Diners Club Club Rewards - Club Rewards Points - Devaluation Ahead?

So I started to wonder..... Given all the doom and gloom surrounding Citibank and their deteriorating financial position, should I be sitting on a huge balance of Club Reward points? I would think that this affinity program might be one of the first things to either get cut or to get substantially restructured as Citi tries to stay a viable financial entity. I saw on Fox News that their total capitalization in January was +$100 billion. Last year they got $25 billion, then another $20 billion and their current capitalization is only $19 billion. To me, it doesn't make much sense for me to be sitting on 500,000 Club Rewards Points.

If you were me, would you dump them into your AA or Hilton account? Or park them somewhere else?

To me, it doesn't make much sense for me to be sitting on 500,000 Club Rewards Points.

If you were me, would you dump them into your AA or Hilton account? Or park them somewhere else?
What is current "Program to Date Miles" at AA? 500k DC points will turn into 500k AA miles, which will increase that counter by 500k. When that counter reaches 1 million, you become lifetime Gold. When that counter reaches 2 million, you become lifetime Plat. If one of those is within reach and is of interest to you, then that would seem a good place to move that many DC points if you have no better reason for moving them anywhere else.

I'm just over 1 million on AA, so already lifetime Gold. I've got plenty of Hilton Honors points, but virtually no *wood or Hyatt points. Maybe there?

In the past, Citi/Diners has been pretty good about annoucing any program changes with advanced notice.

As long as you closely monitor this forum, I don't see any issue with keeping them parked where there are if you aren't ready to decide on a transfer option just yet.

MileageAddict,

My only comment to your reply is that these are much different "times" than in the past. In the past, Citibank wasn't struggling to stay alive as a company.

Offer your DC on tCC, where they're always in demand!
If U need *A award tix, put some in AC.

That's the thing. Right now there isn't anything that I need. Kids are 3 and 5 so no huge vacation plans coming up. And I've got enough AA, UA, and HH points for any anticipated travel needs. The choice is either leave them alone or is there less risk parking them in AA and HH then leaving them sit with Citibank.

Here's someone on tCC who wants DC but IMO is offering way too little in return:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/coupon-connection/916540-w-98k-diners-club-h-aa-800-gc.html

Bump. With Citi in the news today (and not in a good way) is anyone else getting antsy to get their points out of this program and park them as airline miles or hotel points?

what is tCC?

tCC??

Here's someone on tCC who wants DC but IMO is offering way too little in return:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/coupon-connection/916540-w-98k-diners-club-h-aa-800-gc.html

what is tCC?

tCC??

If you follow (or just look at) the link in Brendan's message that mentions tCC, you'll see that it takes you to "the Coupon Connection" (a section of FlyerTalk for making exchanges in award redemptions, which requires a minimum number of posts to be able to particpate (Chicago WIne Geek, I think you have enough, but skibum85, you don't yet).

Bump. With Citi in the news today (and not in a good way) is anyone else getting antsy to get their points out of this program and park them as airline miles or hotel points?
Aw, come on, there's news one way one day and another way another day. Another recent day, Citi stock was up when the whole rest of the market was down!

Citi is no danger of doing away any time soon, and Club Rewards is too small of a blip in their total expenditures for the gov't to even look it at it in any of their first months or years of any possible partial or non-partial takeover.

Meanwhile, right now they're going through a ThankYou points "devaluation", and it's all abuzz in the Other Credit Cards forum because there was months of advance notice! So neither am I antsy about not getting advance notice if there's some sort of major across-the-board devaluation of CR.

Now, possibly not getting bonuses on transfers in the future that were there before, that might be another story (those are always in flux every year, bad economy or not), but that only affects a few airlines like BA and DL.

If there's anything that's likely to suffer, it's Diners' better-than-average customer service. Other Citi cards are already getting more automated, so how much longer will it be as easy to talk to a human at Diners as it still is?

But being able to use CR points somewhere, that'd be the last of my worries (as long as I'm keeping up with FlyerTalk, that is!).

Thanks SD, good points.

I don't worry too much about an unannounced & instant rewards devaluation.

There isn't a lot of history of credit card companies doing that. They usually provide notice. Not providing at least 30 days notice for a devaluation like that would pretty much kill the brand and cause mass defection from the Diners product. It might hurt the parent brand too.

Sure it's possible & these are unprecedented times.

Ok, I'm done sitting on these. 100K into AA (which got me to 1MM lifetime for lifetime PLAT status and it dropped 8 upgrades into my account :), 50K into Amazon GC, 250K into Home Depot GC (nice new front loader, HE washer and drier plus bathroom upgrades). 300K left to burn.

300K left to burn.

I'd love to be thrown into your briar patch.

Ok, I'm done sitting on these...50K into Amazon GC, 250K into Home Depot GC

From what I can gather (https://www.citibank.com/dinersus/jsp/clubrewards/catalog/english/certificate_list.jsp?category=569c053&subcategory=66230390) Club Rewards gives you the equivalent of only one cent per DC point when redeeming for gift cards, in my opinion that's an absolutely horrible redemption rate. I know first hand that DC points are in huge demand on the Coupon Connection, I'm confident that you'd get a much better deal there - quite possibly getting travel-related gift cards in the range of two cents per DC point - than making DC redemptions for gift cards at the rate of only 1 cent per point.

