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Please read this wiki before posting questions in the thread. All PUBLIC Citi AAdvantage personal card links now deny bonus miles for personal card accounts if you have opened or closed any Citi AAdvantage personal (gold, platinum, exec) card in the past 24 months. All PUBLIC Citi AAdvantage business card links now deny bonus miles for business card accounts if you have opened or closed any Citi AAdvantage business card in the past 24 months. See FAQ #1 below for additional details. See FAQ #3 below for a way around the 24-month restriction. Previous threads (now closed) on this topic are available for 2013-2014, 2015, and the first 7 months of 2016.For information on the Executive version of this card, see: Citi Executive AA thread 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. Table of Contents Top personal card offers Top business card offers Other personal cards Other business cards Citibank contacts/resources Frequently Asked Questions
Top personal card offers (currently 60K) For the sake of continuity, please do not renumber items in this list. Links are listed in chronological order (newest ones last). Note: except as noted, application pages for offers in this section contain the following (or substantially similar) language: American Airlines AAdvantage bonus miles are not available if you have had any Citi / AAdvantage card (other than a CitiBusiness/AAdvantage card) opened or closed in the past 24 months. Top business card offers (currently 60K) For the sake of continuity, please do not renumber items in this list. Links are listed in chronological order (newest ones last). Except as noted below, all offers in this section contain language stating that This card is not available if the business already has a CitiBusiness/AAdvantage Platinum Select World MasterCard account. Bonus miles and any additional special offer not available if you have had any CitiBusiness/AAdvantage account opened or closed in the past 24 months. Bonus miles not available if you have had a CitiBusiness/AAdvantage Platinum Select World MasterCard opened or closed in the past 24 months. R) Landing page for business Platinum Select World MC offer for 60K miles after $3000 spend in 3 months, $95 fee waived first year; application page. Other personal cards 24) Landing page for personal Platinum Select World Elite MC offer for 50K miles after $3000 spend in 3 months, $95 fee waived first year; a) 30) Application page for personal Platinum Select World Elite MC offer for 50K miles after $3000 spend in 3 months, $95 fee waived first year. Application page. 32) Landing page for personal Platinum Select World Elite MC offer for 40K miles after $1000 spend in 3 months, $95 fee waived first year. Application page. 26) Landing page for personal Platinum Select World Elite MC offer for 30K miles after $1000 spend in 3 months, $95 fee waived first year; a) new 30K application page 28) Landing page for personal Platinum Select World Elite MC offer for 30K miles after $1000 spend in 3 months, $95 fee waived first year; a) new 30K/$1K application page, Landing page for Citi Gold Mastercard offer for 25,000 miles after $750 spend in 3 months. $50 annual fee, waived first year; current application page, prior application page.
Other business cards K) Landing page for business Platinum Select World MC offer for 50K miles after $3000 spend in 3 months, $95 fee waived first year. Current (third) application page. Landing page for CitiBusiness Platinum Select MC offer for 30K miles after $1000 spend in 3 months, $95 fee waived first year; Application page. Citibank contacts/resources
Frequently Asked Questions The FAQs below will almost certainly answer questions you have about Citi AA Platinum, Gold, and CitiBusiness cards. Do not post in the thread "just to double-check if the wiki is correct"; the wiki is here to avoid having people ask the same questions endlessly. With few exceptions, Citi CSRs and bloggers spread a great deal of misinformation. 1. Are these AA cards churnable? Yes and no. The general rules are:
If you violate the 24-month rule, Citi may still issue you the card but you will not get the bonus. Most of the above rules are new for Citi. Prior to December 2015, receiving the card meant receiving the bonus. Prior to August 2016, the card type and category mattered.
