Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - CX Citibank Cobrand card annual fees

Have any of you holding the cobrand card been given an annual fee waiver. All other credit cards seem to offer this, even citibank cards but they are extremely strict with the cobrand.

Any tips for getting fee waived from those successful in doing so?

I have heard the same about this card. Many people take the platinum and it seems to be a successful brand. Maybe that is why they refuse the fee waiver.

One thing you can do is just cancel every Dec and re-apply every Jan. Seems to work. Then you use the free first year every time.

It also matters of course how much you spend every year.

Are you really based in the UK? Your name is CLK and you use a HKG credit card.

citibank is quite strict with their CX credit card - especially with platinum.

i don't think it really has to do with the amount spent - i spent over 2 million hk dollars over that one year - didn't earn me a free renewal - although they offered a "normal" citibank platinum with free renewal (no annual fee).

i refused. i'll be applying for it again soon - my one year is coming up. the current bonus is 8000 asia miles for a new platinum card application (it was 12000 last year)

besides, citibank only offers a HK$8 = 1 mile offer, whereas amex offers HK$4 = 1 mile ..... for the first HK$300,000 or so spent. so, it appears that amex offers a better offer.

the customer service at amex is better - citibank really sucks. more special discounts at hotel restaurants with amex too - just had dinner - 50% off - at the zeffirino ristorante at the regal hongkong hotel ...

(edited for more detailed info)

[This message has been edited by Psychiatrist (edited Mar 17, 2004).]

Japan mostly these days. I spend far less time in Honkers these days but had many good years there.

2 million is quite a bit of spend. At around .3mil HK$ I thought it would be a breeze to get a waiver but it was not to be. I have better results with AMEX Centurian which has an annual fee of approximately HK$9,000.

CLK, the most efficient airport in Asia with Changi a close second. I see you have in brackets (suck) whats that about?



[This message has been edited by Chek Lap Kok (edited Mar 17, 2004).]

My first (and only so far) renewal was offered at $900 (= 50% off) after I put about HK$1M through it in the first year.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Chek Lap Kok:
2 million is quite a bit of spend. At around .3mil HK$ I thought it would be a breeze to get a waiver but it was not to be. I have better results with AMEX Centurian which has an annual fee of approximately HK$9,000.</font>

you mean you managed to get AmEx to waive your Centurion annual fee? is it the HK or UK one? thanks.

CLK,

'S*cks'refers to Krisflyer, which is really not a FFP, but a joke. Happy to be staying in HKG now and focussing more on CX.

HKG airport is good, but no way as efficient as SIN. Two examples;
Immigration queues in HKG are a nightmare for visitors.
How efficient is HKG if you have gate 68?

Yes I did, the first year I didn't even request for the waiver, I got a much welcomed letter advising I had been waived. Surprised but happy. The second year I asked for it because my spend was higher than the first, granted. This card was obtained while in Hong Kong and in about 6 months I will ask again.

With the CX citibank card I have had no such luck so guess which card I am spending more with?

miles4all - I didn't include the HKG immigration in my measurement of efficiency and for that matter the Singaporean immigration also. 68 gates is more to do with the size of the airport and the unmanned train system is really quite good. At least CX recognize this and set up a lounge "The Per" to address this big airport problem.

CLK is efficient because of the great transport system to and from the airport, the usage of natural light to minimise electricity, and very spacious checkin areas where even during peak times there is still ample space. You don't have to line up for restaurants which is handy when conducting last minute business and with heightened security the speed of security checks is way ahead of the rest. Singapore is a close second, I like the wood look and it's almost like you are in a hotel in some areas. Either one are great to travel through but CLK to me is more advanced (it's also newer of course).

I must say i HATE to BEG for an annual fee waiver - it's simply not me!

HSBC have been very good with this, they sent me a letter during my second year saying that I'll receive a lifetime annual fee waiving - on my current card (mind you, it's just a "normal" card - not gold/platinum - I didn't want to appear too flashy ...)

Citibank was very firm with their policy - apparently they blamed it on CX - and they said no waiving whatsoever regardless of the amount spent !! Although they offered me their normal platinum card, I declined - I was only after the HK$8 = 1 asia mile offer.

