Last edit by: SeeBuyFly
MOST CURRENT WORKING LINKS.
Citi AA platinum Personal Visa 50,000 miles after $2500 spend in 4 months (Note: no AC passes or statement credit). $85 Annual Fee. Waived first year.
End of an era Ladies and gents. The 50k offer is now dead.
Citi Business MasterCard. 40,000 miles after $3k spend in 3 months. $95 annual fee, waived first year.Landing page available here
Citi Platinum Select Visa. 40,000 miles after $3k spend in 3 months.$95 annual fee, waived first year. Landing page available here.
Citi Platinum Select Mastercard. 40,000 miles after $3k spend in 3 months. $95 annual fee, waived first year. Landing page available here.
Citi Business Mastercard. 35,000 miles after $1.5k spend in 3 months.
Citi Personal Platinum Select. 35,000 miles after $1.5k spend in 3 months. $95 annual fee, waived first year. Landing page available here.
Citi Gold AA World Mastercard. 30,000 miles after $750 spend in 4 months. $50 annual fee,waived 1st year.
Citi Business Mastercard. 30,000 miles after $1k spend in 3 months. $95 annual fee, waived 1st year. Landing page available here.
Citi Platinum Select Mastercard. 30,000 miles after $1k spend in 3 months. $95 annual fee, waived 1st year.
Citi Gold AA Visa Signature Card. 25,000 miles after $750 spend in 4 months. $50 annual fee,waived 1st year. Landing page available here
__________________________________________________ ________________________________
CitiBank Phone Numbers. (Please add the others that you know)
FAQ
1. Are these cards churnable?
Yes, they are. BUT you’ll have to wait anywhere from 12 to 26 months before applying again. Approvals have happened at the 13 month mark and denials at 24.
There is no set 18 month rule, but always err on the side of caution when churning.
Also- it’s from DATE OF APPROVAL and not from date of cancellation.
2.What are the most current rules in applying for these cards?
#ONLY ONE APPLICATION in a day (make that 30 hours to be safe)
#No more than 2 apps in 65 (approximately) days.
Example:
Day 1 40K personal platinum
Day 2 or later 25-30K personal gold
65+ days later 40K business
While the day limits are a little flexible by a few days either way and YMMV, the rules themselves are not flexible.
3. How long does it take for the Admiral passes to arrive?
For the better part, it takes about 3 months. This is not a set number, and some have received theirs sooner.It's been deduced that the passes are handled by a 3rd party that mails them in batches. Please don’t call Citi for the passes, because you’ll mostly find a CSR who doesn't know better and will give you wrong information.
4. Can I apply for a business card if I don’t have a business?
Technically, you can. But you may be asked for a 4506-T form, or to provide proof of business or/and a copy of a bill with your business name on it. If you don't already have a credit history for the business name you plan to use (meaning this is your first rodeo) then it is recommended you use your name as the business name with no income and 0 as years in business.
5. How do I get the statement credit?
First, you have to make sure if the offer you signed up for gave you A $150 credit or UP TO A $150 statement credit. For the 1st, any AA coded purchase ($50 AA GC seems to be the simplest option here) will/should trigger it. For the 2nd, you’ll have to spend $150 to get the $150 credit.
For more information on what will work and what won’t, please see here (thanks sdsearch) and here (thanks dogbyte)
6. Does the $150 account credit (for AA purchases using the VISA or AMEX) count against the spending required to receive the initial mileage bonus?
No. It does not. (Put differently: any account credit you receive has no impact on your spending total for purposes of earning the "X thousand miles for $Y spent in the first Z months" bonus.)
7. Can I buy Visa gift cards to meet my minimum spend?
There’s a very good chance that it’ll be coded as a cash advance.
It’s recommended to call citi and have them set your Cash Advance limit to zero. (thanks KennyBSAT)
8. Do I get 10% back when redeeming miles for awards?
It depends. First, the rebate program (which began in April 2012) applies only to holders of these cards:
Also, the maximum rebate for any cardholder in a single calendar year is 10,000 miles. Having more than one qualifying Citi AA card will not allow you to receive a larger rebate; the restriction applies per AAdvantage account.
9. At what locations are my one day Club passes valid?
All valid locations are listed here.
