It appears that Citibank doesn’t like me very much. Two years in a row I’ve applied for a Citi ThankYou Premier card during the 80K bonus periods, and both times I was denied. This is despite having excellent credit and a relatively long history (with actual/real spending) with Citi.
I have had the card in the past, but downgraded it many years ago to the no-fee Citi Rewards Plus card. I was eligible for the bonus again, but in February 2021 I was instantly denied. When I called the reconsideration line, they told me the reason was “too much unused credit.” I asked if that was a bad thing, and the representative on the phone flatly said “not to me…”
This year was similar. I applied in June, was auto-rejected, and called the reconsideration line. They said the same thing – too much unused credit. I briefly tried to convince them to approve me, but at some point the representative just said “I’m sorry but this decision is final.” Sucks for me.
But that left me with about 73,000 points in my Citi Rewards Plus account that are essentially useless. They are not the same as ThankYou points, and I can’t transfer them to valuable transfer partners like Lifemiles or Singapore Air. I need to be able to transfer these points to those partners to get good value for the money.
The next best thing I could do was convert my card back to the Premier card…if they let me. I called the number on the back of my card, and after going through about 25 automated phone prompts that obviously weren’t created for a credit card product change, I finally got through to someone that didn’t sound like they were stateside.
I explained what I wanted, and told me they’ll need to transfer me to a “Citi Conversion Specialist.” That was quick, and this representative definitely sounded like they were based in the US. She confirmed that I wanted to upgrade and went through all the benefits of the card:
- 3x points on Gas, Grocery, Restaurants, and Travel
- $100 off $500 hotel benefit once a year
- $95 annual fee
Then she proceeded to explain the myriad of other fee changes, from late fees to balance transfer fees to literally everything else. I was told that the account number would stay the same, and I can continue to use my current card until the next one arrives in 10-14 days.
At the end, she asked If I’m OK with all of this. I said yes, then I asked a question I always ask in these calls: can you confirm my current points will transfer over? She confirmed, and then said she needs to get my confirmation again because I asked a question (oops). That was all it took.
Summary
All in all, after I got through the automated phone prompts, the phone call took less than 5 minutes. There was no income information necessary or anything other than confirming my name and address.
So while I’m apparently no longer profitable enough for Citi to give me another 80K point bonus, at least my 73K+ existing points won’t go to waste. Those points are worth even more with transfer bonuses, like the current 25% bonus to Lifemiles. All of a sudden, my nearly useless 73K Citi Rewards Plus points are going to be worth 91,000 Lifemiles. That’s enough for a first class redemption to Europe or Asia, or Business Class to Africa or Australia…with some points leftover to boot. That’s not even to mention the value (or frustration) of transferring them into Turkish miles.
If you’re looking for a way to avoid my fate, it might be that I’m simply paying off my cards before the statement closes. This has been a practice of mine my entire life. In this case, it might make it appear to Citi that I don’t use all the credit I have (I have over $25K credit limit with Citi alone with just 2 cards). And while my Citi Rewards Plus card was mainly in the proverbial sock drawer, my Citi Costco card is good for thousands of dollars a year in actual spending.
You have figured correctly with any bank with credit card products. If you do use them and at some time carried a balance, your chances of getting another CC are increased. But your Costco CC should account for something, but again if you carry no balance, then you don’t make money for Citibank.
The vagaries of what any bank will need to approve you for a CC, well each individual is different. I am in 5/24. So, I have given up on Chase. I applied for Cap1 VentureX and they said I had too much credit and debt, but my utilization includes our mortgage. Even then my utilization is less than 10%. I gave up on Cap1 as well. Beside Cap1 is the only CC company that pulls all 3 credit bureaus. Like why do they even do that?
CC companies are back into being stringent on granting CCs. The thing is that many times, they screw over good customers which them causes those same customers to go to another bank.
Completely agree. I don’t have any Capital One cards, but in anticipation of applying for one I am trying my best to at least let my statements close with a balance before paying it off.
Hit the nail on the head with screwing over good customers. With this experience with Citi, I have no reason to take any of my personal or business accounts to them in the future.