lwildernorva

And, so that the circle is complete, no, I didn't cancel. But I will probably cancel my first two Hilton cards shortly since it appears I've reached my credit limit with Citi and earlier intelligence in this thread has suggested that cancellation of cards, if done at all, should be done months and not shortly before reapplying for new ones. Since I anticipate taking one more run at two of these cards by the end of the year before resting so that I can gear up for another run at the Citi AA cards, if they're still around, in the spring of 2013 (last hit for me, late spring 2011), I'll want to give myself the best shot possible at getting north of 300K HHonors points.

I think it's interesting, however, that the CSRs, while clearly able to see all of the cards I had open, had NO interest in denying me new Hilton cards based on my current holding of other Hilton cards. This is consistent with my theory that rather than some odd glitch in the Citi system, the "two browser" trick, while fitting in with all the rules we've seen about applying for Citi cards, is no glitch.

So long as your credit is good and you follow the strategy outlined in this thread and the similar experiences from the Citi AA threads, Citi will approve the cards.

Happy

Sequence of the little story for those who need handholding.

Applied on 09/06 using 2 links in post 468. FF and Chrome, though I dont believe is necessary in this case as they are identical cards unlike the AAdvantage genre.

Both reached Step 5. Did not opt for online registration on one in FF, only the payment due date option. It did not give me reference number after hitting submit. Tried to do online registration on the other in Chrome. The site did not like my password choice. After 2nd try, it crapped out on me, told me to re-apply.

Knew both apps have gone thru as both reached Step 5. But submitted a 3rd app anyway so to be the "guinea pig" to test the boundary of more than 2 app within 65 days. Experiment failed as 3rd app stopped at Step 3 as expected.

Was waiting Citi to call to reallocate credit lines. No call for 2 days.

On 09/09 I was overcome by curiosity so I called the status line. Instead of automated message, got transferred to the manila rep. (for a moment I regretted calling.)

Manila rep asked me if I had good memory, because I had submitted 3 apps. Told her 2 were intentional w/o explaining why, and the 3rd one due to system told me to do so after it errored me out.

She looked up and cheerfully announced "Congratulation, you are approved the card with 12K credit line." Told her to look further, and another "Congratulation, you are also approved on that one with 12K credit line." She confirmed the 3rd app was denied for "multiple application" and I would receive a letter for that. I said I understand. She then proceeded to give me the IDs on all 3 and the phone number to call in case I do not receive my pair in 10 business days.

Asked her to verify bonus and benefits - all verified as expected.

No last 4 digits were available at the time of calling. She said it would take 48 hours.

Both Congrat emails with last 4 digits of card number hit inbox at 1pm.

Hope the above has enough details to help those who are still wondering "why" and questioning about the links still work / bonuses still 50K / etc etc etc

Bottom line, links in post 468 definitely still work. If you have reached Step 5, you are almost golden. No need to call - Citi would call you in case it needs you to move lines as reported by others. (and in own household, spousal unit has one card auto approved and one card needed re-allocation.) If no call from Citi and you reached Step 5, your cards most likely were auto-approved even it was deferred. Congrat emails come 2 to 3 days after approvals.

So do it, dont call, dont kill the deals for others.

greenbombadil

I just tried both those links in #468 - both said they were no longer available....

booyaa

All THREE works fine for me. Clear your cookies, switch browsers, etc etc.

jkoenig51

Happy, thanks for all the data points. Well done!

PETERPNYC

+1 For Happy

Happy

Also make sure your browsers are set to accept 3rd party cookies - the new interface Citi is having, only works when the browser allows 3rd party cookies. This affects access accounts online and I am not sure it affects application links or not but it does not hurt to set it to be compatible with Citi's newly "enhanced" websites so one less possible glitch.

Thank you guys.

So we can just refer back to that post for questions UNTIL things changed.

Newbies please please read and dont call. We all hope to have many happy returns so just be quiet and do it.

ddavid1101

Hey guys,

Submitted 2 apps with Chrome and FF within 1 second of each other. Both stopped at Step 3 with message "Application Received" and they will contact me within a week with decision.

My line limits at Citi is tiny compared to Chase (30-40Kish). Should not be an issue with that.

But I also applied the following today of which all instant approved as part of my App O Rama:

-US Airways Card 40K
-Priority Club Bard 80K
-Amex Gold Biz 75K


Question:

Should I call Citi Reconsideration Line and ask about the status and present my case(I need 2 cards to separate my travel expense spend vs domestic/personal spend).

Should I just wait for the mail/email?


Thanks everyone!

David

IkeEsq

I would give them a call. Can't hurt. They'll tell you what (if any) problem there is. I had one go through and the other I called and then sent a note to the Executive Office and eventually got both.

sdsearch

In fact, it's been stated before (and never unproven as far as I know) that instead of applying for 2 HHonors card every 65 days, you could apply for one HHonors card every 33 days. It's just that doing 2 at a time makes keeping track of "2 every 65 days" cycles at Citi (Citi overall) easier, so few if any people actually try to stagger them. (And in any case, whether it's 2 every 65 or 1 every 33, many people can't meet the spend threshold fast enough to keep applying at that theoretically fastest possible rate.)

However, the two-browser-type trick can help when applying for two cards from Citi at the same time if you are not expert at dealing with cookies, to minimize glitthces where the online system confuses your two applications. It doesn't happen anywhere near always if you don't use the two-browser-type trick, but it does sometimes happen, so if you happen to have two types of browsers on your computer (or two computers) handy, why not "just in case"?

As to the big why? Well, those of us who've looked at the numbers know that the Citi HHonors card is not much good for everyday spend past the signup bonus (compared to the Amex HHonors card). The recent earning changes lessen that difference somewhat, but don't elimintate it. So maybe Citi is happy that we're actually spending on their cards, when we do the minimum spend on one HHonors card after another, because they see that we don't spend on those cards if we don't apply for new ones. (And they can see, if they pull our credit reports, not only if we have a Hilton Amex, but also whether we use it!)

Another theory (that goes back to the AA rapid-churning days) is of Citi credit department employees getting bonuses for each credit card issued. That would make them happy to find people (FTers) rabidly into applying for credit cards they don't seem to need, wouldn't it?

Stoughton

If you just applied today, there's no reason to call yet. Give it a day or 2.

geclub1

How do you tell apart a Hilton Amex from a say SPG Amex on one's credit report?

lwildernorva

Ah, you gotta love capitalism!

beltway

There's also the side benefit of having two credit pulls combined into one if you make both applications on the same day.

PETERPNYC

Just a piece of info re Citi HH card . I had met my $1500 spend on closing date 91/11 and saw that the last $200 was shown as pending for a few days.
I called and asked for a CSR Supervisor and told him needed the statement to close with the pending spend to get the 50 K HH bonus .

Even though statement closed below the $1500 spend the 50K HH ponits were deposited in my account today , as he said he would take care of it .


WTG Citi