Jul 25, 2016, 12:23 pm
Last edit by: oopl
7/16: New changes that will take effect on 7/23.
1. The following benefits will be changed effective July 23, 2017:
- Loss of AA Admirals Club Access (Effectively immediately if the account is opened on or after 09/01/2016. See Post 296.
- $0.0125 per each TY points for airfare redemptions at thankyou.com.
- Loss of Complimentary International & Domestic Golf
- 4th Night benefit will be based on the average nightly rate of your complete stay for reservations made on or after July 23, 2017. Taxes will no longer be included within the statement credit.
2. $100 Annual Fee Reduction will be extended to Citi Priority if you are currently a Citigold client and you are impacted by the increase in minimum balance and downgrade.
- 4th night free bookable online at thankyou.com (benefit applied as discount at checkout)
- Cash out TY at 1 cpp
- metal card
- 75,000 TY for $7,500 spend signup bonus
1. The following benefits will be changed effective July 23, 2017:
- Loss of AA Admirals Club Access (Effectively immediately if the account is opened on or after 09/01/2016. See Post 296.
- $0.0125 per each TY points for airfare redemptions at thankyou.com.
- Loss of Complimentary International & Domestic Golf
- 4th Night benefit will be based on the average nightly rate of your complete stay for reservations made on or after July 23, 2017. Taxes will no longer be included within the statement credit.
2. $100 Annual Fee Reduction will be extended to Citi Priority if you are currently a Citigold client and you are impacted by the increase in minimum balance and downgrade.
Citi Prestige benefit and reward changes effective July 23, 2017
Aug 3, 2016, 8:14 am
#286
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: ORD
Programs: AAdvantage, UA, Avios
Posts: 637
Interchange fees. Issuing banks rake in roughly $30 billion dollars annually from interchange fees (Visa and MC gets around the same amount each year as well). That is how they make money on all credit cards unless customers are not using the card for daily purchases. This is why they offer category bonuses; to entice customers to use the card.
Lotsa moola. Then you add in the customers carrying a balance and all the other fees (late fee, balance transfer fees, cash advance fees, annual fees, etc.) it becomes a lucrative business proposition for the credit card issuers. To sustain organic revenue growth in the credit card business line, the banks have to offer competitive credit cards
The Costco deal was a bad move on Citi's part as the interchange fee is almost non-existent for Costco purchases (including gas) coupled with the large cash back bonuses (virtually eating up bulk of interchange revenues), so Citi will be mainly hinging on customers carrying a balance for that product line. Will be a very long time before they see a positive ROI from this investment and the effects of this deal is already being felt in the other product lines (couldn't afford exclusivity with AA for instance) where they have to aggressively cut costs to sustain same P&L levels for their credit card business line. I suspect the Prestige was one of the first cards getting the hatchet and I wouldn't be surprised other cards will be seeing cuts in benefits.
Perfect opportunity for the other issuing banks to pounce.
Lotsa moola. Then you add in the customers carrying a balance and all the other fees (late fee, balance transfer fees, cash advance fees, annual fees, etc.) it becomes a lucrative business proposition for the credit card issuers. To sustain organic revenue growth in the credit card business line, the banks have to offer competitive credit cards
The Costco deal was a bad move on Citi's part as the interchange fee is almost non-existent for Costco purchases (including gas) coupled with the large cash back bonuses (virtually eating up bulk of interchange revenues), so Citi will be mainly hinging on customers carrying a balance for that product line. Will be a very long time before they see a positive ROI from this investment and the effects of this deal is already being felt in the other product lines (couldn't afford exclusivity with AA for instance) where they have to aggressively cut costs to sustain same P&L levels for their credit card business line. I suspect the Prestige was one of the first cards getting the hatchet and I wouldn't be surprised other cards will be seeing cuts in benefits.
Perfect opportunity for the other issuing banks to pounce.
Last edited by starbuk; Aug 8, 2016 at 11:42 am Reason: i was wrong
Aug 3, 2016, 8:42 am
#287
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: TPA
Programs: BA Silver; Hilton Gold; IHG Diamond Ambassador; Marriott Gold
Posts: 2,811
Aug 3, 2016, 10:20 am
#288
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Dallas, TX, USA
Posts: 937
This is inaccurate information and has been spread on these boards in many places. Mia is right. Banks take credit risk so they collect interest on balances, annual fees, late fees, etc. Interchange fees are charged by bank but they are set and paid to Visa, Mastercard or AMEX. AMEX is different than Chase, Citi, Visa, MC, etc. because they are also the bank that underwrites the card, so they get the interchange fees and the interest/late/annual fees. Visa and MC both charge about 2% for their services and this is about what the interchange fees are......
Bolding mine"...Mastercard does not earn revenue from interchange...
"...Interchange is a small fee paid by a merchant's bank (acquirer) to a cardholder's bank (issuer) to compensate the issuer for the value and benefits that merchants receive when they accept electronic payments...."
Interchange rates on premium cards is higher than non-premium cards to compensate the issuing bank for the perks offered to the cardholders.
Aug 3, 2016, 1:00 pm
#289
Join Date: Mar 2014
Programs: AA Exec Plat, Hilton Diamond, Citi-Prestige,
Posts: 131
This is there reply when i sent an email complaint about the loss of Admirals club and point devaluation:
We apologize for any inconvenience. Unfortunately, these changes were
necessary as part of the renewal of our partnership with American
Airlines.
