I just called Citi retentions and told them I wasn't interested in paying the AF on a Premier account that is due today. I was first offered the standard $125 for $4,500 spend and $75 for $1,000 spend. I said I wasn't interested and the CSR offered to downgrade to the Preferred. I then inquired about the Forward and how it differs from the Preferred. The CSR said that the Forward offers 5x TYP on bookstores, restaurants, entertainment, etc. and that the Preferred has rotating categories. I chose the Forward card since much of my spending is on restaurants. The CSR did not mention anything about being a college student, which I am not, except when he was reading the T&C, he mentioned the Good Grades credit. I'm going to wait until I have the written T&C and card (August 5th!) before I believe this completely. This sounds a little too good to be true considering the discussions about TY program consolidations and the Forward card bonus being reduced.

Now I have to decide if I should cancel/downgrade my other Premier card, or take one of the retention offers to take advantage of the 1.33 TYP travel redemption. If everything holds, the Forward may be my primary card when I'm not meeting a spending requirement for a bonus.