Oct 28, 2014, 2:34 pm
Last edit by: tonei
Transition-Related Notes
• Members are starting to receive Priority Pass Select cards in the mail. These are sent by Collinson via USPS, separately from the rebranded Prestige cards.
• There was a decimal rounding error in the ThankYou point accounting on October statements. Remove a 0 from each of the totals reported - it should then match
• Members who signed up prior to 10/18 still only receive a $250 airline credit for the year; if you previously used the $200 incidental credit, you can get another $50 in airline purchases reimbursed through December.
• If you signed up before 10/18/14 you are eligible to receive the 15% discount and companion benefits for a year after your signup date. Call Citi at 877-288-2484 and ask to speak with a travel specialist, rather than letting them send the information to Spirit Incentives for an email quote. There are mixed reviews as to the efficacy of this service.
• Members are starting to receive Priority Pass Select cards in the mail. These are sent by Collinson via USPS, separately from the rebranded Prestige cards.
• There was a decimal rounding error in the ThankYou point accounting on October statements. Remove a 0 from each of the totals reported - it should then match
• Members who signed up prior to 10/18 still only receive a $250 airline credit for the year; if you previously used the $200 incidental credit, you can get another $50 in airline purchases reimbursed through December.
• If you signed up before 10/18/14 you are eligible to receive the 15% discount and companion benefits for a year after your signup date. Call Citi at 877-288-2484 and ask to speak with a travel specialist, rather than letting them send the information to Spirit Incentives for an email quote. There are mixed reviews as to the efficacy of this service.
CITI Prestige changes effective 10-18-14
Oct 20, 2014, 1:00 am
#406
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: LAX, LGB, SNA
Programs: AA EXP OWE, DL DM ST+, AS MVPG, UA, BA, WN CP, Hyatt E, Ritz Plat, HH GM
Posts: 3,185
Oct 20, 2014, 1:45 am
#407
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 3,528
Oct 20, 2014, 5:45 am
#408
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: 10023-Central Park West
Programs: CHASE UNITED CLUB; CITI PRESTIGE； IHG SPIRE AMBASSADOR; RITZ-CARLTON GOLD; Global Entry
Posts: 227
Thanks for the info. Yes, assuming you're earning 1% on the $50K you have parked somewhere, that is $500 per year.
The savings/rebates I outlined in my previous post are $287.20 max ($187.20 in TYP IF redeemed on AA, and $100 savings in Prestige annual fee). So, you'd have to earn an additional $212.80 on your 50K to break even by parking it at citi, or 0.43% So, if you can't earn 0.43% or better at citi, you're still better off parking $50K in an online savings account earning 1% than at citi.
There are a couple of other factors to consider:
-your interest at another bank will all be taxed. At citi, the $100 in savings off your CC annual fee would probably not be taxed, but whatever interest and also your rebate in TYP probably would.
-your interest at another bank is cold, hard cash. Your "up to" $187.20 annually in TYP is not. (but any interest earned and savings off annual fees you would have otherwise paid are). You'd have to redeem them on AA flights to get that full value out of the TYP, and they are also subject to potentially massive inflation/devaluation (though it's hard to argue that the USD is not). I just don't want to invest too much into banking TYP's and then have them drastically change the program.
Appreciate your input. And to respond to your point, yes, the effective AF is certainly less than $450. However, the airfare reimbursement is not dependent on your citigold relationship, so citigold still only offers you a $100 savings off your annual fee. (450-350 vs 200-100 is still a $100 difference).
Am I correct that there is also a 15% annual TYP bonus for citigold members on spend on the prestige? That is a consideration, though put into perspective, one would have to spend $88,667 on the card annually to recoup the $212.80 in value noted above.
Check my math:
$88,667 annual spend on the card x .15 citigold annual bonus TYP x $0.016/TYP for AA redemptions = $212.80.
Since I am unlikely to spend anywhere near $88k on this credit card, the 15% citigold bonus won't add up to much to offset the loss of interest. Unless it is calculated differently?
The savings/rebates I outlined in my previous post are $287.20 max ($187.20 in TYP IF redeemed on AA, and $100 savings in Prestige annual fee). So, you'd have to earn an additional $212.80 on your 50K to break even by parking it at citi, or 0.43% So, if you can't earn 0.43% or better at citi, you're still better off parking $50K in an online savings account earning 1% than at citi.
There are a couple of other factors to consider:
-your interest at another bank will all be taxed. At citi, the $100 in savings off your CC annual fee would probably not be taxed, but whatever interest and also your rebate in TYP probably would.