End of an era Ladies and gents. The 50k offer is now dead.
Citi Business MasterCard. 40,000 miles after $3k spend in 3 months. $95 annual fee, waived first year.
Citi Platinum Select Visa. 40,000 miles after $3k spend in 3 months.$95 annual fee, waived first year. Landing page available here.
Citi Platinum Select Mastercard. 40,000 miles after $3k spend in 3 months. $95 annual fee, waived first year. Landing page available here.
Citi Business Mastercard. 35,000 miles after $1.5k spend in 3 months.
Citi Personal Platinum Select. 35,000 miles after $1.5k spend in 3 months. $95 annual fee, waived first year. Landing page available here.
Citi Gold AA World Mastercard. 30,000 miles after $750 spend in 4 months. $50 annual fee,waived 1st year.
Citi Business Mastercard. 30,000 miles after $1k spend in 3 months. $95 annual fee, waived 1st year. Landing page available here.
Citi Platinum Select Mastercard. 30,000 miles after $1k spend in 3 months. $95 annual fee, waived 1st year.
Citi Gold AA Visa Signature Card. 25,000 miles after $750 spend in 4 months. $50 annual fee,waived 1st year. Landing page available here
__________________________________________________ ________________________________
CitiBank Phone Numbers. (Please add the others that you know)
- (800) 695-5171 – Personal Application Status and Reconsideration Line with live rep
- (800) 763-9795 – General Personal Application Inquiries with live rep
- (800) 645-7240 – Business Application Status and Reconsideration Line, dial option 3 then option 1 for application status
- (800) 288-4653 – Business Application Status and Reconsideration Line, dial option 3 then option 1 for application status
- (866) 606-2787 – General Application and Account Questions with live rep
- (888) 201-4523 – Application status
- (866) 606-2961 – Reconsideration Line.
- Twitter : @AskCiti. Very powerful tool.
FAQ
1. Are these cards churnable?
Yes, they are. BUT you’ll have to wait anywhere from 12 to 26 months before applying again. Approvals have happened at the 13 month mark and denials at 24.
There is no set 18 month rule, but always err on the side of caution when churning.
Also- it’s from DATE OF APPROVAL and not from date of cancellation.
2.What are the most current rules in applying for these cards?
#ONLY ONE APPLICATION in a day (make that 30 hours to be safe)
#No more than 2 apps in 65 (approximately) days.
Example:
Day 1 40K personal platinum
Day 2 or later 25-30K personal gold
65+ days later 40K business
While the day limits are a little flexible by a few days either way and YMMV, the rules themselves are not flexible.
3. How long does it take for the Admiral passes to arrive?
For the better part, it takes about 3 months. This is not a set number, and some have received theirs sooner.It's been deduced that the passes are handled by a 3rd party that mails them in batches. Please don’t call Citi for the passes, because you’ll mostly find a CSR who doesn't know better and will give you wrong information.
4. Can I apply for a business card if I don’t have a business?
Technically, you can. But you may be asked for a 4506-T form, or to provide proof of business or/and a copy of a bill with your business name on it. If you don't already have a credit history for the business name you plan to use (meaning this is your first rodeo) then it is recommended you use your name as the business name with no income and 0 as years in business.
5. How do I get the statement credit?
First, you have to make sure if the offer you signed up for gave you A $150 credit or UP TO A $150 statement credit. For the 1st, any AA coded purchase ($50 AA GC seems to be the simplest option here) will/should trigger it. For the 2nd, you’ll have to spend $150 to get the $150 credit.
For more information on what will work and what won’t, please see here (thanks sdsearch) and here (thanks dogbyte)
6. Does the $150 account credit (for AA purchases using the VISA or AMEX) count against the spending required to receive the initial mileage bonus?
No. It does not. (Put differently: any account credit you receive has no impact on your spending total for purposes of earning the "X thousand miles for $Y spent in the first Z months" bonus.)
7. Can I buy Visa gift cards to meet my minimum spend?
There’s a very good chance that it’ll be coded as a cash advance.
