Jun 13, 2013, 2:57 pm
Last edit by: mia
This wiki is no longer being maintained/updated.
See the new thread & wiki at http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/citi-...24-months.html.
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See the new thread & wiki at http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/citi-...24-months.html.
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SEE NEW THREAD - 50K AA Cards
As of Sunday August 25, 2013:
Reports indicate personal cards can no longer be rapidly churned.
Reports indicate personal cards can no longer be rapidly churned.
Click HERE to review the previous thread on this topic.
Recommended Application Procedure:
Clear cache and cookies prior to applying or use an incognito or private browsing session to apply. Opening multiple different apps in different windows or tabs or failing to clear cookies/cache has resulted in people receiving a lesser offer.
For information on the Executive version of this card, with $450 annual fee, not waived, see: Up to 100k miles Citi Executive AAdvantage offers
MOST CURRENT 50K LINKS:
Citi Personal and Business:50K miles & two Admirals Club one-day passes after $3000 spend in 3 months, $95 fee waived first year.
Citi AA Platinum Personal Mastercard, 50,000 miles after $3k spend in 3 months. $95 annual fee, waived first year. Landing page available here. This is a CHIP and Signature card.
- Citi AA Platinum Personal Mastercard 50,000 miles. This is a CHIP and Signature card.
- Citi AA Business Mastercard 50,000 miles.
- Citi AA Platinum Personal Mastercard 50,000 miles. This is a CHIP and Signature card.
- Citi AA Business Mastercard 50,000 miles.
Landing page for 50K Business and Personal MC after $3K spend in 3 months. $95 annual fee, waived first year. This page leads to the following application pages:
Landing page for 50K Business MC after $3K spend in 3 months. $95 annual fee, waived first year. This page leads to this application page.
OTHER PERSONAL CARDS
Citi Platinum Select Mastercard. 30,000 miles after $1k spend in 3 months. $95 annual fee, waived first year. Up to $100 statement credit for AA purchases. Landing page available here.
Citi Platinum Select Mastercard. 30,000 miles after $1k spend in 3 months. $95 annual fee, waived first year.
Citi Gold Mastercard. 25,000 miles after $750 spend in 3 months. $50 annual fee, waived first year. Landing page available here
If you are already a Citigold customer, read this post from the Miles Professor about another 50K offer from your branch office for the American Airlines credit card.
OTHER BUSINESS CARDS
Citi Business MasterCard. 40,000 miles after $3k spend in 3 months. $95 annual fee, waived first year.
Citi Business Mastercard. 35,000 miles after $1.5k spend in 3 months.
Citi Business Mastercard. 30,000 miles after $1k spend in 3 months. $95 annual fee, waived first year. Landing page available here.
Citi Business Mastercard. 30,000 miles after $1k spend in 3 months. $95 annual fee, waived first year. Up to $100 statement credit for AA purchases. Landing page available here.
Citibank Contacts/Resources (Please add the others that you know)
- Application status: https://www.accountonline.com/cards/...?screenID=3187
- (800) 695-5171 – Personal Application Status and Reconsideration Line with live rep
- (800) 763-9795 – General Personal Application Inquiries with live rep
- (800) 645-7240 – Business Application Status and Reconsideration Line, dial option 3 then option 1 for application status
- (800) 288-4653 – Business Application Status and Reconsideration Line, dial option 3 then option 1 for application status
- (866) 606-2787 – General Application and Account Questions with live rep
- (888) 201-4523 – Application status
- (866) 606-2961 – Reconsideration Line.
- Twitter : @AskCiti. Very powerful tool.
- Executive Office - useful for getting a more empowered agent for reconsideration purposes: CitiBank Executive Review Department, P.O. Box 6000, Sioux Falls, SD 57117
FAQ
- Are these AA cards churnable?
- What are the most current time-restriction rules in applying for all Citi cards?
- Do I need to close existing cards before applying?
- When should I close existing Citi accounts?
- Can I apply for a business card if I don’t have a business?
- Can I buy Visa gift cards to meet my minimum spend?
- Do I get 10% back when redeeming miles for awards?
- Do I have to use my own AAdvantage number on applications?
- There is nothing on the application page stating the bonus miles. How do I know what I will be getting?
- When will my bonus miles post?
- I met the minimum spend. Why does my statement say "Miles Reported to AA: 0"?
