I got a letter from Citi today saying:
"This specific offer is valid only for first time Citi AAdvantage cardmembers. Our records indicate that you already have a CitiAAdvantage card account with us."
I hope there is a way around this but maybe Citi has stopped this.
I got a letter from Citi today saying:
"This specific offer is valid only for first time Diti AAdvantage cardmembers. Our records indicate that you already have a CitiAAdvantage Acrd account with us."
I hope there is a way around this but maybe Citi has stopped this.
May I ask which offer you used (best to have a link)? The one with or without the language that indicates the offers are only for first-time card members?
Wonder if you will be able to cancel all Citi AA cards and then reapply? Would cut down the churning and make you pay the fee but it may still be worth it.
Update: My wife just applied for her "monthly" MC. She had canceled all past Citi cards except 1. Instant approval. Used the "old" application with the first year free.
May I ask which offer you used (best to have a link)? The one with or without the language that indicates the offers are only for first-time card members?
I have an exisitng Citi credit card open. My husband also applied the same day and we both got to the screen that said to call for instant approval. I didn't. Maybe I should have. So far only I got the letter. My husband closed all cards with Citi the night he submitted the aplication. I'll post what happens with his account. Hopefully closing all accounts and opening a new account will do the trick.
Odd. The T&C say "This offer is only valid for new accounts."
Between this and the fact that I haven't gotten a response to my app this week -- for the last 2 apps, I got a phone call within the hour offering me the card provided I agreed to reallocate existing credit -- I am starting to fear that CandymanJim is right that the gravy train is off the rails.
Correct me if I am wrong but the language has always read for "new accounts" so I don't think there has been a change.
As I said in post 15, the terms and conditions (which says "new accounts") are the same between all the applications. However what is different is the "description" or "card details" page. Compare the following two pages:
As I said in post 15, the terms and conditions (which says "new accounts") are the same between all the applications. However what is different is the "description" or "card details" page. Compare the following two pages:
You will see that "note 1" is significantly different between the two. This change is what has everyone concerned.
I concur with DeanT, the wording change is significant. Under the old wording, one could apply for cards and each card was issued a new, unique "account" number. You could actually apply for as many cards at once as they would approve you for or just churn month after month. Whether the wording change is a result of someone at Citi/AA getting wise to the churning (you know perhaps some employees read FlyerTalk...) or it's a change as a result of the new federal credit card legislation is up in the air. I think it's a change as a result of the economic climate and the new legislation. It's much easier for Citi to limit the number of cards an individual can have then jack up fees. Although if they thought about it and started hitting folks with "inactivity fees" which there is talk of, then that would probably make the masses police themselves as far as multiple CC accounts.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lkohawaii
I got a letter from Citi today saying:
"This specific offer is valid only for first time Citi AAdvantage cardmembers. Our records indicate that you already have a CitiAAdvantage card account with us."
I hope there is a way around this but maybe Citi has stopped this.
The sky is falling, the sky is falling.....
This is what I have been worrying about. I can only hope they have different offers for "first time" and another for "new" cardmembers. I wonder if Visa is treated differently than the MC offers, but a CitiAAdvantage is both the Visa and MC and AMEX, so it is not looking too good. I can only hope that by 11/30/09 we have another offer on the table. I was just approved for my latest round this week so I have yet to get declined (lately).
Jim
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I suspect that Citi has put a complete stop to the churning as we have known it. However, based on the letter that lkohawaii received, it MAY be possible to cancel all Citi cards before applying and get the "new account" bonus.
Of course we will not know if this works until someone tries.
Given this, can anyone make any suggestions for other cards which have similar offers to this one which I could try?
No. Becuase there aren't any!
I realize you're posting in a new thread, but have you see the giant "60 day" thread, or the sticky thread? The whole reason Citi has such threads while no other bank does is because Citi was the last bank (with an airline card) that allowed "heavy" churning. (Some others allow "ultra light" churning at best, like maybe a new card -- in a given affinity program -- every few years.)
(A few years ago several banks allowed "reasonable" churning, then Chase stopped it first, and one by one everyone else followed, by Citi was the last holdout a year or two after everyone else. Most of us who've been watching this a long time are actually surprised it lasted this long. At every step of the way we weren't sure whether it would be around more than a couple months longer!)
The alternative is to get cards that get you different things. 100k BA miles from the current Chase offer won't get you AA miles, but will get you miles you can use for (non-TATL) AA flights. Hotel cards aplenty will get you points that you could transfer to AA (though at some loss of value in most cases, compared to using them for hotel stays). But if you can't churn Citi AA, then you'll have to switch to applying for a card for a different program every time. (And pretty quickly you're likely to run out of programs without repeating.)
The alternative is to get cards that get you different things. 100k BA miles from the current Chase offer won't get you AA miles, but will get you miles you can use for (non-TATL) AA flights. Hotel cards aplenty will get you points that you could transfer to AA (though at some loss of value in most cases, compared to using them for hotel stays). But if you can't churn Citi AA, then you'll have to switch to applying for a card for a different program every time. (And pretty quickly you're likely to run out of programs without repeating.)
The problem with this is that Chase and Citi are restricting giving out new cards regardless of the brand on existing ones. And Chase does so much branding, this will cause roadblocks in getting any value in cards.
For example, I was just refused a Chase SWA card because of too many CC applications for Citi. Now I'm screwed. No CO, SWA, UAL, Marriott, etc. I have to wait out the time (6 mos?) to reapply. It's just getting harder and harder.
Last edited by thebat; Nov 22, 09 at 10:06 am..
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