Citibank - the jig is up...
#16
Join Date: May 2003
Location: CA
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 2,879
The jury is still out on the coin deal. No one has had a CC consider the coins a CA or not given points / miles YET. Only time will tell on that deal.
#17
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 194
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.
"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.
Last edited by lkohawaii; Nov 21, 2009 at 2:02 am
#18
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: SEA
Programs: Alaska MVPG 100K, IHG Ambassador, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 1,704
Thanks!
#19
Join Date: May 2003
Location: CA
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 2,879
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.
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.
Last edited by deant; Nov 21, 2009 at 12:34 am
#20
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 194
https://www.citicards.com/cards/acq/...B5D8930057DCAB
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.
#21
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: On strike
Posts: 8,135
This is the link:
https://www.citicards.com/cards/acq/...B5D8930057DCAB
https://www.citicards.com/cards/acq/...B5D8930057DCAB
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.
#23
Join Date: May 2003
Location: CA
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 2,879
http://creditcards.citicards.com/usc...86E2E75A14A4C6
and
http://creditcards.citicards.com/usc...B043D8A55F235B
You will see that "note 1" is significantly different between the two. This change is what has everyone concerned.
#24
Join Date: Mar 2006
Programs: DL, NW, BA, UN, US, CO, AA
Posts: 4
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:
http://creditcards.citicards.com/usc...86E2E75A14A4C6
and
http://creditcards.citicards.com/usc...B043D8A55F235B
You will see that "note 1" is significantly different between the two. This change is what has everyone concerned.
http://creditcards.citicards.com/usc...86E2E75A14A4C6
and
http://creditcards.citicards.com/usc...B043D8A55F235B
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.
#25
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Modesto, CA (90 miles from any real airport)
Programs: SPG Plat (3.2MM LT), Hilton Gold, AA LT Plat (3.2MM), Hertz 5*, US Mint MVP
Posts: 638
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
#26
Join Date: May 2003
Location: CA
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 2,879
CandymanJim,
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.
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.
#27
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 271
citicards
Thank you all for this information.
this is truly unfortunate, though I admit to being a little confused by all the posts, in some ways it seems like contradictory information.
However, what I am getting from this is the bonus miles for each subsequent citi aa card are over as is the waiving of the $85 annual fee.
Given this, can anyone make any suggestions for other cards which have similar offers to this one which I could try?
Thanks
this is truly unfortunate, though I admit to being a little confused by all the posts, in some ways it seems like contradictory information.
However, what I am getting from this is the bonus miles for each subsequent citi aa card are over as is the waiving of the $85 annual fee.
Given this, can anyone make any suggestions for other cards which have similar offers to this one which I could try?
Thanks
#28
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,933
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.)
#29
Join Date: Jul 2004
Programs: CO, UA, AA, WN, DL Gold
Posts: 2,981
No. Becuase there aren't any!
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.)
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, 2009 at 10:06 am Reason: sp