- Can I cancel a card using secure messaging?
- I activated the card online and got a message about this card replacing an old card. What does that mean?
- Which credit bureau does Citi pull and can I force them to use a different one?
1. Are these AA cards churnable?
Yes and No. The general rules are:
- Personal AA cards: As of August 25, 2013 all linked personal AA cards in this thread can be churned only after Citi decides that you are no longer an existing cardmember. This usually occurs between 12 and 26 months after your last successful AA personal card approval of any type including AA Executive card(s). If you want both a Platinum card and an Executive AA card and are eligible under the 12-26 month rule, get the Platinum card first or the Executive card will restart the clock. Although it is not a hard-and-fast rule, 18 months after previous approval is the most common. YMMV. You do not need to cancel old personal cards.
- Note: You cannot circumvent this rule by applying for a card type different from your previous Citi AA card. If your last personal AA card was a Visa, the waiting period for your next personal AA card will be the same regardless of whether you apply for a Visa, MC, or Amex.
- Business AA cards: have been churnable repeatedly by some people without restriction other than the general Citi application rules. Apply once every 91-95 days. For unknown reasons, some other people have been unable to churn business cards at all. Also, some (but not all) people need to completely cancel their previous business card (ie, cancel both the card account and the associated master account) before they can apply for another business card.
Note: If you encounter difficulty in obtaining a Citi AA business card after holding one before, it may because of the unusual way Citi sets up business accounts. The business account per se has its own master number; like a standard MC/Visa, this master account number is 16 digits. In addition, each card on the account has its own 16-digit card number. Each of these numbers, including the number for the primary cardholder, is different from the master account number.
Sometimes, when you call to close your card account, all the card numbers are canceled but the master account remains open. When this happens, subsequent applications for a business card may encounter difficulty. Online, there should be a dropdown of accounts under your business login; the number that match your card number is your card account, the number that does not match your card number is your master account. When cancelling, ask to cancel both accounts, giving the last 4 digts of each (as shown in that dropdown).
2. What are the most current time-restriction rules in applying for all Citi cards?
- Only 1 Citi application of any kind per week (8 days to be safe).
- No more than 2 Citi applications of any kind in 60 days (65 days to be safe).
- No more than 1 Citi business application in 90 days (95 to be safe). This does not override the rules above.
While the day limits are a little flexible by a few days either way and YMMV, the rules themselves are not flexible. Note: In applying the rules above, count all Citi applications, including denials and/or applications for non-AA cards.
Mixed type Example:
Day 1 60K HHonors Visa
Day 9 or later 50K Personal Platinum Visa
Day 66 or later 50K Business #1
Day 74 or later 60K Executive
Day 161 or later 50K Business #2
18 Months, 74 days or later 50K Personal Platinum Visa
Not sure what day you applied? The date is written year, month, day in the application number: 201402280000 means you applied on Feb 28, 2014
3. Do I need to close existing cards before applying?
No. There is no requirement that you close previous personal accounts. People have reported having 4 or more of the exact same card. However, many people have reported problems getting AA Business cards if they have an open Business account.
4. When should I close existing Citi accounts?
This is a matter of personal preference. Citi cards can be closed immediately after receiving a bonus and paying off the balance. There are no verifiable reports of Citi clawing back miles (exception - miles were clawed back for returned merchandise around November 2011).
Reasons to keep accounts open:
- Having large credit lines improves your utilization percentage.
- Maintaining old cards improves average age of cards.
- Credit lines can be moved from old cards to new cards.
- Anecdotal evidence suggests that Citi counts the credit lines of recently-closed accounts for 3-6 months against your total available credit.
- You can receive retention offers once every 6 months per card. See this thread for details on the latest retention offers.
Reasons to close accounts:
- Having a large amount of available credit with Citi will eventually reduce your chances of instant approval. Your application will automatically be reviewed if your CL's total 75K or more. This may also result in a large disparity between existing account CL's and new CL's, such as 20K, 20K and 1K for a new card, as an example.
- There is little incentive to pay an annual fee if it is not waived.
- The annual fee on Business cards is rarely waived.
- Having a large number of open Citi cards will show up on your credit report and may affect non-Citi applications as well as the overall age of your accounts.
