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City National Bank Crystal Visa Infinite (USA); NY GA TN NV CA MA DC & MN

Old Nov 6, 2015, 11:03 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: mia
Current welcome offer is 50,000 30,000 Crystal points with $5,000 $3,000 spending in the first 90 days. First annual fee not waived. (as of telephone call with bank employee 8/7/2019)

Past bonuses were:

***** #1502 - signup bonus 1/16/18 BUT ANNUAL FEE NOT WAIVED ******

100,000 points after spending $5,000 in first three months. Offer expires 30 December 2015. EXPIRED

A 70,000 points offer was offered back in March 2017 and expired March 31st, 2017. EXPIRED

The requirements for the application process varies from bank to bank based on various online data points collected from FlyerTalk, Doctor of Credit, etc.

Some banks require that you go into a branch and apply personally. Other banks want you to have another account open for 90 days before you can get this card. Some banks (if you already have a relationship with them) let you apply via mail. Sometimes you have to be a resident of the state they operate in, while some were able to get the card without living in those states. It is very much YMMV. You will need proof of income (W2, check stubs, etc). The only states City National Bank operates in are: NY, DE (only trust office, no go), DC, GA, TN, MN, NV & CA. The bank is looking for high net worth individuals, but that's not exactly consistent either.

The card has no foreign transactions fees and is fee-free the first year, then $400 annually.

Register your card for online access (cno.cnb.com). This changed on Sept 19 2019.
Register separately for the award page (www.cnbrewards.com).
Register for Visa Infinite info and access at https://myvisainfinite.com/cnb/en_us/home.html
Click "my info" to see details on points awarded.
Best* redemption found to date is $1,000 prepaid visa for 105K pts. It's now 125K pts for a $1,000 prepaid visa. Link to catalog
*(other than spending for flights etc. & getting 1.2 cents each in value)

To set-up spending alerts, create an account here : http://citynationalbank.digitalcardservice.com

Point redemptions for flights have been reported as being as high as 1.35cpp (see here) by calling the Concierge service at +1 800 595 8950 and having them book direct from airline website for you

Significant benefits:

$250 per calendar year airline incidental credit - works on AU card as well - STARTING JAN 1ST, 2020 THE CREDIT WILL BE $350 PER ACCOUNT
$100 Global Entry fee credit - works on AU card as well Per DDResq post 842
Priority Pass lounge membership for up to 2 people. No fee for any number of guests, but lounge policy may limit the number of guests admitted.- STARTING JAN 1ST, 2020 EACH ADDITIONAL GUEST BEYOND ACCOUNT HOLDER WILL BE CHARGED $32
12 GoGo inflight passes - create an account at myvisainfinite.com/cnb. Once the account is created, you enter, then search for GoGo passes. You then input your card number again, create a GoGo account if you don't have one, and the 12 passes post to it ready to be used when you fly again on a participating airline. - works on AU card as well
$100 off when you book a qualifying airline itinerary via visa discount air portal (https://www.visadiscountair.com/CNB/default.aspx - STARTING JAN 1ST, 2020 THIS WILL NO LONGER BE OFFERED AS A BENEFIT
$30 off GroundLink car service (works with AU cards as well) plus instant 15% off rides. There are $25 current user referrals to go for first.

Airline fees are reimbursed up to $250 per calendar year. Fees must be from domestic carriers. There is no need to declare a carrier, and fees can be reimbursed from multiple carriers. Partial Ts and Cs:

Qualifying Airline Purchases are defined as incidental airline fee transactions made at eligible US Domestic Airline Carriers and include: ticket change/cancellation fees, checked baggage fees, inflight entertainment, onboard food and beverage charges, airport lounge membership fees and day passes, onboard wireless charges (excluding Gogo Wireless), and TSA Pre✓® membership application fee.


What works
AA: Award Fees/Taxes, Award Redeposit Fees ($150)
AA: e-Gift cards $250 including AUs (1x per card max 4)
AS: Award ticket fees, $16
AS: In flight food, entertainment.
AS: Premium Class Upgrade, $59

HA: Interisland Flight, $48.80
UA: award ticket fees, $51
WN: Award Fees/Taxes, Award Redeposit Fees (limit unknown, but it's between $75 and $80 per transaction), Early Bird boarding fees ($15)
DL: Baggage fees
B6: $53.30 airfare

What doesn't work
AS: Award ticket fees, $130ish
DL: GC; PGGM (reports of not working since April/2016)
DL: Just about anything. Don't use on Delta
UA: MPX, Award Fees (~$170)
UA: Gift card registry (up to $75) (No longer working as of 11/25/17)
UA: Seat Selection Fee
WN: GC
EY: Award Fees
TW: Change fee
UO: Seat fee
AA: Award Fees/Taxes on an itinerary originating outside the US.

