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-   -   2019 Shutdown Thread (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/manufactured-spending/1948543-2019-shutdown-thread.html)

RedSun Mar 4, 2019 3:55 pm


Originally Posted by DjRocket (Post 30847754)
Of course $750, but your logic assumes "all things being equal", which they are not. I don't have the Hyatt card, per your example, and I can't get it since I'm over 5/24. To make this 3x Marriott cost/benefit unreasonable for me, you would need to compare the deal to the alternatives available to me : ). Besides, I'd rather have $100 worth of Marriott points than $100 worth of Hyatt due to its locations, again a highly ymmv factor.

I think your YMMV is more of an argument than fact. It is like someone can only have Citi card, or only Chase card and are banned with other banks. Or for MS, someone can only do MO since they are banned with Paypal, Serve/BB and more restrictions.

Facts are just facts. Your YMMV won't change the facts, but just your own.

DjRocket Mar 5, 2019 11:49 am


Originally Posted by RedSun (Post 30847911)
I think your YMMV is more of an argument than fact. It is like someone can only have Citi card, or only Chase card and are banned with other banks. Or for MS, someone can only do MO since they are banned with Paypal, Serve/BB and more restrictions.

Facts are just facts. Your YMMV won't change the facts, but just your own.

I'm sorry, but your logic makes very little sense again. The value of a deal is not measured in terms of some absolute metric but rather utility it brings to an individual. This is one of the fundamental principles the free market economics is based on. So it might be a fact that you get a better discount on a cruise to the Caribbean than a comparable cruise to Alaska, all things being equal. But if I hate beaches and don't care about summer weather, the lesser discount on the Alaskan cruise would be a better deal to me. Utility is not an absolute metric. So again, to determine the value of the 3x MR promotion, I have to consider cost / benefit ratio in the context of the alternatives available to me, not you or somebody else who might have different preferences and options. It is indeed YMMV.

RedSun Mar 5, 2019 1:09 pm


Originally Posted by DjRocket (Post 30851304)
I'm sorry, but your logic makes very little sense again. The value of a deal is not measured in terms of some absolute metric but rather utility it brings to an individual. This is one of the fundamental principles the free market economics is based on. So it might be a fact that you get a better discount on a cruise to the Caribbean than a comparable cruise to Alaska, all things being equal. But if I hate beaches and don't care about summer weather, the lesser discount on the Alaskan cruise would be a better deal to me. Utility is not an absolute metric. So again, to determine the value of the 3x MR promotion, I have to consider cost / benefit ratio in the context of the alternatives available to me, not you or somebody else who might have different preferences and options. It is indeed YMMV.

You logics makes little sense to me.

When we talk about rewards etc, we all talk about common sense. If you are banned from certain bank, or certain financial situation, you are in your own unique financial situation. It does not change the facts of the each reward program. Hyatt value won't drop just because YOU can't get Hyatt card.

If you hate beaches or hate Hawaii, it does not drop the values of beach resorts in Hawaii. Hawaii and beaches are attractive to most of the normal or common people. When we talk, we have those common people in mind, not the few folks who hate beaches.

Also, when I post something, I do not just address YOUR needs, but the common people...

NBG007 Mar 7, 2019 8:37 am

Got shutdown letter from my Local small bank for MO deposits (they didn't explicitly say it, i guess that is the case). Have been doing about 2-3K/week for about 1 year. Now i need to find another one that will be go easy.

radonc1 Mar 7, 2019 1:04 pm


Originally Posted by NBG007 (Post 30858483)
Got shutdown letter from my Local small bank for MO deposits (they didn't explicitly say it, i guess that is the case). Have been doing about 2-3K/week for about 1 year. Now i need to find another one that will be go easy.

Not enough detail to tell you what caused your shut down.
If all you were doing was depositing MOs and then withdrawing the money without providing the bank with any other business, then you are probably right. They would be glad to eliminate a such a customer.
However, as seen by prior posts in this thread, even people with significant unrelated bank business get shut down when abusing the system.
So a bit more detail (see the Wiki above) will be helpful.

NBG007 Mar 7, 2019 7:44 pm


Originally Posted by radonc1 (Post 30859480)
Not enough detail to tell you what caused your shut down.
If all you were doing was depositing MOs and then withdrawing the money without providing the bank with any other business, then you are probably right. They would be glad to eliminate a such a customer.
However, as seen by prior posts in this thread, even people with significant unrelated bank business get shut down when abusing the system.
So a bit more detail (see the Wiki above) will be helpful.

My bad for not giving enough info. Yes, i was using those accounts primarily for MO and doing bill pay with that. It was one of the few banks that worked using Mobile deposit for WU MO. Will this closure have any negative impact on Chex systems, etc?.

tuphat Apr 1, 2019 9:23 pm

Citi shut down my Double Cash card last month, which I have been using for both MS and organic spend for 5+ years. The initial letter provided no reason for shutdown, said I had to write them a letter & ask for explanation, which I did. Their response:

"Based on a review of your account, we observed account activity that is inconsistent with typical consumer usage and payments for which the source of funds could not be determined."

FWIW, I made intra-monthly payments using both WM BP and Citi's own payment button (linked to my checking account). However, I always had sufficient CL headroom for my spending, regardless of the intra-month pay downs.

To add injury to insult, they also "declined" to pay out my accumulated cash rewards (about $150), citing the terms of the program.

I have plenty of other dogs in the hunt, so not really too upset except for the lost cash. I resolve to be more diligent about cashing-out.