5. Can I apply for a business card if I don’t have a business?
Anyone can apply for a business card. You do not need a registered business with an EIN. If you do not have a business with an EIN or with bills/accounts in the business name, you can apply using your name as the business. The three possibilities are that: 1. You could be approved unconditionally, 2. You could be asked to fax a couple of bills or accounts (water, electricity, gas, cable, or phone bills, bank accounts, etc.) in the name of the business to Citi, or 3. You could be required to fill out and send a 4506-T tax form. Whatever you do do not make up income etc. about the business. Plenty of people have been issued cards for businesses with $0 annual revenue, 1-5 employees, and 0 years in business.
6. Can I buy Visa gift cards to meet my minimum spend?
Purchases from banks are almost always coded as a cash advance regardless of what they are for. Purchases from stores, e.g. CVS, are almost always coded as a purchase.
If you are concerned about it, it’s recommended to send a secure message Citi and have them set your Cash Advance limit to zero. Phone CSRs often say they can not do this.
7. Do I get 10% back when redeeming miles for awards?
It depends. First, the rebate program (which began in April 2012) applies only to holders of these cards:
- Citi Platinum Select AAdvantage Visa Signature
- Citi Platinum Select AAdvantage World MasterCard
- Citi Platinum Select AAdvantage World Elite MasterCard
- Citi Select AAdvantage American Express
Also, the maximum rebate for any cardholder in a single calendar year is 10,000 miles. Having more than one qualifying Citi AA card will not allow you to receive a larger rebate; the restriction applies per AAdvantage account.
For more on the 10% rebate benefit, see Citi 10% miles back / rebate for reward redemption.
8. Do I have to use my own AAdvantage number on applications?
Yes. The name on the card application must match the name on the AAdvantage account. You cannot apply for multiple cards for different people and use the same AAdvantage account number. AA does not care or even know how many Citi accounts you have so there is no harm in having your AAdvantage account number associated with multiple cards in your name. If you forget to add your AAdvantage account number to your application, an AAdvantage account in your name will be created and can later be merged with your existing account by calling AA.
9. There is nothing on the application page stating the bonus miles. How do I know what I will be getting?
You need to have faith in the people here if you want to maximize your miles. The people on this board constantly apply for these cards and report back what they are told are the benefits and what they actually receive. The way Citi works is that if you are approved for a card, you will get the bonus associated with the link you applied under as long as you make the minimum spend. It does not matter if you already had the card or anything else. If you are approved - then you get the bonus. The two exceptions to this are: 1. If you fail to clear your cache and accidentally load a cached application, you get the miles associated with that application and 2. Some people have recently succeeded in 'bumping the bonus' by contacting Citi and requesting a match to a 50K offer after applying for a 40K card. If you don't feel like trusting in the experiences of others, then apply for an offer with a landing page.
10. When will my bonus miles post?
Two working days after the date of the statement containing the charge that takes you across the spend threshold. It posts overnight, it'll be there when you check your AAdvantage account in the morning.
11. I met the minimum spend. Why does my statement say "Miles Reported to AA: 0"?
No one knows exactly why this is happening to some people (Citi blames AA, AA blames Citi, and both blame the merger). It supposedly has something to do with the time it takes them to properly link your AAdvantage number to your card. There are two ways to deal with this:
- Wait 1-2 statement periods, and see if the points post on their own. Per Citi, it can take this long for the accounts to link.
- Call AA (1-800-882-8880) and open a case about it. Most people have had their miles post within 2 weeks of doing this.
For ongoing discussion, see Some AA Citi Card miles not transferred to AAdvantage accounts [Q3 2013 - Q1 2014]
12. Can I cancel a card using secure messaging?
Yes, assuming you have set up the credit card in your Citi account. Quick and easy.
13. I activated the card online and got a message about this card replacing an old card. What does that mean?
When activating cards online, Citi normally displays the text:
"This account replaces your old account, which is now closed. Statements for your old account will be available for up to 6 months. Your current account summary and unbilled transactions are now listed under your new account number."
14. Which credit bureau does Citi pull and can I force them to use a different one?
Citi appears to use Experian most frequently, followed by Equifax. For some people they pull both. It depends on where you are located. You can check the Credit Boards database to see where card issuers have pulled recently.
For the most part, freezing Experian, or another bureau, will not cause Citi to pull a different bureau. They will almost certainly require you to unfreeze the bureau they wish to pull or deny your application. Some people have been successful providing the PIN but others have not. Mostly, freezing a credit bureau in an attempt to force Citi to pull a different one seems to waste time, money, and effort for little result. But YMMV.
