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This wiki is no longer being maintained/updated.
See the new thread & wiki at http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/citi-...24-months.html.
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See the new thread & wiki at http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/citi-...24-months.html.
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SEE NEW THREAD - 50K AA Cards
As of Sunday August 25, 2013:
Reports indicate personal cards can no longer be rapidly churned.
Reports indicate personal cards can no longer be rapidly churned.
Click HERE to review the previous thread on this topic.
Recommended Application Procedure:
Clear cache and cookies prior to applying or use an incognito or private browsing session to apply. Opening multiple different apps in different windows or tabs or failing to clear cookies/cache has resulted in people receiving a lesser offer.
For information on the Executive version of this card, with $450 annual fee, not waived, see: Up to 100k miles Citi Executive AAdvantage offers
MOST CURRENT 50K LINKS:
Citi Personal and Business:50K miles & two Admirals Club one-day passes after $3000 spend in 3 months, $95 fee waived first year.
Citi AA Platinum Personal Mastercard, 50,000 miles after $3k spend in 3 months. $95 annual fee, waived first year. Landing page available here. This is a CHIP and Signature card.
- Citi AA Platinum Personal Mastercard 50,000 miles. This is a CHIP and Signature card.
- Citi AA Business Mastercard 50,000 miles.
- Citi AA Platinum Personal Mastercard 50,000 miles. This is a CHIP and Signature card.
- Citi AA Business Mastercard 50,000 miles.
Landing page for 50K Business and Personal MC after $3K spend in 3 months. $95 annual fee, waived first year. This page leads to the following application pages:
Landing page for 50K Business MC after $3K spend in 3 months. $95 annual fee, waived first year. This page leads to this application page.
OTHER PERSONAL CARDS
Citi Platinum Select Mastercard. 30,000 miles after $1k spend in 3 months. $95 annual fee, waived first year. Up to $100 statement credit for AA purchases. Landing page available here.
Citi Platinum Select Mastercard. 30,000 miles after $1k spend in 3 months. $95 annual fee, waived first year.
Citi Gold Mastercard. 25,000 miles after $750 spend in 3 months. $50 annual fee, waived first year. Landing page available here
If you are already a Citigold customer, read this post from the Miles Professor about another 50K offer from your branch office for the American Airlines credit card.
OTHER BUSINESS CARDS
Citi Business MasterCard. 40,000 miles after $3k spend in 3 months. $95 annual fee, waived first year.
Citi Business Mastercard. 35,000 miles after $1.5k spend in 3 months.
Citi Business Mastercard. 30,000 miles after $1k spend in 3 months. $95 annual fee, waived first year. Landing page available here.
Citi Business Mastercard. 30,000 miles after $1k spend in 3 months. $95 annual fee, waived first year. Up to $100 statement credit for AA purchases. Landing page available here.
Citibank Contacts/Resources (Please add the others that you know)
- Application status: https://www.accountonline.com/cards/...?screenID=3187
- (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.
- Executive Office - useful for getting a more empowered agent for reconsideration purposes: CitiBank Executive Review Department, P.O. Box 6000, Sioux Falls, SD 57117
FAQ
- Are these AA cards churnable?
- What are the most current time-restriction rules in applying for all Citi cards?
- Do I need to close existing cards before applying?
- When should I close existing Citi accounts?
- Can I apply for a business card if I don’t have a business?
- Can I buy Visa gift cards to meet my minimum spend?
- Do I get 10% back when redeeming miles for awards?
- Do I have to use my own AAdvantage number on applications?
- There is nothing on the application page stating the bonus miles. How do I know what I will be getting?
- When will my bonus miles post?
- I met the minimum spend. Why does my statement say "Miles Reported to AA: 0"?
- Can I cancel a card using secure messaging?
- I activated the card online and got a message about this card replacing an old card. What does that mean?
- Which credit bureau does Citi pull and can I force them to use a different one?
1. Are these AA cards churnable?
Yes and No. The general rules are:
- Personal AA cards: As of August 25, 2013 all linked personal AA cards in this thread can be churned only after Citi decides that you are no longer an existing cardmember. This usually occurs between 12 and 26 months after your last successful AA personal card approval of any type including AA Executive card(s). If you want both a Platinum card and an Executive AA card and are eligible under the 12-26 month rule, get the Platinum card first or the Executive card will restart the clock. Although it is not a hard-and-fast rule, 18 months after previous approval is the most common. YMMV. You do not need to cancel old personal cards.
