When there is a lot of information and/or content displayed, as humans, we will naturally scan for what we want to know, what we want to find out, or look for important keywords. To relate this to credit cards, if you’re like me, reading the fine print and in between the lines of bonus offers and card eligibility requirements can get tedious and time consuming if you are spending time searching for a credit card that will suite your needs.
So, to help you get the information you need without having to read through pages of text, we decided to create posts like this one to list all major key points of things you need to know about a credit card.
Since Citi cards have been recently often talked about, below is all the important things you should know about Citi Credit cards.
Things to Know
- There is no limit on the amount of Citi credit cards you have. Most card issuers will set a limit on how many cards you can get approved for and open with them, but Citi does not have that requirement. You can have as many Citi credit cards as you want as long as you’re approved.
- There are quite a few Citi Credit card application rules that you should be aware of. The rules are as follows:
- Citi 1/8 — This rules means you can only submit one application every eight days. Any other additional applications will be rejected.
- Citi 2/65 — The second rule will allow you to submit 2 applications every 65 days. Any additional applications will automatically be rejected.
- Citi 1/90 — This rule only applies to business cards. You can submit one business card application every 90 days. Business cards also count towards the 1/8 AND 2/65 rules. Business and personal cards are considered separate applications, unlike other banks.
- Citi 1/60 — This rule allows one application submission every 60 days, but it does not necessarily affect not everyone. It may be that the rule only applies to those who don’t have a banking relationship or a well-developed credit profile.
- Citi 6/6 — This rule means you can only have six hard inquiries in 6 months, or you’ll automatically be rejected. The hard inquiries are not Citi specific.
- You can check your application status with Citi online. When signing up for a new Citi card, you will have the option to see your status and know exactly where you stand with the application.
- For some cards, Citi will give you the credit card number instantly, upon approval of the card. They do this to allow you to use it immediately online if you need to make purchases immediately. Not many cards offer this. Only AAdvantage and ATT cards seem to get this option.
- You can get a refund if you cancel a Citi card. If you cancel your credit card within 30 days of account opening, Citi will refund the annual fee. After the 30 day period, they will refund it on a pro-rated basis.
- If you apply for a Citi card(s) and you are denied, you can still be re-considered. If you are denied when applying for a Citi credit card(s), call their re-consideration line.
- To be approved for a reconsideration request, you must send in a postal letter to the following address: CitiBank Executive Review Department, P.O. Box 6000, Sioux Falls, SD 57117
You should include all of the relevant information that you’d usually reveal in a phone conversation. - You can also try these numbers but it’s been told that you will unlikely have any success:
- Personal Cards: 800-695-5171 8am — Midnight every day
- Business Cards: 800-763-9795 7am — Midnight, every day
- To be approved for a reconsideration request, you must send in a postal letter to the following address: CitiBank Executive Review Department, P.O. Box 6000, Sioux Falls, SD 57117
- You have the ability to request a sign-up bonus match. If you see a higher sign-up bonus, you can be asked to matched that. Unlike Chase, Citi does not have a hard and fast rule. But typically, they will usually match you to the higher bonus amount if they see that it hasn’t been too long of a time period between your application/approval and when you request the match.
- You can view your pre-approved and targeted credit card offers online. At times, they send or have more than one version of a credit card bonus (aside from the public one). You may view these offers online through credit card websites such as ours. We recommend to check regularly since these kind of offers don’t tend to last long.
- Citi can be generous with spending bonuses. Just call and ask. Often, Citi will send targeted spending bonuses (For example, ‘earn 3X ThankYou points on all your purchases for the next three months’). If you see a spending bonus and would like to see if you are applicable, you can simply call the Citi reconsideration line, ask them if you have any spending bonuses on your account, or if you can receive one. We recommend calling at the 60-day mark, 180-day mark, new calendar year mark, and 360-day mark.
- You may have the ability to create a virtual credit card number. A virtual credit card number is a randomly-generated card number that is associated with your actual Citi credit card. You may be able to set a maximum charge for the virtual number you get which will help further protect your transaction(s). It can be used for online purchases and such things as free trials. After this card number has been created, you can set it to expire any time within a year.
- If you set up auto pay with Citi they will adjust your auto-pay if you pay it in full or make a partial payment.
- Citi business credit cards don’t get reported to the personal credit bureaus. This can be useful in keeping your credit report cleaner.
- A credit limit increase request will may result in a hard or soft pull. Typically, if a credit limit increase request is made, it will result in a soft pull if Citi responds quickly. But if they ask to give them more time to approve your request, it will most likely be a hard pull.
- Re-allocation of your credit limits with Citi is considered a hard pull. In some cases, Citi will do a soft pull, but when you talk to customer service representatives about credit re-allocations, it can be very difficult at times. Before they can even consider doing a reallocation, both credit cards need to have been opened for at least six months.
- If a Citi credit card has been closed out, it can be re-instated upon request after being closed. If the card was closed by mistake or for a short time period, you could be able to convince them to re-open it with no hard pull.
- You are allowed to earn a sign-up bonus more than once when signing up for Citi cards. However, Citi does not allow you to earn another bonus if you’ve opened or closed a card within that particular brand/family within the past 24 months of since account opening.
- If you do a product change to a different Citi product, Citi will consider your original credit card closed. This means that you’ll be eligible to get the sign-up bonus on the card your product changing from in 24 months time. It also means you won’t be able to get the sign up bonus on the card your product is changing to until the card has been closed for 24 months. For some, the 24-month clock does not start over with a product change.
- Citi will expedite stolen or lost credit cards. If you have lost or stolen your card(s), call 1-800-756-7047 and ask to speak to a representative to request a replacement card and be sure to ask it to be expedited. There shouldn’t be any additional charge. There has also been word that you may ask Citi to expedite a new card too.
- Citi charges cash advance fees. Because of so, set your cash advance limit to $0. Citi is known for charging cash advance fees for things like funding a bank account with a credit card and purchasing American Express gift cards.
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