Matthew330Ci

Not sure if this is the best place to post this but how do I actually redeem the TY points from the Citigold account for booking AA flights at 1.6 cent per point? (I should have 40k bonus pts posting sometime in the distant future) I have already earned 900 points for I guess my bill pays or keeping the account open. When I went to book a flight directly on citi.com using my TYP, the redemption rate for AA flights was $0.0075 not $0.016.

coffee18

You'll need to have Citi Prestige and combine your checking TY account with your Prestige TY account.

Matthew330Ci

Thanks, I already have a Premiere so I joined at least those 2 for now. Of course, I could not do it online and had to call in but at least the phone rep was able to combine it for me. I figure I might have to do this later once I get a Prestige later this year.

[edit: how do I make sure that I only use points from the checking acct for booking a flight and not the Premiere credit card points?]

phant0m

I mainly plan to use it in EU. Debating if I should open a Fidelity checking or if the Citi Gold is good enough.

TravelinSperry

I generally recommend traveling abroad with a backup ATM card. Sometimes cards are lost/stolen or don't work in some countries for some weird reason (although I've never had that happen with Citi but have had it happen with HSBC Premier).

slivrflyr

Fidelity refunds all ATM fees. Domestic as well. I'm not sure if Citigold refunds non citi domestic fees.

I mainly have fidelity to deposit the 2% Cash back from the old Fido Amex (now Fido visa). The account is free anyway so it's a good backup for me when abroad.

slivrflyr

Once you join the thankyou accounts you can't carry pick which ones are used. But the checking ones will be used first as citi uses them in order of expiry.

If you don't have any checking points left then Citi will use the points that were earned first. For me, I earned the prestige bonus before the premier one so the prestige points are being used first. (I'm waiting for my Citigold bonus)

RobotsRock

Just wanted to post that the 200k requirement for CitiGold looks like it's finalized. When I look at the Citi Checking Account packages comparison page (https://online.citi.com/US/JRS/pands...TOKEN=AZ4Q10PA) I see the following:

"* Effective November 1, 2016, if you do not maintain a minimum combined average monthly balance of $200,000 in eligible deposits, retirement accounts, and investment balances, your Citigold Account Package will be converted to a different banking package and your accounts will be subject to the terms and conditions then in effect for that package. We will contact you prior to account conversion and send you complete information about the banking package to which your account will be converted."

I've been pretty unhappy with the interest level I get in CitiGold, but been holding on for the Prestige AF reduction this month. I hope they grandfather in the reduced Prestige fee once they downgrade us.

happychic

$200k is quite a bit of money to park in accounts at the interest rate CitiGold has to offer. If they don't sweeten the pot by offering additional benefits, I foresee there will be quite a bit of capital flight from the existing legit Citigold members.

TravelinSperry

Hmmm. When I read that chart I see they allow us to maintain CitiGold with the same $50k. However if you do that you lose the Citi ATM reimbursement feature (to keep that you need $200k). But you keep all other benefits at the $50k level. There is no mention of the foreign transaction ATM fee as a separate item, but it appears from the wording it would not be charged at the $50k level.

So if I'm reading this chart correctly, the only loss is ATM reimbursement.

jsk1973

Well, they're also counting retirement and investment accounts, so people don't have to stash $200,000 in cash to keep Citigold.

Haven't looked at it, but this would be rather bizarre. Hard to believe Citi would go to all this trouble just to eliminate ATM reimbursements from one segment of its Citigold customer base. Nobody in his right mind was stashing $50,000 with Citi at a bad interest rate just to save $100 to $200 in ATM fees per year.

mia

I think you also need to read these footnotes:

...my interpretation is that the chart shows a transitional option to retain Citigold with the monthly fee waived for $50,000, but that after 11.1.2016 the monthly fee disappears as does the option to keep Citigold with any balance below $200,000.

phant0m

I opened one up. CitiGold doesn't charge for withdraws but they said they don't refund if the other ATM charges.

I guess 1% FTF with the Fidelity is better than any ATM fee.

slivrflyr

Fidelity doesn't charge FTF on ATM worth sweats using their DEBIT card.

ylord789

I got a new chip-ed debit card, anything different about this new card?