Originally Posted by ka9taw
This intrigued me since I have still somehow managed to resist all arm-twisting from Citi to switch my old Gold AAdvantage Visa to MasterCard. It was my impression that Citibank was pretty much done with the Visa brand, and from previous discussions here I learned that they made more money from Mastercard anyway.
Like you, I've also resisted all the overtures over the last couple of years to switch my Citi Visa to a Mastercard. For me, there's no particular reason to switch so I've been quite happy with the status quo.
The latest gambit (received a couple of weeks ago) is that they're going to send me a new Mastercard and close the Visa account unless I tell them not to before the end of the month. The letter (jointly signed by Citi and AA) is gushing in its language about how I've "earned an upgrade to a superior.... card".
From where I sit, the best I can figure out is Citi has stopped issuing Visa cards (for whatever reason) and is (and has been for some time) in the Mastercard 'camp'. Fair enough .... and people like us who still have Visa cards and who have ignored the 'suggestions' to convert must be a bit of a nuisance. What I really object to is the "intellectual dishonesty" demonstrated by letters such as the recent one I received, which is nothing more than a bunch of bs.
Citi - if you want me to convert, at least do me the courtesy of being honest with me about the reasons. Don't dress it up in some disingenous letter about how I've "earned" an "upgrade"..... all that does is ensure that I won't convert.