Note that beginning in late 2014, new Citi AA business card offers began including the explicit requirement that the applicant not be an existing AA business cardholder. This language has not been uniformly enforced. When closing a business card, be sure to completely cancel the full account; send an SM or call and request that the account, ending in XXXX and the associated cards, ending in YYYY (etc.) be closed, including the master account. (The master account is the actual line of credit, while the cards are the individual cards associated with each employee of the business.) To find the master account number, go to your online account and select the card you want to close. In the bottom left corner there is a dropdown box next to "Cardholder:" that has the master account and any card accounts listed. 2. Does a product change or card conversion count as a card open/close that resets the 24-month clock? Yes. Downgrading to a different card (aka a "product change" or PC) counts as closing the AA card. This includes downgrades from AA Platinum to Gold as well as downgrades to non-AA cards. A similar rule has also been true for involuntary, Citi-initiated conversions of legacy, no-longer-issued AA Visa & Amex cards to MasterCards; these events are both a closure (of the old card) and an opening (of the replacement MC). 3. Is there any way around the 24-month restriction? Yes. As of August 2016, there are two ways. a) Targeted mailer offers Numerous FTers received physical mailers with unique invitation codes since 2015 in which the T&C do not contain the 24-month restriction language. E-mailed mailers do not circumvent the 24-month rules even though the application page does not have 24-month language. The T&C for these offers will typically say instead that they are "applicable only to new accounts." This is nothing to worry about; all it means is that Citi won't retroactively match you to the offer on an account you already have; it doesn't disqualify someone who has a Citi AA card or has ever had one. Note: not all mailer offers are worded this way; some contain the standard 24-month restriction, so it is important to read closely. If you would like to get targeted mailers, it is best not to have had a Citi AA card in the recent past. A number of people have gotten mailers by creating an AAdvantage account for a family member with the same last name at their address. Mailers usually start to show up a few months after an AAdvantage account is created, and stop coming once the mailers for that account begin to be used. Frequency of mailers varies widely. Other noteworthy aspects:
b) Pre-qualified offers Multiple FTers (ref; ref) have reported receiving pre-qualified offers that do not include the 24-month/card-family restriction. You can check for pre-qualified offers here. A good results page will have a heading that starts "[NAME], you're Pre-Qualified to apply for the following credit cards offers." A page that starts with "[NAME], we couldn't match your records to a Pre-Qualified credit card offer. See below for [X number] other cards you may like" does NOT contain a prequalified offer even if the page displays more than X offers; the offers presented will almost certainly contain (and Citi will enforce) the 24-month language. 4. What are the most current time-restriction rules in applying for all Citi cards?
Citi has been known to miscount in some cases. As a result, it is inadvisable to apply again exactly on day 60 or 90--thus the advice to wait 65 or 95 days. For purposes of these rules,
If you get denied for violating any of these rules, you will probably have to wait the full time period (60+/90+ days) before trying again. Use this calculator to establish your dates: http://www.timeanddate.com/date/dateadd.html In addition, FT lore has evolved into soft guidance that you apply for no more than one Citi card (of any kind) in any 8-day period. This is merely prudential guidance, not clearly established Citi policy; there are examples of people applying for two cards in a single day and being approved for the second. However, multiple Citi applications in a short time frame do appear, at least anecdotally, to increase the odds of the second application being denied. (You may see FTers refer to "the 8/65 rule," which refers to this soft guidance plus the strict 60-day rule noted above.) An example of the guidance above applied in combination: Day 1 Apply for 50K HHonors - Starts 60-day and 24-month clocks. No apps of any kind recommended for 8 days. Not sure what day you applied? The date is written year, month, day in the application number: 201702150000 means you applied on February 15, 2017.Day 9 Apply for 50K AA Personal Plat MC - Starts 24-month clock for personal Plat MC & resets 60-day clock. Day 66 Apply for 50K AA Business - Starts 24-month clock for biz card apps, starts 90-day clock for CitiBusiness cards & resets 60-day clock. No apps of any kind recommended for 8 days. Day 74 Apply for 50K TYP Card - Starts 24-month clock for TYP & resets 60-day clock. No apps of any kind recommended for 8 days. Day 161 - Open Costco Business card/Close CitiBusiness AA card - Restarts 24-month clock for CitiBusiness AA apps, restarts 90-day clock for CitiBusiness cards & resets 60-day clock. No apps of any kind recommended for 8 days. Day 9 plus 24 months Apply for 50K AA personal plat MC - As long as you have not closed the Day 9 card in the previous 24 months (as that would have reset the 24-month personal card clock). Day 161 plus 24 months - Apply for 50K AA Business . . . 