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Citi AA credit cards, except Executive. (2013-2014)

Old Jun 13, 2013, 2:57 pm
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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.

* * *


SEE NEW THREAD - 50K AA Cards


As of Sunday August 25, 2013:
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.

Landing page for 50K Business and Personal MC requires $3K spend in 3 months. $95 annual fee, waived first year. This page leads to the following application pages:
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 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. Landing page available here.

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
  1. Are these AA cards churnable?
  2. What are the most current time-restriction rules in applying for all Citi cards?
  3. Do I need to close existing cards before applying?
  4. When should I close existing Citi accounts?
  5. Can I apply for a business card if I dont have a business?
  6. Can I buy Visa gift cards to meet my minimum spend?
  7. Do I get 10% back when redeeming miles for awards?
  8. Do I have to use my own AAdvantage number on applications?
  9. There is nothing on the application page stating the bonus miles. How do I know what I will be getting?
  10. When will my bonus miles post?
  11. I met the minimum spend. Why does my statement say "Miles Reported to AA: 0"?
  12. Can I cancel a card using secure messaging?
  13. I activated the card online and got a message about this card replacing an old card. What does that mean?
  14. 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 dont 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, its 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
It does not apply to the Citi Gold World MasterCard, Citi Executive products, or some of the Citi Business cards.

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."
This is normal and is supposed to be displayed when activating a replacement card but it seems to display even when activating a brand new card. This is nothing to worry about.


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.
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Citi AA credit cards, except Executive. (2013-2014)

Old Jul 18, 2013, 1:18 pm
  #811  
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: CLT
Programs: US Silver, IHG Platinum
Posts: 62
Data Point

April 2013 - Approved for 45k Citi Select AAdvantage AMEX
July 2013 - Approved for 50k Citi Platinum AAdvantage Visa Signature
tigermark82 is offline  
Old Jul 18, 2013, 2:16 pm
  #812  
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: San Antonio
Programs: AS MVP
Posts: 2,276
Originally Posted by jigri2003
Hope I did not miss a relevant post, but has anyone who already had an open AA Plat Visa at the time of applying for the latest 50k Plat Visa offer already completed the spend and had the 50k post to their account?
As with everything else in this game, things will change and YMMV. But if Citi does something totally out of character with what they have done for the past 5+ years, this thread will explode with furious churners within the next week.
KennyBSAT is offline  
Old Jul 18, 2013, 2:27 pm
  #813  
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Richmond, VA
Posts: 124
Originally Posted by KennyBSAT
As with everything else in this game, things will change and YMMV. But if Citi does something totally out of character with what they have done for the past 5+ years, this thread will explode with furious churners within the next week.
Not to mention MMS will then make a blog post with circles and arrows.
Achilles is offline  
Old Jul 18, 2013, 2:49 pm
  #814  
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 344
Following this thread I thought I had applied for the 50,000 mile bonus Visa card. I had a Citi AA Master Card. Not immediately approved, but some back and forth with an agent via e-mail. Closed the Master Card and approved for the Visa. The card comes today and there is not a mention of the 50,000 bonus miles in the promotional literature.

I was thinking I was a "new" Visa customer, even though I am an existing Master Card holder.

Am I going to get the bonus miles?
bakoboy is offline  
Old Jul 18, 2013, 2:51 pm
  #815  
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 109
50k visa

Originally Posted by happy9zz
Citi made 1 pull on my Experian, and 1 pull on Transunion at the same date when I applied Citi AA 50,000 points 4 days ago.

Can I freeze my Transunion for my next Citi? so Citi will pull my Experian only?
That's what I am trying to figure out. I live in FL and in 2012 the 2 BM resulted in 1 equi hard pull. In June 2013 the 40k MC resulted in 1equi and 1 exp - for both me and the wife. Want to go for the 50k but will freeze 1 bureau to avoid 2 hards.

Question is in my case I know they will pull equi but if they try to pull a second bureau and its frozen will they deny it because they could not get the 2nd pull?