To Be Confirmed
UA: Award Redeposit Fees ($200)


Global Entry reimbursements: (works on AU also)

user - mnsweeps ( https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/29336509-post1549.html )

Used mine and a AU card to register for GE for in laws
01/17/201801/18/2018USCUSTOMS TRUSTEDTRAVELER$100.00
01/17/201801/18/2018USCUSTOMS TRUSTEDTRAVELER$100.00

Credit posted today for both cards.
01/20/201801/24/2018GLOBAL ENTRY STMT CREDIT $100.00
01/20/201801/24/2018GLOBAL ENTRY STMT CREDIT $100.00

In 2016, 2017 AND 2018 airline incidental credits for transactions on-or-after January 1st did not start posting until the third week of January. In 2019 they started posting on Jan 11th.

For further information, see this

STARTING JAN 1ST, 2020 there are going to be major changes to this card, these being:[/s]
  • $350 airline incidental credit per account (was $250 per AU)
    • $95 Annual Fee per AU
      • $32 per guest using PriorityPass (used to be free & unlimited)
        • Elimination of $100 Visa Air Discount Benefit
          • Groceries and Gas only earn 1x (used to be 3x)

Sources:

discussion starting here

https://www.cnb.com/content/dam/cnbc...ewards2020.pdf
https://www.cnb.com/content/dam/cnbc...rystal2020.pdf


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City National Bank Crystal Visa Infinite (USA); NY GA TN NV CA MA DC & MN

Old Nov 1, 2019, 10:02 pm
  #2791  
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 286
Originally Posted by compddd
wait so if my AF hit 9/30 my AUs get the 250 credit one last time?
No, because the credit is calendar year, so it won't reset until January 1, and by then the credit would be $350 for the account.
crapz1 is offline  
Old Nov 2, 2019, 2:57 am
  #2792  
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Posts: 2,921
Originally Posted by akr1970akr
  • If fee posts in 2019, AU's will be covered under the existing 2019 rules. This may matter to those who have AU's and are getting renewals in Nov / Dec. This may buy a little time for those who want the extra PP for a spouse, sidekick whatever. Even though PP itself has gotten harder to use (I think) with less locations at key domestic airports (LAX, DEN, PDX etc.) for us. I really hope CNB rep is right about that, as she stated I'm due on 12/31 for the AF.

My annual fee bills in December, so does that mean that both me and my AU would still receive unlimited priority pass guests until the cards annual fee bills in December of 2020? I am absolutely fine with the $350 combined airline incidental fee reimbursement, the loss of the $100 airline discount, but I am not fine with the loss of the Priority Pass benefit. I would be OK if they limited it to two guest, but not zero guests.

I'll likely keep the card for another year in order to use the $20K in rewards that I've accumulated, as I can't see redeeming them for $16,666 in cash (statement credit). That's a wee bit too much of a loss.

Last edited by TTT103; Nov 2, 2019 at 8:11 am
TTT103 is offline  
Old Nov 2, 2019, 4:54 am
  #2793  
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Programs: Airline Free Agent, Fairmont Lifetime Platinum, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Honors Diamond
Posts: 3,041
Originally Posted by akr1970akr;31691683[list
[*]Lounge benefit is remaining unchanged, although I suspect most FT/churners don't care about that..
[/list]What does this mean? Unlimited guests is still there? I think killing that is the worst enhancement. Can't even get wife (and kid) into the lounge with me so I have to ditch them. Where are the family values? sad lol
gpapadop is online now  
Old Nov 2, 2019, 5:13 pm
  #2794  
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 99
I liked the simplicity of this card - can give it to the wife to use for a broad range of spend grocery/gas/dining all @ 3%. Now I think I'm going to have to divvy it up:
  • Gas 4% - citi costco; or 3% + 75% bonus = 5.25 via boa preferred rewards (limited to $2500/qtr).
  • Grocery 2% + 75% bonus = 3.5% via boa preferred rewards (limited to $2500/qtr) OR mobile 3% USB AR (most grocery places / costco take mobile payments); Could also get her a gc when chase freedom/discover are doing their 5%. Probably easiest to do USB AR and cb could be higher if doing rtr.
  • Dining - 3% + 75% bonus = 5.25% via boa preferred rewards (limited to $2500/qtr)

P1 & P2 will both have the boa card and get the relationship bonus, but seems like a lot of juggling around of cards probably easiest to just assign: Gas = citi costco; Grocery = USB AR; Dining boa. Thoughts?