For one person's experiences with various card issuers, check here.
For rules and info on any offers that include Admirals club passes or statement credits, see here.
Citi AA credit cards, except Executive. (2013-2014)
Jun 29, 2014, 8:40 pm
#4771
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,933
The issue for frequent Citi churners is, of course, that if they've done it each time they got a new card, and they get new Citi cards more often than that, it's never that long since they last did it, which makes it an irrelevant exception for them.
Jun 29, 2014, 9:59 pm
#4772
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 37
In general you cannot. Citi has stopped doing that since the beginning of 2008 at the onset of financial crisis. It has not changed ever since.
Largely correct. Though if one really wants to move CL, there is still a way - escalating to supervisor, and is willing to accept a hard pull for that privilege without guaranteed success. Needless to say, hardly anyone would go through that.
Largely correct. Though if one really wants to move CL, there is still a way - escalating to supervisor, and is willing to accept a hard pull for that privilege without guaranteed success. Needless to say, hardly anyone would go through that.
So I just got approved for the AA card of this thread. Called in to CSR and was told that I was actually approved for $1k. To increase the card CL I had to move CLs from other cards.
But how about this. Suppose I applied for the AA Exec next (8 days after was it?) I should then have another opportunity to move CL around. Maybe I could move the AA plat CL to the AA Exec. I could potentially cycle this process so that I dont lose CL while iterating the churning process.
Jun 30, 2014, 11:48 am
#4773
Join Date: Sep 2013
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 3,677
That is not quite complete information. You forgot to mention that a novice to MS will probably not be able to avoid the $450ish annual fee for each Exec card, since that typically requires doing all the spend before the first statements posts (and the first statement may not be a full-month cycle, at least not from when you actually receive the card).
You also forgot to mention (what you've admitted in other threads) that MS is a lot harder if you're nowhere near a Walmart. And not everyone is near a Walmart.
Finally, you forgot to explain (we are talking "complete" here!
) that MS stands for Manufactured Spend, and that there's a separate forum devoted to that:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/manuf...-spending-719/
You also forgot to mention (what you've admitted in other threads) that MS is a lot harder if you're nowhere near a Walmart. And not everyone is near a Walmart.
Finally, you forgot to explain (we are talking "complete" here!
) that MS stands for Manufactured Spend, and that there's a separate forum devoted to that:http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/manuf...-spending-719/
And then the posts will be so long that no one will have the time to read them.
You are right though, I should have included links to the relevant threads. It's not easy to find out about all of them, and I personally hate it when someone posts "there is another thread for that" and then doesn't add the link.
I do think it was a bit of a cheap shot to point out that a novice might run into problems applying for an EXEC card. Heck, a novice could run into problems just applying for a single no AF, bonus after first use cc. That however doesn't really affect how great of an opportunity a certain card may or may not be.
Is MS, sorry, Manufactured Spend, harder if you don't have a WalMart nearby? Yes, it's harder, but far from impossible. There's AP, which if you get your cc near the end of the month, you can do $2K of spend in just a few days. There is Evolve, which is YMMV, depending on the number and amount of your bills they have on their list. If you don't have a way to load BB, you can load $1K a month to Serve online. There is....
That's the problem with "complete" posts. I'm nowhere near complete, and yet I'm now in danger of being told "this isn't a thread on MS".
I originally got into this trying to encourage people to broaden their horizons, learn more about the opportunities available to them, and get far more miles and points then they realized were possible. Now I just wish I had kept my mouth shut.
Last edited by Brugge; Jun 30, 2014 at 12:31 pm
Jun 30, 2014, 12:31 pm
#4774
Join Date: Sep 2013
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 3,677
So I just got approved for the AA card of this thread. Called in to CSR and was told that I was actually approved for $1k. To increase the card CL I had to move CLs from other cards.
But how about this. Suppose I applied for the AA Exec next (8 days after was it?) I should then have another opportunity to move CL around. Maybe I could move the AA plat CL to the AA Exec. I could potentially cycle this process so that I dont lose CL while iterating the churning process.
But how about this. Suppose I applied for the AA Exec next (8 days after was it?) I should then have another opportunity to move CL around. Maybe I could move the AA plat CL to the AA Exec. I could potentially cycle this process so that I dont lose CL while iterating the churning process.