-your interest at another bank is cold, hard cash. Your "up to" $187.20 annually in TYP is not. (but any interest earned and savings off annual fees you would have otherwise paid are). You'd have to redeem them on AA flights to get that full value out of the TYP, and they are also subject to potentially massive inflation/devaluation (though it's hard to argue that the USD is not). I just don't want to invest too much into banking TYP's and then have them drastically change the program.
Appreciate your input. And to respond to your point, yes, the effective AF is certainly less than $450. However, the airfare reimbursement is not dependent on your citigold relationship, so citigold still only offers you a $100 savings off your annual fee. (450-350 vs 200-100 is still a $100 difference).
Am I correct that there is also a 15% annual TYP bonus for citigold members on spend on the prestige? That is a consideration, though put into perspective, one would have to spend $88,667 on the card annually to recoup the $212.80 in value noted above.
Check my math:
$88,667 annual spend on the card x .15 citigold annual bonus TYP x $0.016/TYP for AA redemptions = $212.80.
Since I am unlikely to spend anywhere near $88k on this credit card, the 15% citigold bonus won't add up to much to offset the loss of interest. Unless it is calculated differently?
The citigold fee is only $360, why would anybody park $50000 cash to avoid this $360 is beyond me. For passive investors like me, things are much easier, just put some passive assets in citigold investor account and the rumor is that prestige card fee could be waived
all together. I am going to try to see if I can get prestige fee waived.
Another thing, I don't think 975 points per month is from the right understanding. Read the following and understand it for yourself:
https://online.citibank.com/US/JRS/p...BNATYRNRewards
"Note: Citigold® and Citi Private Bank clients are not required to complete 1 qualifying direct deposit and 1 qualifying bill payment to earn T hankYou® Points for eligible linked products and services, but any type of debit or credit transaction must be posted or credited to th e enrolled checking account per
statement period. Citigold® and Citi Private Bank clients will receive more points for those statement periods that their Account satisfies the qualifying bill payment and qualifying direct deposit requirements.
Also applies to existing customers in the Citibank ® EZ Account Package and the Access Account. Points for savings/money market and auto save not applicable to the Access Account."
Oct 20, 2014, 7:35 am
#409
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: DFW
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold, Admirals Club, Global Entry
Posts: 1,141
Well, this is an anonymous on-line forum so you don't really know who I am or what I do for a living but, trust me, the day I can't achieve the "right understanding" about simple financial matters is the day heck freezes over -- twice. Really a lot more times than that.
Anyway, back to the merits. Starting two days ago, Gold accounts get 600 points for checking + bill pay + direct deposit; then another 125 for auto-save; and then another 200 just for having a savings account. That's 975 points per month. You have to borrow money, unfortunately, to get more points, which is not something I would ever do.
There are a couple of weird wrinkles I've noticed. First the 125 points isn't really just for auto-save; rather, you get points for ANY deposit into savings during the month, automatic or not. Or at least that's the way it's worked in the past.
And second, Citi constantly runs interest rate promotions. Right now as I type these words it's triple interest! This is absurd, of course, since three times zero is still zero. Technically, I'll concede that it's actually 3 x 0.15% = 0.45%, but that still rounds to zero.
Finally, about the "parking" thing. At bottom your point is sound of course but my view, nonetheless, is that life is short and my time is valuable. Chasing small interest-rate differentials simply isn't worth the time & effort to me. All the big banks offer effectively what's a zero rate and, to repeat, I'm simply not going to have less than $50K lying fallow somewhere. It might as well be at Citi. They're not that great but they're perhaps marginally better than BofA or Chase, to pick two examples.
Anyway, back to the merits. Starting two days ago, Gold accounts get 600 points for checking + bill pay + direct deposit; then another 125 for auto-save; and then another 200 just for having a savings account. That's 975 points per month. You have to borrow money, unfortunately, to get more points, which is not something I would ever do.
There are a couple of weird wrinkles I've noticed. First the 125 points isn't really just for auto-save; rather, you get points for ANY deposit into savings during the month, automatic or not. Or at least that's the way it's worked in the past.
And second, Citi constantly runs interest rate promotions. Right now as I type these words it's triple interest! This is absurd, of course, since three times zero is still zero. Technically, I'll concede that it's actually 3 x 0.15% = 0.45%, but that still rounds to zero.
Finally, about the "parking" thing. At bottom your point is sound of course but my view, nonetheless, is that life is short and my time is valuable. Chasing small interest-rate differentials simply isn't worth the time & effort to me. All the big banks offer effectively what's a zero rate and, to repeat, I'm simply not going to have less than $50K lying fallow somewhere. It might as well be at Citi. They're not that great but they're perhaps marginally better than BofA or Chase, to pick two examples.
Oct 20, 2014, 7:59 am
#410
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: DFW,OVB (Russia)
Programs: AA HH Gold SPG Gold BA
Posts: 1,823
This image has all the card designs for which applications are currently accepted.