In terms of volume of spend, Grocery / costco = #1 ($1200/mo) , dining #2 ($600/mo), gas #3 $200/mo.
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ymarker is offline  
Old Nov 2, 2019, 6:41 pm
  #2795  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Danville, CA, USA;
Programs: UA 1MM, WN CP, Marriott LT Plat, Hilton Gold, IC Plat
Posts: 15,649
All my travel and dining goes on JPM Reserve aka CSR (3x Chase UR points plus great travel insurance) I use my Hyatt (2x) for restaurants that don't take chip cards as higher risk of ID theft. Groceries will now switch to Citi AA Mileup or Barclays Jetblue.

Originally Posted by time_stamp
Useless, assuming point redemption values stay the same. But what if they go up significantly? 1.6,1.7,1.8?
But that's still mediocre now that the bonus categories have been eliminated. And all signs point the other direction as the points were recently devalued ...
Boraxo is offline  
Old Nov 2, 2019, 7:19 pm
  #2796  
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: NJ/NYC
Programs: UA and HH
Posts: 4,346
Originally Posted by ymarker
I liked the simplicity of this card - can give it to the wife to use for a broad range of spend grocery/gas/dining all @ 3%. Now I think I'm going to have to divvy it up:
  • Gas 4% - citi costco; or 3% + 75% bonus = 5.25 via boa preferred rewards (limited to $2500/qtr).
  • Grocery 2% + 75% bonus = 3.5% via boa preferred rewards (limited to $2500/qtr) OR mobile 3% USB AR (most grocery places / costco take mobile payments); Could also get her a gc when chase freedom/discover are doing their 5%. Probably easiest to do USB AR and cb could be higher if doing rtr.
  • Dining - 3% + 75% bonus = 5.25% via boa preferred rewards (limited to $2500/qtr)

P1 & P2 will both have the boa card and get the relationship bonus, but seems like a lot of juggling around of cards probably easiest to just assign: Gas = citi costco; Grocery = USB AR; Dining boa. Thoughts?

In terms of volume of spend, Grocery / costco = #1 ($1200/mo) , dining #2 ($600/mo), gas #3 $200/mo.
I'm in the same boat and used this card as my primary for the last 3 years. I'm especially going to miss the unlimited PP and $100 Visa Air discount, which saved me over $1k/year for the past 3 years. My wife and I put $70-80k of annual spend on this card, which represents 95% of our total cc spend. My other cards are the legacy IHG card for the free night ($49 annual fee) and the Hilton AMEX Aspire for Diamond and free night ($450 annual fee). My spend breaks down to roughly the following;

$30k Grocery - family of 5. I'd say $10k of that was Amazon or other gift cards for the 3x.
$2k Gas - we might drive 8k miles/year
$15k Restaurants
$10k Airlines, Bus tickets and non-Hilton Hotels
$20k in non-bonus categories

I have zero interest in switching my banking/brokerage to BoA/Merrill. I just know if I do, that program will end. My wife has no patience for this and will only use 1 card. My renewal for CNB is 2/28 and I'll likely keep it for another year to spend down points (150k+) and possibly for the first $50k of spend for the airline club reimbursement, which is like an extra 1% back. I will certainly be dropping all my AU's before 2/28 though. This and the UA devaluation have hit me hard. Curious to hear what others plan to do if they're in the same situation.
gbryan84 is offline  
Old Nov 2, 2019, 11:14 pm
  #2797  
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 470
So now after the big nerfing, seems most of us will cancel the card. Any good replacements? CSR? Any other card with the 100 airline discount of infinite benefit? What about US Bank altitudes card?
good_boy_1234 is offline  
Old Nov 3, 2019, 1:07 am
  #2798  
 
Join Date: Jun 2018
Programs: SPG
Posts: 6
Originally Posted by good_boy_1234
So now after the big nerfing, seems most of us will cancel the card. Any good replacements? CSR? Any other card with the 100 airline discount of infinite benefit? What about US Bank altitudes card?
CSR and US bank Altitude don't have 100 discount.
hxz59 is offline  
Old Nov 3, 2019, 1:57 am
  #2799  
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: SoCal, CA
Programs: AA 1MM GO, SW A-List
Posts: 53
Originally Posted by asdfghjk
What is the best way to convert cnb points to other currencies (cash/miles/points...) before cancelling? Thanks
Curious to hear ideas too, renewal up in Jan and planning to cancel but what to do about those points if can’t take any trips ahead of time?