But there are a few things to consider:
The minimum CL for an EXEC card is $5K. Even if you have enough CL on other Citi cards to move $5K to an EXEC app at Recon, if you want to apply for a second EXEC, you will not be able to move the CL on the first one below $5K while keeping it open. I don't know your personal situation, but I'm guessing you are going to run out of potential CL too fast to "iterate the churning process" for very long.
And if you make the $10K spend on the first EXEC in time to cancel and avoid the AF, that $5K CL is going to be locked up for some time, possibly as long as 6 months, before it will become available for a new app.
The way Citi has been setting the closing date so close to the app date for most people, your AF will probably be due too soon to both cancel the first card, and also move the full CL to a new EXEC app at Recon. Your AF will probably be due way before the 65 days are up.
The only way I can see to "iterate" EXEC after EXEC, is to pay the $450 AF (actually $250 after the statement credit), then cancel the first EXEC at Recon for the subsequent EXEC app, and move the entire $5K CL to the new EXEC. Citi might well allow you to do that, if you can afford it. Also assuming the offer stays live for some time. You might even be able to get your net costs down to $150 per card, if you can get a retention offer on each card before you cancel it. Be very aware all of this is YMMV !
Finally, maybe someone more knowledgeable than me can comment on the likelihood of someone being approved for an EXEC card, 8 days after only being offered a $1K CL on a regular AA card....
Jun 30, 2014, 12:49 pm
#4775
Join Date: Sep 2013
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 3,677
A friend just mentioned that, they will be out of the country for a total of 7.5 months in the next 12 months - 3 trips already booked, and 3 millions balances still remaining across programs. So he does not see any reason to get the card, except just one for the wife as a token.
I still don't understand why that story about your wealthy friend was a response to this:
Which I thought was an excellent point. Except of course for Warren Buffet and Donald Trump.
Jun 30, 2014, 8:09 pm
#4776
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 37
I applaud your creative thinking here.
But there are a few things to consider:
The minimum CL for an EXEC card is $5K. Even if you have enough CL on other Citi cards to move $5K to an EXEC app at Recon, if you want to apply for a second EXEC, you will not be able to move the CL on the first one below $5K while keeping it open. I don't know your personal situation, but I'm guessing you are going to run out of potential CL too fast to "iterate the churning process" for very long.
And if you make the $10K spend on the first EXEC in time to cancel and avoid the AF, that $5K CL is going to be locked up for some time, possibly as long as 6 months, before it will become available for a new app.
The way Citi has been setting the closing date so close to the app date for most people, your AF will probably be due too soon to both cancel the first card, and also move the full CL to a new EXEC app at Recon. Your AF will probably be due way before the 65 days are up.
The only way I can see to "iterate" EXEC after EXEC, is to pay the $450 AF (actually $250 after the statement credit), then cancel the first EXEC at Recon for the subsequent EXEC app, and move the entire $5K CL to the new EXEC. Citi might well allow you to do that, if you can afford it. Also assuming the offer stays live for some time. You might even be able to get your net costs down to $150 per card, if you can get a retention offer on each card before you cancel it. Be very aware all of this is YMMV !
Finally, maybe someone more knowledgeable than me can comment on the likelihood of someone being approved for an EXEC card, 8 days after only being offered a $1K CL on a regular AA card....
But there are a few things to consider:
The minimum CL for an EXEC card is $5K. Even if you have enough CL on other Citi cards to move $5K to an EXEC app at Recon, if you want to apply for a second EXEC, you will not be able to move the CL on the first one below $5K while keeping it open. I don't know your personal situation, but I'm guessing you are going to run out of potential CL too fast to "iterate the churning process" for very long.
And if you make the $10K spend on the first EXEC in time to cancel and avoid the AF, that $5K CL is going to be locked up for some time, possibly as long as 6 months, before it will become available for a new app.
The way Citi has been setting the closing date so close to the app date for most people, your AF will probably be due too soon to both cancel the first card, and also move the full CL to a new EXEC app at Recon. Your AF will probably be due way before the 65 days are up.
