Joe1690

Based on a WSJ article today, Jud Linville who joined Citibank from American Express back in 2010 is leaving and he was the head of global cards and consumer services and oversaw the launch of many Citibank credit cards including the original Citi Thankyou Prestige which later changed its name to Citi Prestige and most recently the launch of the Costco card. Prior to Jud Linville leaving according to the article Citibank had each department focusing on their own product offerings rather than working across the bank to develop products that resonate with their customers. As such with Mr. Linville leaving according to the article the bank is now going to develop products across the various departments so that they can better cross-sell products and this will better align their product development in the US with how they operate globally.

In this context it makes a lot of sense that Citibank would discontinue or suspend the current Citi Prestige card since it would appear from surveys and previous articles in the media that this product and various other Citibank credit card products are not meeting Citibank's goals. When the new organizational structure goes in place, I can see Citibank developing a card that meets the needs of the mass affluent customer that they are trying to target with Citi Priority and Citigold. What the card looks like I have no idea but since Citibank often likes to develop unique card offerings that are differentiated rather than me too cards, I would imagine that the card will be at least somewhat differentiated and hopefully compelling.

garykung

Totally possible. Still what I have seen so far, it does not support the idea of refreshing.

I would not say Citi changed its mind. Instead, could Citi possibly have no future plan for Prestige?

FWIW - the whole situation was changed because of the comment of a Citi's spokesperson. A spokesperson's job is PR, which means that the comment could be sugarcoated.

mikesyr18

Nothing has changed.

See above quote. Also, I never paid the $450 annual fee. I got rid of the card because I got tired of Citi's shenanigans. The transfer partners (other than Jet Blue) were never useful to me... I would've either transferred there or used the portal for airline redemptions.

Not really. The perks and rewards of the cards are still comparable, even if many can't access the card. Just because you can't get it, doesn't mean we can't compare them.

I guess you've never heard of people getting an average $12,000/night room for free before taxes. I would say $2,000 is more than a fair guess.

joe_miami

Could be, but what would have been the point? To get one more week of people applying for a card that Citi wants to end? To avoid people canceling a card that Citi wants to end?

No, I have heard those stories, but they're irrelevant now that the 4th-night terms have changed.

mia

My expectation is that Prestige will reappear as a product linked to Citi's consumer banking or investment businesses. This could mean that the card is only available to clients with specific banking accounts (similar to JPM Reserve, or HSBC Premier World Elite MasterCard). -OR- it could mean the card will be available to anyone, but with benefits that only make sense if you are (example) a CitiGold client.

When Citi introduced Chairman card ~2005 it was targeted at Smith Barney clients, later opened to general applications, but then accounts were audited and some of us were asked to submit proof of assets (not income). Likewise, JPM Palladium was nominally restricted, but in practice applications were accepted from others. I think this happens because the issuer needs scale to make benefits affordable. Chase has solved this problem by sharing most benefits between JPM Reserve and the mass market Sapphire Reserve. Citi could solve it by keeping the existing Prestige cardholder base, but only accepting new applications from customers who meet their banking criteria.

baroqen

What's funny is... this is the most activity that the Citi Board has seen in months. Aside from the Prestige, their offerings have been below par since they lost most of their partner cards.

moe8555

I think the Premier is an extremely well-rounded mid-tier card all things considered.

garykung

Could be.

The problem is a few years ago, Citi just kicked away some of the valuable customers out when Citigold increased the minimum (AFAICT - HSBC absorbed plenty of customers out of this). Also - Citigold isn't a new or refreshed product. It has been in the market for decades. Why does Citi suddenly think like HSBC in creating the exclusive experience?

I am not saying that you are wrong. But looking from the perspective of Citi, it is unlikely.

mia

Depends which customers they are looking for. Chase is (apparently) looking for $10 million to have the type of account that makes one eligible for JPM Reserve. By that standard Citigold is pretty far downmarket.

akr1970akr

Yeah, Citigold kicking out customers, or drastically raising the bar on what counts as eligible assets was very strange.

We stayed with them, but it was annoying at the time, and I still don't trust them to keep the rules the same.

A mortgage with Citi is a non qualifying asset for CG status - even though that likely earns them 25 bps for servicing even if they had sold the risk to someone else - but a self directed brokerage account holding SPY which they earn nothing from counts? I can't see that staying this way forever.

baroqen

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the products they have aren't good... it's just they barely have any products anymore. It's like they completely abandoned the credit card department, and the only times this board has seen an uptick in activity lately, have been when they nerfed benefits or stopped taking apps. I remember a time when this board was nearly as busy as the Chase board. It makes me wonder what their plans for their CC division really is, because at the moment, it clearly seems like an afterthought.

Safetravel3

As a matter of fact, I keep the TY Premier (only) for the reason that Citi has some of the world's very best airline partners. You could say that again after you have flown business or first class in SQ, CX, QF, or QR?

akr1970akr

I think they are managing the cards division for profitability (I was looking at their corp earnings this morning, and Cards revenues are up from last year) rather than managing for max giveaways to the flyertalk & r/churning world (although their AA cards are certainly players in that....)

It may not be something of much interest to these boards, but their Costco card is a pretty darn good card for a free offering to be kept forever. No FTF, good bonus categories, simple redemptions for the majority of humanity who doesn't fly F/J internationally, no AF etc. We use it a lot as the top of wallet card especially for things like medical bills where you might have a billing issue years later. (We have!) In that situation I want the bill on a card I know I will still have in the future, so that if ever needed I can pull up old statements online and prove something was paid.

I think they blew a lot of their marketing wad on getting that Costco card, which is why some other product lines feel underloved by consumers now. But I would observe that I have found it way easier to get retention offers on anything from Citi versus Chase. I have never gotten anything from Chase despite pretty good real spend on everything we've used. Citi, pretty much universally, only charges us for one thing (Prestige) where the bait to keep it as gone away in recent years. At least there we get the $100 discount for opening in branch.

mia

My impression was that VISA bore most of the costs associated with the Costco deal, and that Citi's main expense was operational (during the transition, which did not go well).

Citi's approach to co-branded cards is different than other issuers. They partnered with one, and only one, airline and hotel chain, but those partners did not reciprocate the exclusivity. However, I do think Chase is ripe to lose one airline and one hotel partner, and Citi should be well positioned to pickup something to replace Hilton.

Statman

Most reports said that Citi paid American Express about $1B for the Costco portfolio.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/ho...ell-Costco-U.S.