It’s recommended to call citi and have them set your Cash Advance limit to zero. (thanks KennyBSAT)
8. Do I get 10% back when redeeming miles for awards?
It depends. First, the rebate program (which began in April 2012) applies only to holders of these cards:
- Citi Platinum Select AAdvantage Visa Signature
- Citi Platinum Select AAdvantage World MasterCard
- Citi Platinum Select AAdvantage World Elite MasterCard
- Citi Select AAdvantage American Express
Also, the maximum rebate for any cardholder in a single calendar year is 10,000 miles. Having more than one qualifying Citi AA card will not allow you to receive a larger rebate; the restriction applies per AAdvantage account.
9. At what locations are my one day Club passes valid?
All valid locations are listed here.
Citi AA: now 40k, plus other offers as they appeared.[9.2011 - 5.2013]
#5146
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,760
2nd app. I dint apply for 3rd because recon told me "our system automatically declines any app coming after your first application, and we cannot overturn that decline" as I experienced with 2nd app.
Also, the page didn't 'think' (pull credit report and validate anything) too much to give the denial as it just looked at their own internal database and rejected me seeing the other app. First app took about 30 seconds to give 'Further review blah blah call this number blah ' but the second app gave 'App received. You'll get a response in one week' in about 5 seconds.
Also, the page didn't 'think' (pull credit report and validate anything) too much to give the denial as it just looked at their own internal database and rejected me seeing the other app. First app took about 30 seconds to give 'Further review blah blah call this number blah ' but the second app gave 'App received. You'll get a response in one week' in about 5 seconds.
Your description of the system behavior does seem the system only looks at internal counter and immediately denied you. In fact you may not even get a pull on the 2nd app though it is immaterial because most likely if there is a pull it would be merged with the 1st one assuming Citi pulls the same bureau on both.
With the flood of recent 50k and 30k gold applications, I wonder if Citi is now limiting applications to one per day. Regardless, the 30k gold was also working 1 or more days after applying for the platinum/select IF you only had those 2 applications in the past 65 days.
.
.
Normally Citi would allow 2 applications every 60/65 days.
Now the question boils down to:
Have you had any other Citi application within the 60 days PRECEDING this failed attempt on the 2nd card (namely the MC 30K Gold Card)?
It is important to determine it is a TRUE 2nd app within 60 days or a 3rd app in the same timeframe.
If you dont have any other Citi app within the 60 days prior, then this is something never seen before... An alarming development albeit isolated and hopefully it is just an isolated, unlucky happening to your apps but not a development towards a bad direction.
Thanks for detailed update. Appreciate it. This is how we collectively learn from actual experiences and come up with some guesstimates to increase our odds.
Last edited by Happy; Feb 28, 2013 at 9:37 am
#5147
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,760
Either on the statement close (showing up after statement closed) or a few days after statement closed. I have seen both.
In fact on my last one, I paid almost $100 taxes and fee on an AA award but the credit did not post at statement close so I went ahead to pay the card balance as we were leaving for a monthly long trip. Later I saw the credit posted 5 or 6 days into the following billing cycle, resulting to a full credit balance in the amount of the offer because the outstanding balance from the AA purchase was already paid from linked bank account.
I did not use the card the next 2 months. Citi auto-cut a check on the 2nd statement after the credit balance.
I have NOT seen posted immediately after the eligible charges are made.
#5148
Formerly known as cagalindo
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: MCO TPA
Programs: Citi AA/HH/TYP Amex SPG/HH & Chase SP/PC
Posts: 1,335
Thanks buddy appreciate it
#5149
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: FL & NYC
Programs: AA, DL, UA, AMEX PLAT
Posts: 28
Thanks for the update - this is some important tidbit.
Your description of the system behavior does seem the system only looks at internal counter and immediately denied you. In fact you may not even get a pull on the 2nd app though it is immaterial because most likely if there is a pull it would be merged with the 1st one assuming Citi pulls the same bureau on both.
bksmm posted a VERY GOOD Point. We should pay attention to this. Hopefully more data points would come in and we could make a better guess.
Normally Citi would allow 2 applications every 60/65 days.
Now the question boils down to:
Have you had any other Citi application within the 60 days PRECEDING this failed attempt on the 2nd card (namely the MC 30K Gold Card)?
