Beware: Offer of QFF Points by Citibank Ready Credit

[danielh]

Out of curiosity:

For me I have (due to work expenses) a weekly spend of about $2,000 on my Diners Card which I pay off via an ANZ credit card 'credit' transfer. I always make sure that an amount greater then the amount to be transfered is in the credit card a day or teo before I transfer the credit debt from the Diners cArd to the ANZ Visa so I essentially never 'owe' money to the bank.

I cannot see the benefit in you paying your Diners from your ANZ credit card, which you credit a day or two before your Diners payment date. Why don't you just pay off the Diners each month by direct debit from whatever account your are sourcing your payments to your ANZ credit card? At least you would not be losing interest from that account for the day or two that you pre-load your ANZ credit card for the sole purpose of paying your Diners.

Cheers

NC

The Diners Card is an ANZ one so credit transfers between my ANZ Diners Card are free. I personally do not like having money directly debited from my account without me controlling and monitoring it.

Also, I tend to try to pay off my ANZ Diners card ASAP to ensure that the points are credited sooner then then later.

Regards
Daniel

 

[ANDREWCX]

Baycorp credit reports show:

*Your name, DOB, Gender, DL #
*Current and Previous Addresses (for the last 5 years I think)
*Last reported employer and job title.
*Consumer Credit application in the last 5 year - most Cc applications are just shown as "Credit Account where you applied as the Principal for an unspecified amount" (interestingly my (former) Corporate Diners card shows up here too)
*Commercial Credit applications (again in the last 5 years)

Also listed for those with credit issues are overdue account (in the last 5 years) & bankruptcy (in the last 7 years)

Compared to US credit reports there is very little information in Australian reports - nowehere is there an indication on which accounts are current and what the credit limits are. As mentioned earlier the banks etc get this off your applications - and it has only been in the last couple of years that most of the credit card apps ask for the total credit limit on your cards - before then they had space for 2-3 individual accounts but nothing for the total - I think the same laws that restricted the banks sending pre-approved offers also made them ask for totals.

Other thing to note is that (in my report at least) when I swapped cards at the same bank (upgraded from Blue to Gold with ANZ etc) the new card isn't listed (because the bank didn't run credit since they were more interested in my existing history with them).

In the end there is no credit score in Oz in the way there is in the US and the credit report mainly is an issue if you have defaults - normal credit activity (including applying for a couple of cards each year) isn't going to be a worry - the bank will focus on your application form.

 

[BlacKnox]

For sure, Citibank is absolutely hopeless!

My g/f recently invested some money through Citibank Sapporo. After 3 meetings with the assistant manager, and completing all the relevant forms she was called 2 weeks later (about 2 months ago) for an emergency 4th meeting.

Strange I thought...

Turns out, they had lost all her original forms with detailed financial information, beneficary's name in the event of death - everything! They flew up some guy from Tokyo to make the apology, bow deeply, give her a box of expensive chocolates (delicious ) and assure her that her confidential information although lost was safe (huh :?: )

I've never had any problems with Citibank but the stories I hear... Their personal banking operations (i think, or some division) was suspended in Japan last year as the mafia were "washing" money through their banks. Talk about encouraging confidence.

 

[bravoecho1]

It was the Citigroup Private Bank that was expelled from Japan.

There is still a lot of wound licking going on

 

[mick]

Mick, I have had need to contact Citibank over non-credited FF points for "referral" members and I was given a Team Leader's name (based in Sydney) by a friend on Flyertalk. I contacted him by email and he credited the points (a not insignificant number, as I had referred 7 people to Gold or Platinum), after a short investigation. If you want his name, drop me a private message and I'll give you his contact details.

Here's an update to the story that opened this topic...

Thanks to Lindsay, I did send an email on 25 May to his contact at Citibank and they responded telling me that they escalated my email to the Ready Credit department. Didn't hear back from them in a couple of weeks and so I decided to call their number and ask for the Rewards Team Leader in Sydney. Amazingly, they did without question. Spoke to a local who told me I need to speak with the Customer Response Group and they transferred me through.

Spoke with a very helpful and sympathetic staff member who actually seemed interested in taking up the case. She also encouraged me to re-open the account, which I gladly did because I'm just about to travel overseas. A week later, I call back to check on the progress and they told me that the 4,000 points will be posted to my QFF account and a letter would be sent out to confirm.

Imagine my surprise when a letter from Citibank dated 16 June arrived in the post confirming that the points will definitely be posted within two weeks! I have a lot more faith that Citibank will live up to their word now that I have it in writing - so, I guess we'll see...

 

[QF WP]

Excellent update mick, great to hear that you are getting somewhere. The only thing it doesn't replace is the cost of your and their time to fix the problem - plus it's time you can't get back.

Keep us updated with the successful receipt of points.

 

[mick]

Keep us updated with the successful receipt of points.

Well, have just got back from my five week trip o/s to find they haven't credited my QFF account with the points. I called Citibank again. They again tell me this problem will be resolved in two weeks' time. Yeah, right. And if you believe that, you'll believe anything.

I get the impression they're having a big laugh at my expense just to see whether they can get me to crack and lose it with one of their reps.

To top off my whole experience with Citibank, they suspended my Ready Credit account early into my trip whilst in the US, stating that 100 points of ID hadn't been submitted after they had requested it (which they bl**dy-well hadn't). How impressed was I? Not very. You try and find an Australian citizen who's known you for more than 12 months AND who is travelling with you AND is an acceptable referee whilst you're on the other side of the planet!

I managed to get them to reactivate the account after several phone calls and much expense faxing to and fro. Very, very frustrating when on what's supposed to be a relaxing holiday.

Pity really, as NM has stated, the account definitely had favourable exchange rates and the no-ATM fees policy is excellent, but I'd rather pay $5 per withdrawal knowing I can get my money whenever I want without Citibank stuffing me around one way or another.

They were just poor from the start and throughout my entire experience with them. I quite gladly close the account for good.

To those who have never had problems with Citibank, I tilt my hat to you - you don't know how lucky you are.