The only way I can see to "iterate" EXEC after EXEC, is to pay the $450 AF (actually $250 after the statement credit), then cancel the first EXEC at Recon for the subsequent EXEC app, and move the entire $5K CL to the new EXEC. Citi might well allow you to do that, if you can afford it. Also assuming the offer stays live for some time. You might even be able to get your net costs down to $150 per card, if you can get a retention offer on each card before you cancel it. Be very aware all of this is YMMV !
Finally, maybe someone more knowledgeable than me can comment on the likelihood of someone being approved for an EXEC card, 8 days after only being offered a $1K CL on a regular AA card....
The reason the CSR offered to move CL for me to approve the AA Plat is because he claimed I have already attained the maximum credit limit that Citi wanted to offer me across all the cards I have with them. So the additional $1k extended was already a courtesy for them I believe. Anyways I am not sure of the churning process for AA Plat/Exec/Business since I am learning as I am going, but if you are churning these cards once every 8/65?/91? days how soon are people hitting their max allotted CL. Is churning these cards really sustainable? What do people do with their CL once they are ready to cancel their current AA card?
Since I had to move around CL to get this AA card I am little worried about saving the limits from my other cards come closing time.
Jul 1, 2014, 10:05 am
#4777
Join Date: Sep 2013
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 3,677
Thank you for the response. Looks like more thinking is needed in my approach.
The reason the CSR offered to move CL for me to approve the AA Plat is because he claimed I have already attained the maximum credit limit that Citi wanted to offer me across all the cards I have with them. So the additional $1k extended was already a courtesy for them I believe. Anyways I am not sure of the churning process for AA Plat/Exec/Business since I am learning as I am going, but if you are churning these cards once every 8/65?/91? days how soon are people hitting their max allotted CL. Is churning these cards really sustainable? What do people do with their CL once they are ready to cancel their current AA card?
Since I had to move around CL to get this AA card I am little worried about saving the limits from my other cards come closing time.
The reason the CSR offered to move CL for me to approve the AA Plat is because he claimed I have already attained the maximum credit limit that Citi wanted to offer me across all the cards I have with them. So the additional $1k extended was already a courtesy for them I believe. Anyways I am not sure of the churning process for AA Plat/Exec/Business since I am learning as I am going, but if you are churning these cards once every 8/65?/91? days how soon are people hitting their max allotted CL. Is churning these cards really sustainable? What do people do with their CL once they are ready to cancel their current AA card?
Since I had to move around CL to get this AA card I am little worried about saving the limits from my other cards come closing time.
If you lower your limits right away, by the time you are ready to apply again, the amount of CL you lowered will be available again. Any CL left on a card when you cancel it will be unusable for 3 to 6 months. So make sure you have lowered the CL on any card you plan to cancel as low as it can go. If you're not sure, call the number on the back of the card and ask the CSR.
Everyone's CL limit is different, so I can't comment on how people are handling it. As for churning, there are several reports of people just recently getting their 6th EXEC card. And planning to apply for #7 in 65 days.
Jul 1, 2014, 1:53 pm
#4778
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,762
I'd love to be so affluent that I could travel more than half the year, and still have so many millions of miles and points left over that I'd see the EXEC card as nothing more than a "token" gift for my wife. But of course, I'm not. If I was, I wouldn't be reading and posting here.
I still don't understand why that story about your wealthy friend was a response to this:
Which I thought was an excellent point. Except of course for Warren Buffet and Donald Trump.
I still don't understand why that story about your wealthy friend was a response to this:
Which I thought was an excellent point. Except of course for Warren Buffet and Donald Trump.
IkeEsq pointed out people who got to amass millions of miles do not get there in short time. They do it methodically with measured pace. They do not dash to the end line.
sdsearch further pointed out when people have enough cushion in their accounts, there is no more need to be very aggressive.
My example of a friend's situation is to illustrate that in real life there are indeed such people.
It is not a matter of being wealthy or whatever. It is simple math or more specifically, a cost and "profit" analysis, a business decision. The cost of getting 100K miles makes sense to some. It does not make sense to others. I think Ike has made that point very clear but that does not seem to get across to some.
Last edited by Happy; Jul 1, 2014 at 9:17 pm
Jul 1, 2014, 5:19 pm
#4779
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 37
Uh-huh, I was worried that the $1K CL meant you were at your limit with Citi. You have a couple of options here. On your next app, at Recon you can cancel one or two cards you have with Citi, and move their entire CLs to the new card, thus not losing any CL. Or while waiting the 65 days, you can SM Citi and ask them to lower the CL on one or more of the cards you have with them. I believe the minimum CL is $1K for a Citi AMEX, $3K for a Citi Visa Signature card, and $5K for a World Elite AA.