100K into AA (which got me to 1MM lifetime for lifetime PLAT status and it dropped 8 upgrades into my account :)
No, it didn't, because that's not how it works. (Perhaps you made a typo somewhere?)

Getting to 1MM lifetime gets you only lifetime GOLD status and drops 8 domestic upgrades into your account (if you have a US mailing address).

Getting to 2MM lifetime is what gets you to lifetime PLAT status, and that drops 4 systemwide upgrades (SWUs aka VIPs) into your account.

So which did you get?

No, it didn't, because that's not how it works. (Perhaps you made a typo somewhere?)

Getting to 1MM lifetime gets you only lifetime GOLD status and drops 8 domestic upgrades into your account (if you have a US mailing address).

Getting to 2MM lifetime is what gets you to lifetime PLAT status, and that drops 4 systemwide upgrades (SWUs aka VIPs) into your account.

So which did you get?

Oops, you are correct. I got lifetime Gold status.

From what I can gather (https://www.citibank.com/dinersus/jsp/clubrewards/catalog/english/certificate_list.jsp?category=569c053&subcategory=66230390) Club Rewards gives you the equivalent of only one cent per DC point when redeeming for gift cards, in my opinion that's an absolutely horrible redemption rate. I know first hand that DC points are in huge demand on the Coupon Connection, I'm confident that you'd get a much better deal there - quite possibly getting travel-related gift cards in the range of two cents per DC point - than making DC redemptions for gift cards at the rate of only 1 cent per point.[/QUOTE]

I did get one unsolicited offer for 1.4 cents in AA gift cards for each DC point. But I've got over 800K in AA miles I really don't need AA gift cards. I know that there are much better ways to get the maximum value for DC points, especially using them for BC or FC airfare. But no big vacations planned for the next few years and the points are technically free so what the heck.

WineGeek, 300K DC will getcha 180K Hyatt points via the program, but U can probably trade for 250--300K Hyatt on tCC!

Brendan, all I see in the DC redemption center is a 3 night or 5 night cert. Thanks for the tip though.

Go to the DC catalog & click on Land & Sea Travel to display all the hotel-point options. There it says that every 1250 DC can become 750 Hyatt ponts.

Go to the DC catalog & click on Land & Sea Travel to display all the hotel-point options. There it says that every 1250 DC can become 750 Hyatt ponts.

Got it. I was looking at the giftcards instead.

Ok, I'm done sitting on these. 100K into AA (which got me to 1MM lifetime for lifetime PLAT status and it dropped 8 upgrades into my account :), 50K into Amazon GC, 250K into Home Depot GC (nice new front loader, HE washer and drier plus bathroom upgrades). 300K left to burn.


I am at 700K lifetime AA miles and would love to get to 1MM for life time gold. I would be interested in getting you the gift cards that you want at a better rate than what you are getting from diners.

So I started to wonder..... Given all the doom and gloom surrounding Citibank and their deteriorating financial position, should I be sitting on a huge balance of Club Reward points? I would think that this affinity program might be one of the first things to either get cut or to get substantially restructured as Citi tries to stay a viable financial entity. I saw on Fox News that their total capitalization in January was +$100 billion. Last year they got $25 billion, then another $20 billion and their current capitalization is only $19 billion. To me, it doesn't make much sense for me to be sitting on 500,000 Club Rewards Points.

If you were me, would you dump them into your AA or Hilton account? Or park them somewhere else?

after 15 years i dumped the card... interesting DC didnt care.

Market cap today is down to $6 B from my last post when they were at $19B. Stock trading at ONE DOLLAR???

Gotta cash these out this week.....

Dude, even if Citi files for bankruptcy, that doesn't mean you will lose your DC points! Multiple airlines have filed for bankruptcy in the past few years, and the reward points systems have held up just fine.

I'm not worried about losing my points, as the title says, I'm concerned about devaluation. Right now, one point = one airline mile. I'm more concerned about coming home one day and getting a notice that the new Ts & Cs are that one hundred points = 1 airline mile. That kind of thing.

I'm not worried about losing my points, as the title says, I'm concerned about devaluation. Right now, one point = one airline mile. I'm more concerned about coming home one day and getting a notice that the new Ts & Cs are that one hundred points = 1 airline mile. That kind of thing.
Those things are managed by separate contracts with individual partners. It wouldn't happen with all partners at the same time, nor would it likely happen with no notice (as DC's partner would have to synchronize with the change along with DC itself).

Citi gave months of notice on the TYP devaluation (actually a change in rules, but viewed by most a devaluation).

Meanwhile, before a mass devaluation, I would expect bonuses to wither away first (which they may be doing, I'm not sure).

Also, DC has already suspended taking new (personal card) applications (in the US), so I would think Citi isn't facing as much exposure with DC as it is with its other cards (that it still allows people it doesn't know to apply for).

How many posts are needed to access coupon connection?

100 (I just got a bit closer):)