For those that usually want to reapply every 6 months or a year, I do suggest downgrading to a regular Citi Dividends Card (no annual fee). It is very easy to change from the Citi Dividends Card to a Citi AA Card as the Citi folks know that you are already a customer. To cancel the card completely may affect your credit score (although I personally don't worry about that). To change from one Citi card to another should not affect your credit score (although I am not completely sure about this).

For those who that really do charge a ton of money on the Citi AA card to earn AA miles, I would recommend the Starwood Amex Card. Starwood allows 20,000 points to convert to 25,000 AA miles so that is $5,000 less of charges you need to make. I personally charge the vast majority of my expenses on this card.

Was curious to know if those that use the Citi AA Card see an advantage to using this card for the majority of expenses.

Exactly correct. Citibank is only paying 97-98% of the amount charged to the retailer. So then they get the 100% amount from you + any interest you incur. The $50 is some buffer on the amount of miles they have to buy from AA. I assume Citibank pays around 1 cent/mile, but that's just my educated guess.

I just called to 'cancel' my Citi Aadvantage gold card b/c the annual fee had posted, and once again was offered to have the fee waived. I've had the card 4+ years. Each year when the renewal fee comes up I call to tell them I want to cancel due to the fee, and each year they they waive the fee. I end up doing $1-$2K/month on the card, never carry a balance, and never pay late.

Updating the Thread....
 

I was charged my annual fee this month, and just played the cancellation game. I charged about $40,000 last year to my Platnium Citi Aadvantage MC (the fee being $85). I pay the card off every month, and the majority of my spending came in the second half of the year.

I called to cancel the card. My first offer to get me to stay was a BOGO flight certificate (no thank you), 1,000 miles (nope) and then finally a $50 credit towards the fee. Couldn't get the guy to budge higher than that but the agent did say my alternate plan to downgrade my card to a Gold card, which still earns one mile per dollar but carries a $50 fee, would work in recouping the entire fee for myself.

-z

Do they ever offer you miles instead or in addition?

Just went through this yesterday. I played nice on the phone and figured if the guy spent enough time with me they would budge. Nope, Kept offereing me 50 bucks off the fee and then offered to downgrade to gold. Same as the previous poster. Only difference was they tried to get me to go to another card. I think it was called a Diamond or the Hilton Honors. The money isn't so much the deal to me but the miles.

I charge about 100K per year and have had the card 17 years. Out of curiosity, I called to cancel and the rep tried to change me to a no fee AMEX card. Since I also have a Starwood AMEX, I declined. The rep said he would transfer me to the cancellation department and voila, the new rep said he would immediately send me a certificate for a $50 credit. It was pretty easy.

I know your post was a while ago, but I wonder if you have seen this thread:

The Amex F/X scam continues-- time to contact Spitzer?

Apparently, AMEX was/is using a terrible exchange rate very consistently, and thus overcharging. There has been one class action and there is another in progress.

This is making me re-think a switch to an SPG Amex.

I just successfully had my fee waived. I've had my Citi Aadvantage Gold Card now for 6 years, and have yet to pay an annual fee. Each year I call when my annual fee hits and tell them that I'm thinking of going to a no-fee American Express card. Each year they give me a credit to my account to cover the fee. For info purposes, I charge around $2K-$4K per month and have always paid the balance in full when I receive the bill.

I have had the card for many, many years. Never asked to have the fee waived and charge similarly to you ... and pay in full. Thanks for the tip.

BTW, credit card companies do not like people like us. They want people to carry a balance so they can rake in the rip off interest charges. :td:

They definitely like people who charge a reasonable amount each month, even if they pay it off. They make quite a bit off the merchant charges.

I do agree that the interest charges are a rip. On the other hand, i think that anyone who carries a balance pretty much deserves what they get.

Cheers.

Wirelessly posted (Treo: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 98; PalmSource/Palm-D060; Blazer/4.5) 16;320x320)

Why? Not everyone can pay their bills in full every month. They don't "deserve" anything!

OK. We'll just have to disagree on this point.

Cheers.

Seems like a wise choice.

No worries. Cramdowns on CC's are next up on the stimulus program.