Yeah, I hope that the re designed "premium" cards feel better in hand then the double cash did. That thing really felt cheap (like it could have been made in a graphics design class on a college campus lol
Oct 20, 2014, 9:06 am
#411
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: PHX
Posts: 323
I tried to use the 15% discount that is available for my account since I opened the card this year. The process is horrible. You have to call the concierge service, give them the flight info, they in turn will email you back within 4 hours with the flight options as they contact Spirit Incentive, then you can call them back to complete the reservation.
Oct 20, 2014, 11:13 am
#412
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: BOS
Programs: Delta Platinum, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 308
I tried to use the 15% discount that is available for my account since I opened the card this year. The process is horrible. You have to call the concierge service, give them the flight info, they in turn will email you back within 4 hours with the flight options as they contact Spirit Incentive, then you can call them back to complete the reservation.
What is the flight info? Are they the same as before (airports, dates, etc.)? Also, are the flight options the same as before (cheapest fares)?
Oct 20, 2014, 11:59 am
#413
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 48
I tried to use the 15% discount that is available for my account since I opened the card this year. The process is horrible. You have to call the concierge service, give them the flight info, they in turn will email you back within 4 hours with the flight options as they contact Spirit Incentive, then you can call them back to complete the reservation.
Oct 20, 2014, 1:52 pm
#414
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: PHX
Posts: 323
I tried to use the 15% discount that is available for my account since I opened the card this year. The process is horrible. You have to call the concierge service, give them the flight info, they in turn will email you back within 4 hours with the flight options as they contact Spirit Incentive, then you can call them back to complete the reservation.
Got the quote within 2 hours. The quoted price was after the 15% discount was applied. It was a one-way ticket & the price quoted was slightly higher than what I could buy directly from the airline. The concierge service said there was a ticketing fee added to the quote, so the 15% discount and ticketing fee were about the same cost. I questioned that fee & they are now going to call me back within 2 hours with an answer. I am using this simple transaction for a test of the process since we used the discount often, and with the way airfare can change and the fact it is taking many hours, this is not a good impression of their service.
Oct 20, 2014, 2:21 pm
#415
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 48
Got the quote within 2 hours. The quoted price was after the 15% discount was applied. It was a one-way ticket & the price quoted was slightly higher than what I could buy directly from the airline. The concierge service said there was a ticketing fee added to the quote, so the 15% discount and ticketing fee were about the same cost. I questioned that fee & they are now going to call me back within 2 hours with an answer. I am using this simple transaction for a test of the process since we used the discount often, and with the way airfare can change and the fact it is taking many hours, this is not a good impression of their service.
Keep us updated with the outcome.
Oct 20, 2014, 2:41 pm
#416
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: PHX
Posts: 323
I spoke directly to the concierge that handles flights. While on the phone, she priced out 2 tickets, both 1 way tickets, both prices were higher than booking directly with the airline. She also looked directly on the airline website. In the end, she needs to speak to her manager to find a solution, so I won't have an answer for a day.
Oct 20, 2014, 2:53 pm
#417
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 258
I booked a ticket last week using the 15% and while the ticket price was 15% less than the airline's, the fees were more. I plan to call about this, hopefully get to it this week. It wasn't a lot, about $5 more. But it's the principle.
Oct 20, 2014, 2:59 pm
#418
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 48
I wish someone would file a class action lawsuit against spirit incentives.
Oct 20, 2014, 3:22 pm
#419
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 258
For 2 tickets, on Island Air's website.
Base Fare - $123.54
U.S. Taxes - $9.26
Other Taxes1 - $19.20
Total - $152.00
Spirit -
2 Passengers: (2 Adults)
Base Fare: $ 105.01
Taxes / Carrier Imposed Fees: $ 33.80
Total Charge $ 138.81
$5.34 difference in taxes/fees by my calculations.
Base Fare - $123.54
U.S. Taxes - $9.26
Other Taxes1 - $19.20
Total - $152.00
Spirit -
2 Passengers: (2 Adults)
Base Fare: $ 105.01
Taxes / Carrier Imposed Fees: $ 33.80
Total Charge $ 138.81
$5.34 difference in taxes/fees by my calculations.
Last edited by voodoogirl; Oct 20, 2014 at 3:55 pm
Oct 20, 2014, 4:04 pm
#420
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: BOS
Programs: Delta Platinum, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 308
What's the proper channel for doing this? I have maybe 5 tickets I need to do this on, and it would be nice to minimize the amount of time I need to spend on it. How hard was it for Spirit Incentives to accept your story? Did you need to forward them your airline receipts and your Spirit Incentives receipts for comparison?