- Note: You cannot circumvent this rule by applying for a card type different from your previous Citi AA card. If your last personal AA card was a Visa, the waiting period for your next personal AA card will be the same regardless of whether you apply for a Visa, MC, or Amex.
- Business AA cards: have been churnable repeatedly by some people without restriction other than the general Citi application rules. Apply once every 91-95 days. For unknown reasons, some other people have been unable to churn business cards at all. Also, some (but not all) people need to completely cancel their previous business card (ie, cancel both the card account and the associated master account) before they can apply for another business card.
Note: If you encounter difficulty in obtaining a Citi AA business card after holding one before, it may because of the unusual way Citi sets up business accounts. The business account per se has its own master number; like a standard MC/Visa, this master account number is 16 digits. In addition, each card on the account has its own 16-digit card number. Each of these numbers, including the number for the primary cardholder, is different from the master account number.
Sometimes, when you call to close your card account, all the card numbers are canceled but the master account remains open. When this happens, subsequent applications for a business card may encounter difficulty. Online, there should be a dropdown of accounts under your business login; the number that match your card number is your card account, the number that does not match your card number is your master account. When cancelling, ask to cancel both accounts, giving the last 4 digts of each (as shown in that dropdown).
2. What are the most current time-restriction rules in applying for all Citi cards?
- Only 1 Citi application of any kind per week (8 days to be safe).
- No more than 2 Citi applications of any kind in 60 days (65 days to be safe).
- No more than 1 Citi business application in 90 days (95 to be safe). This does not override the rules above.
While the day limits are a little flexible by a few days either way and YMMV, the rules themselves are not flexible. Note: In applying the rules above, count all Citi applications, including denials and/or applications for non-AA cards.
Mixed type Example:
Day 1 60K HHonors Visa
Day 9 or later 50K Personal Platinum Visa
Day 66 or later 50K Business #1
Day 74 or later 60K Executive
Day 161 or later 50K Business #2
18 Months, 74 days or later 50K Personal Platinum Visa
Not sure what day you applied? The date is written year, month, day in the application number: 201402280000 means you applied on Feb 28, 2014
3. Do I need to close existing cards before applying?
No. There is no requirement that you close previous personal accounts. People have reported having 4 or more of the exact same card. However, many people have reported problems getting AA Business cards if they have an open Business account.
4. When should I close existing Citi accounts?
This is a matter of personal preference. Citi cards can be closed immediately after receiving a bonus and paying off the balance. There are no verifiable reports of Citi clawing back miles (exception - miles were clawed back for returned merchandise around November 2011).
Reasons to keep accounts open:
- Having large credit lines improves your utilization percentage.
- Maintaining old cards improves average age of cards.
- Credit lines can be moved from old cards to new cards.
- Anecdotal evidence suggests that Citi counts the credit lines of recently-closed accounts for 3-6 months against your total available credit.
- You can receive retention offers once every 6 months per card. See this thread for details on the latest retention offers.
Reasons to close accounts:
- Having a large amount of available credit with Citi will eventually reduce your chances of instant approval. Your application will automatically be reviewed if your CL's total 75K or more. This may also result in a large disparity between existing account CL's and new CL's, such as 20K, 20K and 1K for a new card, as an example.
- There is little incentive to pay an annual fee if it is not waived.
- The annual fee on Business cards is rarely waived.
- Having a large number of open Citi cards will show up on your credit report and may affect non-Citi applications as well as the overall age of your accounts.
5. Can I apply for a business card if I don’t have a business?
Anyone can apply for a business card. You do not need a registered business with an EIN. If you do not have a business with an EIN or with bills/accounts in the business name, you can apply using your name as the business. The three possibilities are that: 1. You could be approved unconditionally, 2. You could be asked to fax a couple of bills or accounts (water, electricity, gas, cable, or phone bills, bank accounts, etc.) in the name of the business to Citi, or 3. You could be required to fill out and send a 4506-T tax form. Whatever you do do not make up income etc. about the business. Plenty of people have been issued cards for businesses with $0 annual revenue, 1-5 employees, and 0 years in business.