Thanks!
Mileage Fanatic is offline  
Old Nov 3, 2019, 6:40 am
  #2800  
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: CHS
Posts: 142
Originally Posted by Mileage Fanatic
Curious to hear ideas too, renewal up in Jan and planning to cancel but what to do about those points if can’t take any trips ahead of time?

Thanks!
I was planning on getting tickets for the future which is after my AF (and will cancel before the AF). Why do you say"ahead of time"?
WAStraveller is offline  
Old Nov 3, 2019, 7:39 am
  #2801  
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Bay Area, CA
Programs: SPG, Hyatt Diamond Member, Club Calrson Silver, AA, Hilton Gold, BA
Posts: 476
Does anybody know how fast it takes for us to get Global entry credit? My annual fee comes due end of December and I have 4 total cards (1 main, 3 AU) and never used it for global entry so I might as well before I cancel the card.
livestrongforever is offline  
Old Nov 3, 2019, 8:18 am
  #2802  
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 99
I am keeping my brokerage (taxable and non-taxable accounts) elsewhere, but just moved $100k in securities to hit the required minimum. Don't really plan to trade at boa so just keep the minimum for the cc boost.

TBH, it is going to be a tough sell to have wife juggle a couple of cards. But having permanently assigned categories (groceries/costco = USBank AR; dining = boa; gas = costco) I am hoping eases the pain - or so the plan is. Not sure it'll work out. Again this was a great selling point for the CNB cc - one card for all the major spend.

Originally Posted by gbryan84
I'm in the same boat and used this card as my primary for the last 3 years. I'm especially going to miss the unlimited PP and $100 Visa Air discount, which saved me over $1k/year for the past 3 years. My wife and I put $70-80k of annual spend on this card, which represents 95% of our total cc spend. My other cards are the legacy IHG card for the free night ($49 annual fee) and the Hilton AMEX Aspire for Diamond and free night ($450 annual fee). My spend breaks down to roughly the following;

$30k Grocery - family of 5. I'd say $10k of that was Amazon or other gift cards for the 3x.
$2k Gas - we might drive 8k miles/year
$15k Restaurants
$10k Airlines, Bus tickets and non-Hilton Hotels
$20k in non-bonus categories

I have zero interest in switching my banking/brokerage to BoA/Merrill. I just know if I do, that program will end. My wife has no patience for this and will only use 1 card. My renewal for CNB is 2/28 and I'll likely keep it for another year to spend down points (150k+) and possibly for the first $50k of spend for the airline club reimbursement, which is like an extra 1% back. I will certainly be dropping all my AU's before 2/28 though. This and the UA devaluation have hit me hard. Curious to hear what others plan to do if they're in the same situation.
ymarker is offline  
Old Nov 3, 2019, 9:09 am
  #2803  
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 470
Originally Posted by hxz59
CSR and US bank Altitude don't have 100 discount.
I know they don't...I was asking for a good replacement card. I guess the only other card that offers the 100 discount is Ritz Carlton, which stopped accepting new applications
good_boy_1234 is offline  
Old Nov 3, 2019, 9:09 am
  #2804  
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: CHS
Posts: 142
Originally Posted by livestrongforever
Does anybody know how fast it takes for us to get Global entry credit? My annual fee comes due end of December and I have 4 total cards (1 main, 3 AU) and never used it for global entry so I might as well before I cancel the card.
It was pretty quick. I would do it ASAP just to allow time but it was a much quicker credit than the airline reimbursement by far!
WAStraveller is offline  
Old Nov 3, 2019, 2:49 pm
  #2805  
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 173
I only keep the card for the unlimited priority pass (gets in wife and kids) - given the fee reimbursements. Everything else is nice (I've used the $100 VDB a few times, fewer and fewer flights have gogo internet) but not critical.

Ultimately, I'd keep it for a $350 airfare benefit and a Priority Pass for 2 guests + additional family members. Not worth keeping for just the airfare though.
md125 is offline  

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