If you lower your limits right away, by the time you are ready to apply again, the amount of CL you lowered will be available again. Any CL left on a card when you cancel it will be unusable for 3 to 6 months. So make sure you have lowered the CL on any card you plan to cancel as low as it can go. If you're not sure, call the number on the back of the card and ask the CSR.
Everyone's CL limit is different, so I can't comment on how people are handling it. As for churning, there are several reports of people just recently getting their 6th EXEC card. And planning to apply for #7 in 65 days.
If you lower your limits right away, by the time you are ready to apply again, the amount of CL you lowered will be available again. Any CL left on a card when you cancel it will be unusable for 3 to 6 months. So make sure you have lowered the CL on any card you plan to cancel as low as it can go. If you're not sure, call the number on the back of the card and ask the CSR.
Everyone's CL limit is different, so I can't comment on how people are handling it. As for churning, there are several reports of people just recently getting their 6th EXEC card. And planning to apply for #7 in 65 days.
As for the second method supposing I reduce the CL throughout the 65 days on the AA Plat, does Citi have no problem in me canceling their card after the 65th day? ...Only to reapply for it a couple of days after? I am just not convinced that they would not give me any trouble when I apply for it again.
Last edited by asilva732; Jul 1, 2014 at 10:18 pm
Jul 1, 2014, 7:03 pm
#4780
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As for the second method supposing I reduce the CL throughout the 65 days on the AA Plat, does Citi have no problem in me canceling their card after the 65th day? ...Only to reapply for it a couple of days after? I am just not convinced that they would not give me any trouble when I apply for it again.
Having said that,you're in the thread for AA non-Exec cards, and you can't reapply for a non-Exec personal AA card until (12 to) 18 (to 26) months after you last previously applied for a personal (Exec or non-Exec) AA card. So the scenario you propose is impossible right now with a non-Exec personal AA card (such as an AA Plat).
However, both when Citi AA personal cards were much more churnable in the past, and currently with the extremely churnable Citi HHonors personal cards, Cit has no problem with you applying for card 2 and then card 3 of exactly the same card while still having card 1, so why would they care whether you had cancelled just card 1???
Every bank is different with respect to churning (and at certain banks like Citi the churning rules are very different from one card to another). What would be insane to believe about certain other banks does need to believed about Citi, because Citi is not like most other banks when it comes to churning.
Last edited by sdsearch; Jul 1, 2014 at 7:09 pm
Jul 1, 2014, 10:37 pm
#4781
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 37
Who knows? Except for business cards (where most people have to do it in that order), most people here know that Citi doesn't care if you cancel first or not, and in fact there's an advantage to applying for card 2 before you cancel card 1 (they can pull credit, if needed for approval for card 2, from a still-open card, but they can't pull it from a closed card), and so I bet most people are in the habit of cancelling soon after applying, rather than cancelling just before reapplying.
Having said that,you're in the thread for AA non-Exec cards, and you can't reapply for a non-Exec personal AA card until (12 to) 18 (to 26) months after you last previously applied for a personal (Exec or non-Exec) AA card. So the scenario you propose is impossible right now with a non-Exec personal AA card (such as an AA Plat).
However, both when Citi AA personal cards were much more churnable in the past, and currently with the extremely churnable Citi HHonors personal cards, Cit has no problem with you applying for card 2 and then card 3 of exactly the same card while still having card 1, so why would they care whether you had cancelled just card 1???
Every bank is different with respect to churning (and at certain banks like Citi the churning rules are very different from one card to another). What would be insane to believe about certain other banks does need to believed about Citi, because Citi is not like most other banks when it comes to churning.
Having said that,you're in the thread for AA non-Exec cards, and you can't reapply for a non-Exec personal AA card until (12 to) 18 (to 26) months after you last previously applied for a personal (Exec or non-Exec) AA card. So the scenario you propose is impossible right now with a non-Exec personal AA card (such as an AA Plat).
However, both when Citi AA personal cards were much more churnable in the past, and currently with the extremely churnable Citi HHonors personal cards, Cit has no problem with you applying for card 2 and then card 3 of exactly the same card while still having card 1, so why would they care whether you had cancelled just card 1???
