you are too risky.
Programs: AA - ExPlat 1MM Marriott - Platinum, Hertz - Presidents Circle
Posts: 424
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blumie
Are you being serious or sarcastic? (Your answer will help me determine whether to flame you or not! )
Serious. I've used this twice. It's not an 'everytime' use. Only as a last resort when you're not getting anywhere near the right answer. In my last use, it did get the CEO for the builder of my house to fly in. And yes, the division president did get fired and my issues have been fixed.
__________________
๑۩۞۩๑Purple๑۩۞۩๑
This place is 98% whining and 2% substance, and yes, it is difficult to tell the difference sometimes.
Programs: AA - ExPlat 1MM Marriott - Platinum, Hertz - Presidents Circle
Posts: 424
Quote:
Originally Posted by zski1
That's debatable; closing a credit card account could cause a drop in your FICO scores if it happens to be a long-established account, or if it had such a high limit that by closing it, your ratio of debt to available credit significantly rises.
***Otherwise, it's possible to voluntarily close your own credit card accounts without taking a big FICO hit, if any at all.***
Granted, if a creditor decides to close your account without your request, that's a red flag as it may be a sign that that lender thinks you are too risky.
-z
Debatable - so try it
Anyway, I've got enough of a credit education behind me to understand that this is the way it works (or worked when I garnered the knowlege). FICO recently implemented a new way to score and I'm not up to par on the new method yet.
__________________
๑۩۞۩๑Purple๑۩۞۩๑
This place is 98% whining and 2% substance, and yes, it is difficult to tell the difference sometimes.
I think the OP did the right thing. Citi's CS is atrocious. Once things start to go awry it's best to just close everything down. If easier to just start over again, if it's an account you really want.
Debatable - so try it
Anyway, I've got enough of a credit education behind me to understand that this is the way it works (or worked when I garnered the knowlege). FICO recently implemented a new way to score and I'm not up to par on the new method yet.
The net result of open and closing an account that fast would have no overall change in your score. If you had the card for a while and had $0 used of a $20000 limit, that would be a good thing as the scoring likes it when your outstanding debt/credit ratio is low.
Canceling the card would reduce your credit limits, without reducing the amount owed. This would be a negative.
Of course, if one is going to use Amex, why not use a Starwood amex instead of Citibank? The fee is waived for the first year, and the earning is 1.25 miles/dollar spent (provided that transfers are in 20K blocks). Thus, even when the $45 fee is due, valuing miles at $0.01 means that one need only spend $18K in a year such that the 25% bonus exceeds the fee. That, and the hotel points can actually be used for hotel stays
Cheers.
Let me add my endorsement to the Starwood Amex. A good deal for me, and many others. Keep an AA Citi MC as backup for the handful of places that do not accept Amex.
But back to the OP... sounds as if someone at Citi really dropped the ball. I would've kept pushing that. Obviously some ill-informed customer service reps.
)