Anyone know?
bailey911 is offline  
Old Jul 18, 2013, 3:02 pm
  #816  
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 299
Originally Posted by Achilles
Not to mention MMS will then make a blog post with circles and arrows.
So far, the bloggers have been silent about the new churnability of the Cita AA cards. Once they post about it, Citi will shut it down, so everyone should get in now Actually, maybe not. Citi let 2BM go for a long time.
waingro is offline  
Old Jul 18, 2013, 3:04 pm
  #817  
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 299
Originally Posted by bakoboy
Following this thread I thought I had applied for the 50,000 mile bonus Visa card. I had a Citi AA Master Card. Not immediately approved, but some back and forth with an agent via e-mail. Closed the Master Card and approved for the Visa. The card comes today and there is not a mention of the 50,000 bonus miles in the promotional literature.

I was thinking I was a "new" Visa customer, even though I am an existing Master Card holder.

Am I going to get the bonus miles?
I don't think any bank mentions bonuses in the materials. So yes, you are getting the bonus. You can call to be 100% sure.
waingro is offline  
Old Jul 18, 2013, 3:27 pm
  #818  
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: San Antonio
Programs: AS MVP
Posts: 2,276
Originally Posted by bakoboy
Following this thread I thought I had applied for the 50,000 mile bonus Visa card. I had a Citi AA Master Card. Not immediately approved, but some back and forth with an agent via e-mail. Closed the Master Card and approved for the Visa. The card comes today and there is not a mention of the 50,000 bonus miles in the promotional literature.

I was thinking I was a "new" Visa customer, even though I am an existing Master Card holder.

Am I going to get the bonus miles?
In the old days (before June 15th or so) many people were denied with no credit pull for being existing Platinum (or AMEX Select) cardholders, if the offending card had been opened less than ~18 months prior. Regardless of whether it was Visa, MC or AMEX.

Those were dark days indeed. You are, however, good to go.
KennyBSAT is offline  
Old Jul 18, 2013, 3:51 pm
  #819  
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: DCA
Posts: 7,761
Originally Posted by KennyBSAT
In the old days (before June 15th or so) many people were denied with no credit pull for being existing Platinum (or AMEX Select) cardholders, if the offending card had been opened less than ~18 months prior.
^^This. Citi doesn't have a history or denying points or doing clawbacks; it denies accounts from being opened.

The TY incident, again, was different. That was perk abuse (in their opinion, not necessarily mine). The action seen (closing accounts) was in response to given actions. Yes, points may have posted before the closures occured; if I had to guess that was because the point posting was on an automated system while the account closures were due to human efforts (investigation and signing off on this punitive action) which lagged due to the time needed to take the actions.
arlflyer is offline  
Old Jul 18, 2013, 3:56 pm
  #820  
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Programs: AA plt 2 mm, Marriott LTT, HH dia
Posts: 1,215
Originally Posted by bailey911
That's what I am trying to figure out. I live in FL and in 2012 the 2 BM resulted in 1 equi hard pull. In June 2013 the 40k MC resulted in 1equi and 1 exp - for both me and the wife. Want to go for the 50k but will freeze 1 bureau to avoid 2 hards.

Question is in my case I know they will pull equi but if they try to pull a second bureau and its frozen will they deny it because they could not get the 2nd pull?

Anyone know?
You do risk them denying it because they cannot pull the second bureau. But that is the way it is supposed to work, the way I understand it. A credit freeze means that you do not want credit to be issued in your name. I went through identity theft, and a freeze is meant to protect crime victims from having accounts fraudulently opened in their name.

Also, while asking someone else's experience on this board can be helpful, it does not mean you will have the same outcome. If someone else was able to get a card even though they had an active credit freeze, that doesn't mean you will get a card, too.

If Citi does deny it, you can call reconsideration within 30 days of applying. If the reason for the denial is the freeze, you can offer to unfreeze the report. It may or may not work.