It is important to determine it is a TRUE 2nd app within 60 days or a 3rd app in the same timeframe.
If you dont have any other Citi app within the 60 days prior, then this is something never seen before... An alarming development albeit isolated and hopefully it is just an isolated, unlucky happening to your apps but not a development towards a bad direction.
Thanks for detailed update. Appreciate it. This is how we collectively learn from actual experiences and come up with some guesstimates to increase our odds.
Your description of the system behavior does seem the system only looks at internal counter and immediately denied you. In fact you may not even get a pull on the 2nd app though it is immaterial because most likely if there is a pull it would be merged with the 1st one assuming Citi pulls the same bureau on both.
bksmm posted a VERY GOOD Point. We should pay attention to this. Hopefully more data points would come in and we could make a better guess.
Normally Citi would allow 2 applications every 60/65 days.
Now the question boils down to:
Have you had any other Citi application within the 60 days PRECEDING this failed attempt on the 2nd card (namely the MC 30K Gold Card)?
It is important to determine it is a TRUE 2nd app within 60 days or a 3rd app in the same timeframe.
If you dont have any other Citi app within the 60 days prior, then this is something never seen before... An alarming development albeit isolated and hopefully it is just an isolated, unlucky happening to your apps but not a development towards a bad direction.
Thanks for detailed update. Appreciate it. This is how we collectively learn from actual experiences and come up with some guesstimates to increase our odds.
#5150
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 212
Successful Recon and info from credit analyst
Hi all,
Yesterday my husband applied for the CITI AA MC 30,000 mile offer and the CITI Hilton Hhonors 50,000 points offer. He has excellent credit (Credit Karma in the high 700s), has been at his job for 25+ years (and the previous job for 7+) and makes a good income. We've never been late on a payment. And we've never had any relationship with CITI before. First AOR was a little over 91 days ago, when he applied for just three cards.
The AA MC which we did first was automatically approved. The HH was not - I don't remember exactly what the screen said - something like we can't do it at this time. Called in today (the first person I spoke to was fine about his authorizing me to handle it). She said that you can't apply more than once in a day. She suggested we apply again today. Reluctant to do that and have another credit pull, I said we'd be happy with a low credit limit, and asked if she could speak to a supervisor. She said she'd just connect me.
About a minute later a man came on. I pleaded our case, he put me on hold, and it was approved in less than two minutes. Said both cards were approved for $16,500 each and that they should arrive by a week from today.
When I asked to verify the offer, he knew it was 50,000 Hilton points but was unsure about the spend. He said the app was indeed linked to 50,000 points but that he doesn't always get info on the specs for all the different offers. "I'm a credit analyst." So I will just wait to see whether it is $750 spend in 3 months or $1000 in 4 - but I believe we used the lower spend link.
I asked what the best strategy (and least amount of effort) would be if I wanted to apply in my name for a hotel and air CC from CITI in the future - do both one day and call in, or do them on two successive days? He suggested doing it on two days. (Obviously he does not do AORs!) I am not sure if this morning's call resulted in another credit pull or not. I could have asked but figured I'd know soon enough from Credit Karma.
So they do appear to be limiting approvals to one CC per day. Although we did not use two browsers and instead applied about 10 minutes apart, in part since I forgot to go the two browser route and also because they were not both for AA miles so I thought it might not matter, as it was within the two app limit I thought CITI had.
Hope this helps.
Yesterday my husband applied for the CITI AA MC 30,000 mile offer and the CITI Hilton Hhonors 50,000 points offer. He has excellent credit (Credit Karma in the high 700s), has been at his job for 25+ years (and the previous job for 7+) and makes a good income. We've never been late on a payment. And we've never had any relationship with CITI before. First AOR was a little over 91 days ago, when he applied for just three cards.
The AA MC which we did first was automatically approved. The HH was not - I don't remember exactly what the screen said - something like we can't do it at this time. Called in today (the first person I spoke to was fine about his authorizing me to handle it). She said that you can't apply more than once in a day. She suggested we apply again today. Reluctant to do that and have another credit pull, I said we'd be happy with a low credit limit, and asked if she could speak to a supervisor. She said she'd just connect me.