AMEX appears to be lenient with granting annual fee waiving - their HK$4 = 1 asia mile offer is the best in town at the moment. Although it only applies to the first HK$300,000 or so spent (afterwards it goes back to HK$12 = 1 mile) it's good enough. I hope this offer is a permanent one. I've only got their gold card - not too interested in their platinum or centurion - the annual fees for those are just too much for me!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Psychiatrist:
HSBC have been very good with this, they sent me a letter during my second year saying that I'll receive a lifetime annual fee waiving - on my current card (mind you, it's just a "normal" card - not gold/platinum - I didn't want to appear too flashy ...)

Citibank was very firm with their policy - apparently they blamed it on CX - and they said no waiving whatsoever regardless of the amount spent !!</font>

I used to work for Citibank and understand that their CX co-brand card is a money-loser for them. In fact, they were talking about discontinuing it at one point.

I, too, have canceled my Citi/CX card due to the fee.

HSBC can afford to waive the fee because 1) their conversion ratio is a not-as-good HK$12 to 1 mile and 2) you have to pay a supplemental fee for the miles-conversion feature. (Citi's CX card has automatic monthly miles conversion included in the annual fee.)

I agree that overall, Citi's card is inferior in terms of customer service and card features. HSBC card offers more merchant & restaurant discounts.

When my Citibank CX Platinum card came up for renewal I did the sums, and with a 50% fee waiver it made sense to keep it. Essentially the question is "are the extra miles worth the annual fee that is charged". In my case the answer is yes. But I also have an HSBC Premier Mastercard (for free since I have enough balance with them) and obviously I use that whenever I can get the outlet discount since that is always worth more than the miles on the Citi/CX card.

For a while I was making a killing on the Citi Platinum card because they messed up the drafting of their rules, and I had a large overseas transaction every month denominated in HKD which got me 1AM/$4. But after a few months they got that fixed, so now it is worth having, but only just.

I agree that Citi CX cobrand Platinum only allow 50% off annual fee waiever.

AMEX is the best in town. ($4=1 mile) but they cahrge a conversion fee for each conversion.

DBS Platinum also have $4=1 for overseas charges + 2 months extension for the payment.

Can I know approximately how much you spend per year to get the annual fee waiver for the AMEX Centurion? Because I only get some free bonus point for my AMEX Canturion at around 300,000 points.

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Cathay Marco Polo Gold, Hilton Gold VIP, Hyatt Gold Passport, Hertz Gold, PP Gold, AMEX Centurion

Can you tell me approx how much you spend on the Centurion to get the full annual fee waiver? As I only get some free bonus point on the card.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Chek Lap Kok:
Yes I did, the first year I didn't even request for the waiver, I got a much welcomed letter advising I had been waived. Surprised but happy. The second year I asked for it because my spend was higher than the first, granted. This card was obtained while in Hong Kong and in about 6 months I will ask again.

With the CX citibank card I have had no such luck so guess which card I am spending more with?

miles4all - I didn't include the HKG immigration in my measurement of efficiency and for that matter the Singaporean immigration also. 68 gates is more to do with the size of the airport and the unmanned train system is really quite good. At least CX recognize this and set up a lounge "The Per" to address this big airport problem.

CLK is efficient because of the great transport system to and from the airport, the usage of natural light to minimise electricity, and very spacious checkin areas where even during peak times there is still ample space. You don't have to line up for restaurants which is handy when conducting last minute business and with heightened security the speed of security checks is way ahead of the rest. Singapore is a close second, I like the wood look and it's almost like you are in a hotel in some areas. Either one are great to travel through but CLK to me is more advanced (it's also newer of course). </font>

Most of us only took the CX/Citi Platinum card for the extra signing on bonus right ? The extras have been evaluated as worthless.

I'll go down to basic level on renewal, if I decide to keep it at all.

But even with FX rates I am still getting benefit from my Virgin Atlantic card 2 points per GBP1 at a seriously low annual fee.

Disagree. At renewal I did the sums and at HK$900 it made most sense for me to keep the Platinum for the benefit of double miles for overseas expenditure. But if you don't have much of that then I guess it wouldn't.

(1 extra mile for each US$1 of overseas expenditure. The "price" per mile goes below US$0.01 at expenditure of around US$12,000 per year.)

Have to agree with Psychiatrist and Cardiology that the Amex deal ($4=1 mile) is the best in town. I use to put all my spending on the Starwood Amex card but no more. The Starwood program however has a lot more airlines in the program.