ChrisFlyer66 Apr 1, 2019 10:31 pm


Originally Posted by tuphat (Post 30954903)
Citi shut down my Double Cash card last month, which I have been using for both MS and organic spend for 5+ years. The initial letter provided no reason for shutdown, said I had to write them a letter & ask for explanation, which I did. Their response:

"Based on a review of your account, we observed account activity that is inconsistent with typical consumer usage and payments for which the source of funds could not be determined."

FWIW, I made intra-monthly payments using both WM BP and Citi's own payment button (linked to my checking account). However, I always had sufficient CL headroom for my spending, regardless of the intra-month pay downs.

To add injury to insult, they also "declined" to pay out my accumulated cash rewards (about $150), citing the terms of the program.

I have plenty of other dogs in the hunt, so not really too upset except for the lost cash. I resolve to be more diligent about cashing-out.

Did you have any other Citi credit cards open? Are they affected by the shutdown?

radonc1 Apr 2, 2019 8:25 am


Originally Posted by tuphat (Post 30954903)
Citi shut down my Double Cash card last month, which I have been using for both MS and organic spend for 5+ years. The initial letter provided no reason for shutdown, said I had to write them a letter & ask for explanation, which I did. Their response:

"Based on a review of your account, we observed account activity that is inconsistent with typical consumer usage and payments for which the source of funds could not be determined."

FWIW, I made intra-monthly payments using both WM BP and Citi's own payment button (linked to my checking account). However, I always had sufficient CL headroom for my spending, regardless of the intra-month pay downs.

To add injury to insult, they also "declined" to pay out my accumulated cash rewards (about $150), citing the terms of the program.

I have plenty of other dogs in the hunt, so not really too upset except for the lost cash. I resolve to be more diligent about cashing-out.

It appears that banks are much more sensitive to MS shenanigans when they are paying the bill, especially in the form of cash rebates.
We have seen Amex put the kibosh on allowing any GC purchases to count towards linked incentive rewards that are paid out by them (as opposed to the sponsoring client paying the bonus).

So sadly, I am not surprised that Citi shut the door on your 2% CB card, especially if you were overly active in its use :o

tuphat Apr 2, 2019 8:27 am


Originally Posted by ChrisFlyer66 (Post 30955057)
Did you have any other Citi credit cards open? Are they affected by the shutdown?

I had a couple of inactive private label cards, eg., Goodyear, issued by Citi that were shut down at same time, so I guess it's me "personally" that's on their s___ list.

dethkultur Apr 2, 2019 10:19 am


Originally Posted by tuphat (Post 30954903)
Citi shut down my Double Cash card last month, which I have been using for both MS and organic spend for 5+ years. The initial letter provided no reason for shutdown, said I had to write them a letter & ask for explanation, which I did. Their response:

"Based on a review of your account, we observed account activity that is inconsistent with typical consumer usage and payments for which the source of funds could not be determined."

FWIW, I made intra-monthly payments using both WM BP and Citi's own payment button (linked to my checking account). However, I always had sufficient CL headroom for my spending, regardless of the intra-month pay downs.

To add injury to insult, they also "declined" to pay out my accumulated cash rewards (about $150), citing the terms of the program.

I have plenty of other dogs in the hunt, so not really too upset except for the lost cash. I resolve to be more diligent about cashing-out.

So - you were cycling your limit? Thanks.

tuphat Apr 2, 2019 11:32 am


Originally Posted by dethkultur (Post 30956656)
So - you were cycling your limit? Thanks.

Not really. Assume $30k CL and fully paid prior month statement balance. I might do $20k of purchases and $6k of intra-month WM billpay. But I wouldn't spend more than $10k beyond that until the next statement dropped and was fully paid off, usually next day.

Chelski Apr 2, 2019 12:29 pm


Originally Posted by tuphat (Post 30954903)
To add injury to insult, they also "declined" to pay out my accumulated cash rewards (about $150), citing the terms of the program.

You should file CFPB and arbitration with them.If you can still access the arbitration process. that is. Find the consumer friendly arbitrator and go that route.

NeGourmand Apr 2, 2019 4:46 pm

Last month, I found myself the recipient of the recent Alliant shutdown letter. It was notification 1 month in advance, and I’ve reached out to have that reconsidered. The letter stated that in mid April, I would be expelled from the credit union and any deposit accounts or credit cards would be closed. I’d like to keep the 2.5% card for paying taxes (the amount I have to pay makes it worthwhile to keep that card.) My initial plan was to close if I didn’t hear anything from the reconsideration department, which I haven’t yet. However, how big of a negative is it if a credit union closes your accounts? Will it impede opening others? I haven’t bounced any checks, nor do I owe them any money. I just slightly took advantage of the cc (not a ton of MS) for 3% and deposited a large amount of MOs. If it’s not a big black mark, I might just keep them open and try my luck for reinstatement.

RedSun Apr 2, 2019 5:55 pm


Originally Posted by NeGourmand (Post 30958118)
Last month, I found myself the recipient of the recent Alliant shutdown letter. It was notification 1 month in advance, and I’ve reached out to have that reconsidered. The letter stated that in mid April, I would be expelled from the credit union and any deposit accounts or credit cards would be closed. I’d like to keep the 2.5% card for paying taxes (the amount I have to pay makes it worthwhile to keep that card.) My initial plan was to close if I didn’t hear anything from the reconsideration department, which I haven’t yet. However, how big of a negative is it if a credit union closes your accounts? Will it impede opening others? I haven’t bounced any checks, nor do I owe them any money. I just slightly took advantage of the cc (not a ton of MS) for 3% and deposited a large amount of MOs. If it’s not a big black mark, I might just keep them open and try my luck for reinstatement.

I do not think there is any negativity with other CC banks. But it seems you are done with Alliant, or at least for a couple of years. I would not think of going back.

Just move on to the next one.


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