Every bank is different with respect to churning (and at certain banks like Citi the churning rules are very different from one card to another). What would be insane to believe about certain other banks does need to believed about Citi, because Citi is not like most other banks when it comes to churning.
So from what you are saying Citi doesnt seem to care if I apply for a new iteration of the business card and cancel the prior iteration shortly after. So to solve the sustainability problem of CL at each iteration, is it OK for Citi to move CL from a prior iteration into the new one.
Initially my plan was to apply for the AA Plat, wait 8 days and do the AA business, and finally go for the Exec (after 65 days?). But if I already hit my allotted limit with the AA plat I cant really see myself following this strategy.
Jul 2, 2014, 8:44 am
#4782
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No way to know how Citi will treat you until you try.
Jul 2, 2014, 1:10 pm
#4783
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So from what you are saying Citi doesnt seem to care if I apply for a new iteration of the business card and cancel the prior iteration shortly after. So to solve the sustainability problem of CL at each iteration, is it OK for Citi to move CL from a prior iteration into the new one.
Initially my plan was to apply for the AA Plat, wait 8 days and do the AA business, and finally go for the Exec (after 65 days?). But if I already hit my allotted limit with the AA plat I cant really see myself following this strategy.
Initially my plan was to apply for the AA Plat, wait 8 days and do the AA business, and finally go for the Exec (after 65 days?). But if I already hit my allotted limit with the AA plat I cant really see myself following this strategy.
If you're going to apply for an AA Plat at all, yes, you need to do that first.
After that, what order you do Exec vs Business is up to you; they're independent of each other (except for the 8/65 day Citi-wide clocks).
Just make sure you can do the spend on all of these in time; there's nothing sillier than applying for a card (that has a high bonus dependent on a spend threshold) when you don't have a plan on how to meet that spend in time and then miss out on the bonus because you didn't meet the spend in time. Remember sometimes Citi sends you a card faster and sometimes slower, so the card you apply for 8 days later might actually arrive in the mail before the card you applied for 8 days earlier. (And yet the spend time period started before they even put the card in the mail!)
Jul 2, 2014, 4:18 pm
#4784
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 37
For enough people, Citi requires for business AA cards that you completely close not only the previous business AA credit card but also its associated "master" account, and only after that is completed and verified can you apply again. If you don't know whether this applies to you, you can either follow this procedure "to be safe', or you can "try" to see if they'll let you do it without canceling (and risk finding out, after a wasted "hard pull", that they won't). I'm fairly risk-averse, so I'm going to cancel first before applying for another business card.
If you're going to apply for an AA Plat at all, yes, you need to do that first.
After that, what order you do Exec vs Business is up to you; they're independent of each other (except for the 8/65 day Citi-wide clocks).
Just make sure you can do the spend on all of these in time; there's nothing sillier than applying for a card (that has a high bonus dependent on a spend threshold) when you don't have a plan on how to meet that spend in time and then miss out on the bonus because you didn't meet the spend in time. Remember sometimes Citi sends you a card faster and sometimes slower, so the card you apply for 8 days later might actually arrive in the mail before the card you applied for 8 days earlier. (And yet the spend time period started before they even put the card in the mail!)
If you're going to apply for an AA Plat at all, yes, you need to do that first.
After that, what order you do Exec vs Business is up to you; they're independent of each other (except for the 8/65 day Citi-wide clocks).
Just make sure you can do the spend on all of these in time; there's nothing sillier than applying for a card (that has a high bonus dependent on a spend threshold) when you don't have a plan on how to meet that spend in time and then miss out on the bonus because you didn't meet the spend in time. Remember sometimes Citi sends you a card faster and sometimes slower, so the card you apply for 8 days later might actually arrive in the mail before the card you applied for 8 days earlier. (And yet the spend time period started before they even put the card in the mail!)
Jul 2, 2014, 5:10 pm
#4785
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Right. I understand where you are coming from. I prefer the conservative approach as well. But un my earlier post I mentioned that it wouldnt be possible for me to do this. Citi has me told I am already attained the overall CL they can extend to me for all my accounts with them. Suppose I "safely" cancel this AA Plat after meeting the min. spend criteria. Then when I try to apply for a new AA Plat I wouldnt be approved. The CL from the old AA wont be available for me. And since Im already at the max CL I doubt they would approve me.