lkar

Yeah, possible, except I'm skeptical, because it happened literally the same week as other shut downs for perk abuse. Hard to know. Also, for what it's worth, each of the purchases was precleared with citi fraud before it was made. When the supervisor re-opened the accounts she said she could see those notes.

I say this gently, but, how the heck would you know? Perhaps you have the powerball numbers too?

I know the difference between having my account shut down and having a fraud alert. This was the former. Accounts closed. Letters sent closing them and threatening to come after me if I didn't pay the balance. Major intervention needed by supervisor, and over an hour on the phone, to get them re-opened.

Edit -- one more interesting data point, for whatever it's worth, the shut down letters were clear boilerplate, because they mentioned having "at least one missed payment" or a "returned check." I thought that was interesting, but didn't really notice it at the time. Maybe they don't have a "perk abuse" letter.

therivler1

When you say that other things were shut down, was it with Citi or other issuers? Sounds like it might fallout from the other shutdowns.

CMHFlyerOH

I believer that the poster was referring to the fact that other people reported shutdowns the same week, not that he/she had other shutdowns on accounts with different issuers.

DaveInLA

I wonder what the threshold is. I currently have the Dividends card with 5x for drugstores the first quarter of 2013. Cash back is limited to $300 a year so that is only $6K spend. I used almost every single day of the first three months to reach that 6K. I'm shocked to hear how much some of you guys are spending. I thought 3K per month Was excessive, now I know I can be more aggressive. Also, I have high income and have a high credit limit for all of my Citi Cards.

lkar

Yup.

bloodshotx

these threads are getting me nervous. I have a 11k limit on two different cards both in wifes name and mine.. I am not running into any issues doing about 8k a week...

lkar

I think just follow the thread and see what happens. I have not been shut down with some other stuff that I'm pretty aggressive on, where other people have been.

I think with these threads, the idea is that people post their experiences or data points, and over time you see if a trend develops. I sort of thought my account closure was a one-off, until I read it was happening to others. But you can't get too focused on any one data point, because you don't really know all the variables. The hope is that as time goes on, and more people post data, the relevant factors start to emerge and you can make informed, sound decisions. But trying to figure out too much, other than to maybe be a bit cautious, while things are playing out some times is tricky. The closures that happened for chase ultimate rewards points transfers is kind of instructive. It took a few weeks before the contours really were clear, and it sort of developed by people posting their data one person at a time, and others figuring out what was relevant info and what wasn't.

dogbyte

We have two extremes here. One person got shutdown for spending 160k in 6 weeks. Another person for spending 6.5k over several weeks and under the credit limit. It is the second case that makes me nervous. From what Ikar posted, it doesn't seem like it was a fraud alert, as that wouldn't result in closure of both cards and letters notifying of such.

gloreglabert

The second case is not a rewards-related shutdown. The 'security' department does that, and when that happens, the CSRs won't talk to you.

CMHFlyerOH

Though the fact that Ikar was able to reopen the cards makes me wonder if what triggered the alert on his account was different than the person spending $160k who was not even allowed to talk to CS reps.

amolkold

I'm confused as to the stark differences as well. I've done about 1.5x the CL in about 2 weeks and have stopped using the card until my next statement ... it was all grocery/CVS so 5X categories. Had one fraud alert that I called in to verify and so a CSR has seen multiple CVS purchases (that was triggered as I approached the CL).

lkar

Yeah, it's a good point. Then again, how often have you heard of an account being shut down before the first statement even closed, for spending below the credit limit? And it wasn't even a very high credit limit to begin with. Also, as noted, I called fraud before making the spend, to let them know I'd be making a series of 4-figure transactions at drug stores, and the transactions went through. The credit limit was hardly a stretch on our credit profile, and in fact much lower than most of our cards if not all of them.

I've put considerable amounts on brand new cards very quickly to meet spending requirements, including charges 4x this much on a citi AA card on the first day I received it.

So, while I would agree that my circumstance is different from someone putting 160k on the card very quickly, I also think my temporary shut down suggests a new level of review somewhere along the line -- whether a flag has been raised for just these 5x cards or something else, it's tough to say. I think that point is also confirmed by the fact that I was able to get the account re-opened, which, based on the conversation I had, was pretty uncommon. I will say it was quite an uphill battle and I really had to fight for it and answer an awful lot of arguments made back at me about how supposedly they have very sophisticated analyses for shutting accounts down. Having the notes in the record about calling to do the transactions helped.

I guess the bottom line for me is that something wacky might have been going on that has absolutely no applicability to anyone else reading this thread, and this is a small sample size problem. As I said, I would not even have thought about posting until I read that others had been shut down on this card. (To the contrary, I sort of thought this card was a bit of a diamond in the rough given the hilton 6x going away and I was sort of hoping this thread would remain buried.) But, my data point is there for what it's worth and while I am only speculating, given how unusual it is to actually shut down someone's account for under the limit spend without calling them and without it being initiated from a concern about fraudulent purchases, I don't think it's a stretch to think something is going on at citi with these cards.

jada135

when you open a account and spend rapidly the card companies usually gets nervous and put a hold on your account.If you were blacklisted they wont even talk to you at all.If a customer service agent was able to reopen it it was just a precaution on there side.my blacklist with chase is so bad that the ceo of credit cards division wont even look at it.I have sent reconsider letters to all executives at chase and they refused to open a account.When your blacklisted you will know.Your lucky it wasnt permanent ban.Why doesnt citi put a cap on the 5x.Thats just asking for trouble.hawk spent 160k i imagine the real hardcores who probably put 500k in a week.

lkar

Yeah, again, it wasn't a "hold." They closed not only that account, but another account as well. The letter was not equivocal. I had to fight pretty hard to get them to reopen.

I think the point that they won't even talk to you on some account closures is a good one. In fact, that's what the first two line people told me until I got it higher. But, clearly, mine was not as draconian as others. That said, it was, truly, a closure. If I hadn't been looking at my account on line, I might not have caught it until the letters arrived in the mail, and probably would not have been able to turn it around.

In the end, either my data point will be a one off of no help to anyone or we will get more data points. There's not much need for me to keep posting, but, for the record, this is not my first rodeo. I am not confused about the difference between an account closure or a "hold" or a fraud alert.

thehawk75

Ikar,

Thanks for sharing.

The CS reps are talking to me, and being very friendly, just none of them are able to tell me why the accounts were closed because the security department left no notes, but, obviously what they say stays until they (or someone higher up) says otherwise. I've been promised a call from someone in the Presidential unit before Wednesday this week. I have no doubt this will be an uphill battle, that very likely can't be won -- but we'll see soon enough.