6. Can I buy Visa gift cards to meet my minimum spend?
Purchases from banks are almost always coded as a cash advance regardless of what they are for. Purchases from stores, e.g. CVS, are almost always coded as a purchase.
If you are concerned about it, it’s recommended to send a secure message Citi and have them set your Cash Advance limit to zero. Phone CSRs often say they can not do this.
7. 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.
For more on the 10% rebate benefit, see Citi 10% miles back / rebate for reward redemption.
8. Do I have to use my own AAdvantage number on applications?
Yes. The name on the card application must match the name on the AAdvantage account. You cannot apply for multiple cards for different people and use the same AAdvantage account number. AA does not care or even know how many Citi accounts you have so there is no harm in having your AAdvantage account number associated with multiple cards in your name. If you forget to add your AAdvantage account number to your application, an AAdvantage account in your name will be created and can later be merged with your existing account by calling AA.
9. There is nothing on the application page stating the bonus miles. How do I know what I will be getting?
You need to have faith in the people here if you want to maximize your miles. The people on this board constantly apply for these cards and report back what they are told are the benefits and what they actually receive. The way Citi works is that if you are approved for a card, you will get the bonus associated with the link you applied under as long as you make the minimum spend. It does not matter if you already had the card or anything else. If you are approved - then you get the bonus. The two exceptions to this are: 1. If you fail to clear your cache and accidentally load a cached application, you get the miles associated with that application and 2. Some people have recently succeeded in 'bumping the bonus' by contacting Citi and requesting a match to a 50K offer after applying for a 40K card. If you don't feel like trusting in the experiences of others, then apply for an offer with a landing page.
10. When will my bonus miles post?
Two working days after the date of the statement containing the charge that takes you across the spend threshold. It posts overnight, it'll be there when you check your AAdvantage account in the morning.
11. I met the minimum spend. Why does my statement say "Miles Reported to AA: 0"?
No one knows exactly why this is happening to some people (Citi blames AA, AA blames Citi, and both blame the merger). It supposedly has something to do with the time it takes them to properly link your AAdvantage number to your card. There are two ways to deal with this:
- Wait 1-2 statement periods, and see if the points post on their own. Per Citi, it can take this long for the accounts to link.
- Call AA (1-800-882-8880) and open a case about it. Most people have had their miles post within 2 weeks of doing this.
For ongoing discussion, see Some AA Citi Card miles not transferred to AAdvantage accounts [Q3 2013 - Q1 2014]
12. Can I cancel a card using secure messaging?
Yes, assuming you have set up the credit card in your Citi account. Quick and easy.
13. I activated the card online and got a message about this card replacing an old card. What does that mean?
When activating cards online, Citi normally displays the text:
"This account replaces your old account, which is now closed. Statements for your old account will be available for up to 6 months. Your current account summary and unbilled transactions are now listed under your new account number."
14. Which credit bureau does Citi pull and can I force them to use a different one?
Citi appears to use Experian most frequently, followed by Equifax. For some people they pull both. It depends on where you are located. You can check the Credit Boards database to see where card issuers have pulled recently.
For the most part, freezing Experian, or another bureau, will not cause Citi to pull a different bureau. They will almost certainly require you to unfreeze the bureau they wish to pull or deny your application. Some people have been successful providing the PIN but others have not. Mostly, freezing a credit bureau in an attempt to force Citi to pull a different one seems to waste time, money, and effort for little result. But YMMV.
For one person's experiences with various card issuers, check here.
For rules and info on any offers that include Admirals club passes or statement credits, see here.
Citi AA credit cards, except Executive. (2013-2014)
#4006
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: San Antonio
Programs: AS MVP
Posts: 2,276
Are you an authorized user on the card using an AU login? Or is it by any chance a joint account?
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#4007
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 138
So it's been 12 months since I had the plat that gives 10% rebate and 2 AC passes including the first year where the Af is waived. Well, I never received them and when I called the CSR said starting in the 2nd year but upon applying and calling 12 months ago the CSR confirmed that i'll receive the passes im the first year. Anyone have any advice for me on how to get these 2 passes?