5. Do I need to close existing cards before applying? There is no requirement that you close previous personal accounts. In fact, with the new applications that include 24-month language, closing accounts will increase the time between applications. People have reported having 6 or more of the exact same card. The rules for Business accounts vary by individual. Some people can only get a single business card in their lifetime. Others can only get a new business card if their previous business cards are closed. This requires the master account and all employee accounts be closed see FAQ #1 above. Still others can have multiple business accounts open. It is unknown why people end up in one pool versus another. The only way to figure out which pool you are in is to test it out. With the new 24-month language, it is safest to completely close business accounts as soon as the bonus is received. 6. When should I close existing Citi accounts? 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 except in cases where charges forming part of the required bonus spend are later reversed (for merchandise return, etc.). Reasons to keep accounts open:
Reasons to close accounts:
7. 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 multiple cards for businesses with $0 annual revenue, 1-5 employees, and 0 years in business. While it may seem that your chances are better with an 'actual' business, Citi does not care. 8. 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. Citi is not very vigilant about policing MS. 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 cannot do this. 9. 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. People have reported having as many as 6-7 open Citi AA cards. 10. There is nothing on the application page stating the bonus miles. How do I know what the associated offer is? You need to have faith in the readers of this thread if you want to maximize your miles. FTers constantly apply for these cards and report back to confirm bonus amounts. If you don't feel like trusting in the experiences of others, then apply for an offer with a landing page. 11. After approval, how can I a) confirm the amount of the bonus I can earn and b) determine the deadline for completing the required spend? For personal and business cards, you can always send Citi a secure message through your online account to confirm your bonus amount and deadline. (You must first activate the card and set up online access, either by creating an online account or by linking your new card to your existing online account. Unlike some other banks, Citi does not automatically add your new card to your existing online account.) Note for for Business cards only: Approval letters for business cards do not confirm the bonus. In addition, for personal cards only (and perhaps only for online applications), there are two additional indicators:
12. When will my bonus miles post? Roughly 2-3 days after the date of the statement containing the charge that takes you across the spend threshold. 13. 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. For more on the 10% rebate benefit, see AAdvantage Citi / Barclays 10% miles / mileage rebate (consolidated). 14. Can I cancel a card using secure messaging? Yes, assuming you have set up the credit card in your Citi account. Quick and easy. 15. 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. 16. When is the 60K (75K, 100K, etc.) offer going to come back? Nobody knows except Citi & they don't announce these things in advance. If we knew, we'd be talking about it non-stop. Please don't ask about it periodically in the thread. If you want to make yourself useful, you can easily look for new offers by testing the URLs
17. Is my card World (W) or World Elite (WE)? It was once useful to know if your card is World (W) or World Elite (WE) because of a loophole that previously allowed applicants to open new accounts and earn signup bonuses less than 24 months since the last open/close of the same card type. That loophole has been closed. (See FAQ #1 above for more information.) Physical card
Online account
In the alternative,
Platinum
18. Why and when does Citi convert cards to World Elite? Can I do anything to trigger the conversion? Citi appears to convert recently opened World MCs to World Elite en masse at periodic intervals once every few months. For most new cardholders, this will occur in the second or third full billing cycle; for holders of legacy Citi AA VISA or Amex cards, the conversion may occur at any time. There is nothing you can do as a cardholder to trigger the conversion. 19. What's the difference between World and World Elite cards? See the wiki at Difference in MasterCard World and World Elite?. 20. Does Citi match bonus offers? Yes. After you activate and link your new card to your online account, send an SM explaining that you heard about a XXK bonus and ask if they can match that bonus to your new card. You have to have a bonus on the existing card. You do not need to explain where you saw the bonus. You do not need to lie, simply read about current bonuses in this thread. The bonus miles normally appear two days after the end of the billing cycle. Some examples that make no sense:
As with all things Citi, YMMV but both of the above have been done. 21. The CSR told me I was not eligible for the bonus, should I cancel the application?? No. Citi CSRs do not always have complete information. When applying for a card, the CSR can tell that the link is associated with a bonus and that you opened or closed a card within 24 months. However, they cannot tell you whether or not you are eligible for the bonus. Wait for the welcome letter for personal cards or SM after activating a business card if you are unsure. |
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