I disagree with Christep:
Why not you apply for a DBS Platinum (free annual fee) and also the same $4 for 1 mile for oversea charges AND 2 months interest free payment!
They only charge you once for every mileage conversion (I think is $150). Much better than paying the $900 annual fee.
Note: I have just cancelled my CX Citibank VISA green card. I use my AMEX most of the time and the DBS or AMEX for overseas charges.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by christep:
Disagree. At renewal I did the sums and at HK$900 it made most sense for me to keep the Platinum for the benefit of double miles for overseas expenditure. But if you don't have much of that then I guess it wouldn't.

(1 extra mile for each US$1 of overseas expenditure. The "price" per mile goes below US$0.01 at expenditure of around US$12,000 per year.)</font>



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Cathay Marco Polo Gold, Hilton Gold VIP, Hyatt Gold Passport, Hertz Gold, PP Gold, AMEX Centurion

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by cardiology:
[B]I disagree with Christep:
Why not you apply for a DBS Platinum (free annual fee) and also the same $4 for 1 mile for oversea charges AND 2 months interest free payment!
They only charge you once for every mileage conversion (I think is $150). Much better than paying the $900 annual fee.
</font>

agree...and, the best thing is, with DBS Platinum you get $4 = 1 mile for spending in mainland China as well (CX-Citibank doesn't consider mainland China as part of "overseas spending" in terms of giving double miles). Sometimes the merchant / mainland banks would charge DBS in HKD instead and 3x points won't post automatically - if that's the case, you just need to fax your original charge slip to DBS to show that you were charged RMB originally and they will give you the 3x points.

and, I think DBS Plat comes with Priority Pass too, and CX-Citibank doesn't. I think it's completely free for the first year, and for the 2nd year onward you need to spend a certain amount each month to maintain this benefit (otherwise you need to pay the per-visit fee).

I wasn't actually trying to address the question "which is the best card for miles in HK". I was answering the narrower question "is a Citibank CX Platinum card worth the annual fee, compared to other Citibank CX cards".

But I've just looked at the DBS card, and unless I am misunderstanding something, it is only 1AM/HK$12 of expenditure in HK and 1MA/HK$4 for overseas expenditure. The Citi CX Platinum is 1AM/HK$8 in HK, so again, the cost per extra mile on the CX Platinum card comes below US$0.01 at annual expenditure of about HK$290K in HK.

I still think the CX Platinum card makes more sense for me if I am happy to buy AsiaMiles at US$0.01 each.

Very roughly, I spend about HK$400,000 per year in HK on my credit card, and about HK$120,000 overseas. On my Citi CX Platinum this gets me about 80,000 AsiaMiles, which cost me HK$900.

As I understand the DBS card I would get 63,333 AsiaMiles, so I am in effect paying about 0.7 US cents for the extra 16,667 AsiaMiles, which I believe is a good price.

I'd be happy if anyone can show me how to get a better miles/$ return overall with that spend pattern.

[This message has been edited by christep (edited Mar 23, 2004).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by christep:
Very roughly, I spend about HK$400,000 per year in HK on my credit card, and about HK$120,000 overseas. On my Citi CX Platinum this gets me about 80,000 AsiaMiles, which cost me HK$900.

As I understand the DBS card I would get 63,333 AsiaMiles, so I am in effect paying about 0.7 US cents for the extra 16,667 AsiaMiles, which I believe is a good price.

I'd be happy if anyone can show me how to get a better miles/$ return overall with that spend pattern.</font>

if you don't mind carrying two credit cards with you, you can apply for an AmEx card and pay HKD 240, move HKD 312,000 of your HK spending to this AmEx card, and earn roughly 40,000 more miles...(and of course there's a charge to convert AmEx points to Asia Miles too, maybe HKD 200 max I think)...so for ~HKD 400 you get ~40,000 extra miles...roughly HKD 0.1 per mile...

and when you apply now, you get annual fee waiver + 100,000 bonus points (=8333 Asia Miles) for the Gold card...

actually one thing I haven't tried/clarified...can I have both an AmEx charge card and an AmEx credit card, and pay HKD 240 on each, so that I have a combined limit of HKD 624,000 for 3x points?