We offer a wide variety of products that may be better suited to your
needs. Please call us at the phone number on the back of your card and
we will be happy to explain these products and the terms associated with
them.
If there is any way we can be of further assistance, please feel free to
contact us.
necessary as part of the renewal of our partnership with American
Airlines.
We offer a wide variety of products that may be better suited to your
needs. Please call us at the phone number on the back of your card and
we will be happy to explain these products and the terms associated with
them.
If there is any way we can be of further assistance, please feel free to
contact us.
Aug 3, 2016, 2:52 pm
#290
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: ORD
Programs: AA
Posts: 29
They don't care, they see it as thats what they have the Executive for. Id be much more willing to bail on the Prestige to the Exec if it had the same travel insurance benefits the Prest. has (at least if it does I cant find it). Anyone could please correct me if Im missing it. The 1.6 for TYP on AA, travel ins. and the AC were MY primary reasons for having the card.
Aug 3, 2016, 4:58 pm
#291
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,958
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/citi-...15-2016-a.html
Aug 4, 2016, 6:05 am
#292
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: ORD
Programs: AA
Posts: 29
The Wikipost at the top of this thread has links to the benefits booklets for most cards. I am not certain how those who entered the links verified that the booklet for the Executive card is that specific document, because the card name is not mentioned. (I am not saying that it is wrong, only that I do not know how it was done.)
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/citi-...15-2016-a.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/citi-...15-2016-a.html
Ill check it out, thank you!
Aug 4, 2016, 11:49 pm
#293
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 4,477
Approaching Competition with Sapphire Reserve
Now that Chase is rumored to start offering 50% bonus on UR travel redemptions, I bet folks at Citi look pretty shortsighted now for having pulled the trigger on the Premier rollbacks. So what should Citi do now in order to retain their hard-earned market share in this segment:
- backtrack on the upcoming enhancements?
- bring back sweet retention offers?
- match with the 100K TY for new accounts?
- backtrack on the upcoming enhancements?
- bring back sweet retention offers?
- match with the 100K TY for new accounts?
Aug 5, 2016, 6:05 am
#294
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 1,857
Aug 5, 2016, 6:08 am
#295
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,958
Moderator action
Discussion of Priority Pass benefit (which is not changing) has been moved to the established thread:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/citi-...embership.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/citi-...embership.html
Aug 5, 2016, 8:05 am
#296
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: TPA
Programs: BA Silver; Hilton Gold; IHG Diamond Ambassador; Marriott Gold
Posts: 2,811
I never got the email announcing all these changes, so I called Mon; took a second call to get someone who could confirm what we've discussed here. She promised to see that I got the email. Yesterday, still no email, so left them a message. Today's reply simply listed the changes, with one added note I've not seen before:
So, anyone who wants all the benefits that are going away next July, even if it's for less than a year, needs to apply quite soon.
Existing and new customers between 7/25/2016 and 9/1/2016 will continue
to enjoy the benefits that are being discontinued until July 23, 2017.
New customers after 9/1/2016 will not have access to the Admiral Club,
access to golf courses but no complimentary rounds, 4th Night Stay the
statement credit will be an average of the hotel stay and taxes and fees
will not be credited.
to enjoy the benefits that are being discontinued until July 23, 2017.
New customers after 9/1/2016 will not have access to the Admiral Club,
access to golf courses but no complimentary rounds, 4th Night Stay the
statement credit will be an average of the hotel stay and taxes and fees
will not be credited.
Aug 5, 2016, 1:44 pm
#297
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 4,477
We'll find out soon enough. At this point it's very easy for Chase to backtrack, as they haven't made formal announcements or printed their campaign materials.
Aug 5, 2016, 6:57 pm
#298
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Florida
Posts: 274
They don't care, they see it as thats what they have the Executive for. Id be much more willing to bail on the Prestige to the Exec if it had the same travel insurance benefits the Prest. has (at least if it does I cant find it). Anyone could please correct me if Im missing it. The 1.6 for TYP on AA, travel ins. and the AC were MY primary reasons for having the card.
- Rental Car Insurance - Max coverage $100,000 for up to a 31 day rental period
- Medical Evacuation - $100,000 maximum
- Trip Cancellation and Interruption protection - $5000 max per covered traveler/trip
- Trip Delay protection - $500 maximum coverage/covered traveler/trip
- Baggage delay protection - $500 maximum coverage/covered traveler/trip
- Lost baggage protection - $3000 maximum coverage/covered traveler/trip
- Roadside Assistance
- Travel and emergency assistance
- Worldwide travel accident insurance - $1,000,000 per person maximum
Even lower-tier cards such as the AA platinum have similar travel benefits except for no medical evacuation insurance and lower limits on baggage delay protection and travel accident insurance. Shopping benefits may be different too but I didn't compare those since the question was about the travel insurances.
Aug 6, 2016, 9:39 pm
#299
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: LAX
Posts: 3,267
I never got the email announcing all these changes, so I called Mon; took a second call to get someone who could confirm what we've discussed here. She promised to see that I got the email. Yesterday, still no email, so left them a message. Today's reply simply listed the changes, with one added note I've not seen before:
Aug 9, 2016, 2:25 pm
#300
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: NYC
Posts: 8,498
The Wikipost at the top of this thread has links to the benefits booklets for most cards. I am not certain how those who entered the links verified that the booklet for the Executive card is that specific document, because the card name is not mentioned. (I am not saying that it is wrong, only that I do not know how it was done.)
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/citi-...15-2016-a.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/citi-...15-2016-a.html