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#4008
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: MSN
Posts: 203
I apologize for not having read the entire thread to see if this has already been pointed out, but my spouse and I each have Gold Level cards (mine is Visa and hers is MC) and both of ours get 10% of our miles back (according to the mailer). These were both targeted offers received in the mail. Mine was received late summer 2013, hers in December 2013. Granted, I have not seen anything post to our accounts yet.
Some additional info: I was targeted for 30k+10k ($1,500 in 3 mo, $5,000 in 12 mo) and she was targeted for 40k+10k (same spend reqs as mine).
While I'd like to churn eventually, considering our offers and the lower annual fee (which can probably be waived if we call), I think we got as good of or even a better deal than any of the public Platinum offers, even without the extra $5k spend each).
Some additional info: I was targeted for 30k+10k ($1,500 in 3 mo, $5,000 in 12 mo) and she was targeted for 40k+10k (same spend reqs as mine).
While I'd like to churn eventually, considering our offers and the lower annual fee (which can probably be waived if we call), I think we got as good of or even a better deal than any of the public Platinum offers, even without the extra $5k spend each).
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#4009
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 189
I was looking forward to being able to close this account via SM, as too often when I try over the phone with Citi I'm told they are backing up their system at the moment and are unable to close my account.
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#4010
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: San Antonio
Programs: AS MVP
Posts: 2,276
I canceled one this morning. sent a secure message saying 'Please close my credit card account ending with ****' 10 minutes later it was closed.
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#4011
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: IAH
Programs: United
Posts: 178
need to cancel my Amex AAdvantage card.
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#4012
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Chicago
Posts: 160
Its been 2 statement cycles and my 50k AA miles from a Citi AA biz card opened in October still havent posted. Citi confirms they credited the miles to AA. AA shot me an email on 1/3 that they were having issues crediting miles from Citi and had no ETA on when it would be fixed. Guess Ill wait another statement cycle.
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#4015
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 784
+1, never received x2 (spouse either) for November,2012 apps. I don't have much use for them, but was hoping to give to a FTer for a trip in April.
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#4016
Join Date: Sep 2013
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 3,677
Off topic for this thread so I'll keep it short. There are some mid range properties, at 25 to 30K points, that are quite acceptable. And the HH 50K card doesn't even have a fee. So for a measly $1K in spend you get enough points for 2 actually free nights. With free breakfast if you are Gold. Rinse and repeat. What's not to like?
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#4017
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: USA
Posts: 108
Here is their answer I got today after I complained:
"When applications are approved and an account number created, the name, address and any AAdvantage number on the application is forwarded to American Airlines. American Airlines will use an automated process to assign AAdvantage numbers to the new accounts. It can take 2-3 billing periods to complete this process and we are unable to expedite this process. We can confirm that AAdvantage number XXXXXXX has been requested as the assigned AAdvantage number for this account.
As Airlines has not yet notified us of the AAdvantage number to be assigned to this account. The miles earned on your statements have been retained at Citi. Once an AAdvantage number is assigned to your account, the retained miles will be forwarded to American Airlines with the miles on the following statement
We hope this information is helpful."
By the way it's an old AA account created more than 25 years ago!
Last edited by jcsimard; Jan 29, 2014 at 5:58 pm
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#4018
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: NYC
Posts: 1,756
same thing happened to me. If indeed this is the case then new citi CC (including those 100K AA Executive cards) will not be seeing the bonus or earned miles soon. Citi has been blaming AA and AA blaming Citi.
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#4019
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: LAX
Posts: 3,267
How long does it take for the card to come? I was instantly approved last Wed online, I got an email from AA congratulating me (oddly) on Sun, I got a "welcome" letter yesterday, and I'm still waiting for the durn card! I have bills I want to pay with this card so I can get my $3k spend and then cancel ASAP!
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#4020
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: San Antonio
Programs: AS MVP
Posts: 2,276
I know (from the other thread) you aren't real thrilled with Citi, but cancelling the card will not accomplish anything. Keep it and then transfer the CL to a new Citi card in ~6 months. Thanks again for sharing!
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