About a minute later a man came on. I pleaded our case, he put me on hold, and it was approved in less than two minutes. Said both cards were approved for $16,500 each and that they should arrive by a week from today.
When I asked to verify the offer, he knew it was 50,000 Hilton points but was unsure about the spend. He said the app was indeed linked to 50,000 points but that he doesn't always get info on the specs for all the different offers. "I'm a credit analyst." So I will just wait to see whether it is $750 spend in 3 months or $1000 in 4 - but I believe we used the lower spend link.
I asked what the best strategy (and least amount of effort) would be if I wanted to apply in my name for a hotel and air CC from CITI in the future - do both one day and call in, or do them on two successive days? He suggested doing it on two days. (Obviously he does not do AORs!) I am not sure if this morning's call resulted in another credit pull or not. I could have asked but figured I'd know soon enough from Credit Karma.
So they do appear to be limiting approvals to one CC per day. Although we did not use two browsers and instead applied about 10 minutes apart, in part since I forgot to go the two browser route and also because they were not both for AA miles so I thought it might not matter, as it was within the two app limit I thought CITI had.
Hope this helps.
#5151
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 2,055
Death of Same-day apps?
My wife and I both applied for two Citi cards on February 24. She applied for AA Biz (50K, her third and she has one open) and HHonors (her fourth and she has one open). I applied for AA Gold 30K (received the Visa/AmEx combo in 12/2012 and have 3 AA personal cards open) and HHonors (I have three open).
All were deferred. My wife got application numbers on both of hers, which went to Step 5. I got an application ID on AA Gold and chatted with the rep who approved it. My HHonors application had no application # and went to Step 3. I called for status on my wife's AA Biz the next day and it was approved without talking to anyone.
I called in about my HHonors and my wife's and was told in both cases that the system had detected 'duplicate information' and no credit bureau was pulled. To see if it would affect anything I applied again for the HHonors card on 2/26 and got deferred at Step 3 again.
Ike
All were deferred. My wife got application numbers on both of hers, which went to Step 5. I got an application ID on AA Gold and chatted with the rep who approved it. My HHonors application had no application # and went to Step 3. I called for status on my wife's AA Biz the next day and it was approved without talking to anyone.
I called in about my HHonors and my wife's and was told in both cases that the system had detected 'duplicate information' and no credit bureau was pulled. To see if it would affect anything I applied again for the HHonors card on 2/26 and got deferred at Step 3 again.
Ike
#5152
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: RDU
Posts: 812
Just so you are aware, Credit Karma provides info from Transunion, so your Citi pulls probably won't show up on Credit Karma (I don't think Citi generally uses Transunion anywhere).
#5153
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Melbourne, Florida, USA
Posts: 2,983
Citi uses Transunion in Utah, except for the rare occasions when they pull Experian also.
#5154
Formerly known as cagalindo
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: MCO TPA
Programs: Citi AA/HH/TYP Amex SPG/HH & Chase SP/PC
Posts: 1,335
Yeah Credit Karma didn't help me much this last AoR it said I had 730+ and my EX was 701! I still got all my cards but thats a huge difference
#5155
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: DCA
Posts: 7,769
With the flood of recent 50k and 30k gold applications, I wonder if Citi is now limiting applications to one per day. Regardless, the 30k gold was also working 1 or more days after applying for the platinum/select IF you only had those 2 applications in the past 65 days.
.
.
All were deferred. My wife got application numbers on both of hers, which went to Step 5. I got an application ID on AA Gold and chatted with the rep who approved it. My HHonors application had no application # and went to Step 3. I called for status on my wife's AA Biz the next day and it was approved without talking to anyone.
I called in about my HHonors and my wife's and was told in both cases that the system had detected 'duplicate information' and no credit bureau was pulled. To see if it would affect anything I applied again for the HHonors card on 2/26 and got deferred at Step 3 again.
Ike
I called in about my HHonors and my wife's and was told in both cases that the system had detected 'duplicate information' and no credit bureau was pulled. To see if it would affect anything I applied again for the HHonors card on 2/26 and got deferred at Step 3 again.
Ike
The only scenario that will provide a clear outcome will be if people start getting deferring on two cards in one day, they call, and they are explicitly denied the second card on the same day. It doesn't seem that it is that cut and dried right now, mainly because I feel that there are differing interpretations of the meaning of deferral.