If you decide to give it a try, please post your results!
jeanie is offline  
Old Jul 18, 2013, 7:19 pm
  #821  
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 21
anyone in here succeeded getting the 2nd visa signature 50k bonus?? on the 2nd week after the first one approved?
hondaaccordtravel is offline  
Old Jul 18, 2013, 7:28 pm
  #822  
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: San Antonio
Programs: AS MVP
Posts: 2,276
Originally Posted by hondaaccordtravel
anyone in here succeeded getting the 2nd visa signature 50k bonus?? on the 2nd week after the first one approved?
Welcome to flyertalk! I know it's a long thread, but your question was asked and answered affirmatively yesterday. Post #764.
KennyBSAT is offline  
Old Jul 18, 2013, 7:36 pm
  #823  
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,927
Originally Posted by webazoid
here's another 40k aa plat world mc after 3k spend: http://creditcards.citicards.com/usc...BC03ED0105D4CC
Requires 3k spend in 3 months, and is apparently not "frequently" churnable:
* This Citi / AAdvantage card offer is only valid for new applicants for a Citi / AAdvantage account made pursuant to this offer and is not available to existing cardmembers or recent applicants for a Citi / AAdvantage credit card.
Translation: It's an offer that appears to be subject to the 12 to 18 to 26 months "rule".

So what's the allure in this offer (for those in this thread)???
sdsearch is offline  
Old Jul 18, 2013, 7:44 pm
  #824  
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
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Originally Posted by jigri2003
Hope I did not miss a relevant post, but has anyone who already had an open AA Plat Visa at the time of applying for the latest 50k Plat Visa offer already completed the spend and had the 50k post to their account?

The reason I ask is the language in the T&C about existing cardholders not being eligible. Although I know the prior experience with similar offers has been miles posting if approved for the card, I don't believe that language existed for the prior offers.
Two things to be noted:

First, I'd call in post 265 the supposed T&Cs. That's because there are additional T&Cs in the application page itself, and there it says:
• This offer is only valid for new accounts.
(which is the traditional "frequently churnable" language).

So there's contradictory T&Cs apparently for the current 50k Plat Visa offer (at the top of the Wiki). It says "rarely churnable" in one set of T&Cs but "frequently churnable" in the other set of T&Cs!

Second, even the "existing cardholders" clause does not really mean what it says. It means the (12 to) 18 (to 26) month "rule" applies. (And that rule, at Citi, is from when you last applied for a card they're "counting", not when or whether you cancelled it. Citi doesn't count uncancelled cards against you, it just may count cards you opened "too recently" against you in some cases.)

Last edited by sdsearch; Jul 18, 2013 at 7:52 pm
sdsearch is offline  
Old Jul 18, 2013, 9:42 pm
  #825  
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 19
clarification question

To IkeEsq and fellow FT members who have churned the AA Plat Visa...

have been reading the thread and wanted to clarify something.

to make this churn work, are you doing the following
day 1 apply once
day 8 apply second using same link (will Citi actually give you the same card twice?!)
repeat every 7/8 days until you get declined or can't meet the minimum spend or your Credit score get hit too hard...?

is that how it works?
thanks much

Originally Posted by IkeEsq
Recent Approval History:
12/09/2012 - 50K AmEx/Visa [Both] (Open)
02/24/2013 - 30K MC Gold [Ike] (Open)
02/24/2013 - 50K Biz [Ms Ike] (Open)
04/26/2013 - 30K MC Gold [Ms Ike] (Open)

Latest Applications:
06/29/2013 - 50K Visa [Ike] Instant Approval
07/01/2013 - 50K Visa [Ike] Deferred Step 3 - Declined too many Apps.

06/29/2013 - 50K Visa [Ms. Ike] Deferred Step 5, Approved on chat 07/02/2013
07/10/2013 - 50K Visa [Ms. Ike] Deferred Step 5, Approved on chat 07/10/2013

So I think, based on my own experiment, the current rule is one application per week. Also that the 50K is churnable immediately. All four of the recent applications were using the 50K Link in the Wiki.

I have updated the Wiki to reflect the one-week rule.
tsanfei is offline  

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