#5156
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 2,055
What is your definition of deferral? Last week we successfully did a 50k plat AA AMEX and a 30k gold MC within 10 minutes. However, BOTH were "deferred" depending on one's definition of the term. We had to call and do one simple thing - verify phone number or address. It seems to me from that experience almost as if Citi is just putting in some roadblocks to defer scammers and bots, NOT that it actually cares about anything in the credit history, app history, etc. So what I am saying here is - are people getting truly "deferred" for a "real" reason (past Citi cardholder, credit issue, too many apps), or simply for an administrative reason (need to verify you're a real human being)? I haven't seen a clear answer to this.
On 2/24 my wife got the Step 5 deferral on both applications and I got a Step 3 and a Step 5 deferral. Her HHonors application was not available when viewed using the AppStatus link but the AA Biz was. Called on both, the Biz was approved without talking to someone the HHonors was declined as a multiple app. This is significant in that it was for a completely different product.
I got a chat session with the AA Gold Personal and was approved (that was the Step 5 deferral) and when I called about the HHonors (Step 3 deferral) I was told it was declined as a multiple app. Again, completely different products. When I tried a another HHonors app two days after the first, it went to another Step 3 deferral, suggesting that not only can't you apply twice in a day but you can't apply twice a couple of days apart.
The only scenario that will provide a clear outcome will be if people start getting deferring on two cards in one day, they call, and they are explicitly denied the second card on the same day. It doesn't seem that it is that cut and dried right now, mainly because I feel that there are differing interpretations of the meaning of deferral.
#5157
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: DCA
Posts: 7,769
My definition of deferral is not instant approval or rejection, i.e. that the system does not come back with an instant decision but instead says that your application was "received." In my view, this comes in two forms, one in which you only get to Step 3 and do not receive an application ID and the other in which you get to Step 5 and usually do get an application ID.
On 2/24 my wife got the Step 5 deferral on both applications and I got a Step 3 and a Step 5 deferral. Her HHonors application was not available when viewed using the AppStatus link but the AA Biz was. Called on both, the Biz was approved without talking to someone the HHonors was declined as a multiple app. This is significant in that it was for a completely different product.
I got a chat session with the AA Gold Personal and was approved (that was the Step 5 deferral) and when I called about the HHonors (Step 3 deferral) I was told it was declined as a multiple app. Again, completely different products. When I tried a another HHonors app two days after the first, it went to another Step 3 deferral, suggesting that not only can't you apply twice in a day but you can't apply twice a couple of days apart.
Unless our definitions vary wildly, I believe that is exactly what just happened to me and my wife.
On 2/24 my wife got the Step 5 deferral on both applications and I got a Step 3 and a Step 5 deferral. Her HHonors application was not available when viewed using the AppStatus link but the AA Biz was. Called on both, the Biz was approved without talking to someone the HHonors was declined as a multiple app. This is significant in that it was for a completely different product.
I got a chat session with the AA Gold Personal and was approved (that was the Step 5 deferral) and when I called about the HHonors (Step 3 deferral) I was told it was declined as a multiple app. Again, completely different products. When I tried a another HHonors app two days after the first, it went to another Step 3 deferral, suggesting that not only can't you apply twice in a day but you can't apply twice a couple of days apart.
Unless our definitions vary wildly, I believe that is exactly what just happened to me and my wife.
There is one other scenario I could think of - if Citi has rules for 1) no more than 2 apps (applications, not approvals) in 60 days, AND 2) no more than one approval per days, AND 3) a second app denied under rule #2 counts in your total towards rule #1. This would explain Ike's scenario, but it's just guesswork at this point.
#5158
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Programs: UA-1k, 1mm, Marriott-LT Platinum, Hertz-Presidents Circle
Posts: 6,355
Got instant approval, for 10k and arrived in my mailbox at my mail forwarding company. Gonna wait until this churn round is over and have them all sent in about 10 days. then start the spend to meet the min spend to qualify for the miles/points.
#5160
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Programs: UA-1k, 1mm, Marriott-LT Platinum, Hertz-Presidents Circle
Posts: 6,355