Citi cards - major changes

[hummel]

why would you want to cancel it?
Its the best Visa card you can get for $0 pa, (and then some) and you wont get it again.

Mainly because I don't like how Citibank do things. Devaluation, no Apply Pay, no itemised rewards etc etc

 

[potm]

After these changes the only benefit I see for the signature card is the 2 priority passes per year. The earn rate is useless.

 

[theblank]

Mainly because I don't like how Citibank do things. Devaluation, no Apply Pay, no itemised rewards etc etc

Every Visa card is devaluing so that is relative. IMO cancelling this free card is crazy. I could live without mine but I would never cancel it. There isnt anything better on the market for free.
Its no wonder Citibank didnt fight hard for retaining your business, being the free card, they know you cant do better.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

I would advise all and sundry to take a 'chill pill' til at least mid July til we can get a glimpse of what comes out in the wash - at the moment we are all jumping at shadows - in the fullness gf time ........................

 

[hummel]

Every Visa card is devaluing so that is relative. IMO cancelling this free card is crazy. I could live without mine but I would never cancel it. There isnt anything better on the market for free.
Its no wonder Citibank didnt fight hard for retaining your business, being the free card, they know you cant do better.

Well I think getting another .5pts/$1 on all transaction's is a winner in my book.

We all have our reasons for changing around our cards etc - It's wonderful isn't it

 

[Jack_OC]

Well I think getting another .5pts/$1 on all transaction's is a winner in my book.

Fully agree - in fact it makes me wonder if I should call up and threaten to cancel too! But you said you were just considering keeping it in light of this offer?! With an extra 0.5 pts/$ it would earn more than most bank issued Amex cards for that period, even those with a fee of several hundred bucks! I hope you didn't spend too long considering what to do - at least until the end of Oct!

BTW I plan to cancel my Select card at the end of the year unless they waive the fee, but like theblank, I never plan to cancel my fee-free Signature card. I don't like Citi either, but it's not costing me anything to leave it sitting in a drawer in case it ever becomes useful.

 

[Cynicor]

I would advise all and sundry to take a 'chill pill' til at least mid July til we can get a glimpse of what comes out in the wash - at the moment we are all jumping at shadows - in the fullness gf time ........................

For some this is easy, but a few have annual fees coming up on the Prestige. I can't get $700 value out of it compared to the sig so it went before it cost me too much. Worst case, the others all devalue and I'll sign up again next year for a sign on bonus.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

For some this is easy, but a few have annual fees coming up on the Prestige.

Yeah good point - I forget people have to pay the ann fee

 

[PLANT]

So current signature has a monthly cap of?
After June/July the cap will be?

 

[Jack_OC]

So current signature has a monthly cap of?
After June/July the cap will be?

This aspect of the Signature card is actually improving in theory, although I'd say it will have no impact on most customers. From the email I received:

2. We are removing the $20,000 maximum Domestic Spend per Statement Period that may earn Points which means there will be no limit on the spend that you can earn on your card per Statement Period;

 

[Supersonic Swinger]

I definitely share the sentiments of others towards Citibank - I have experienced them in three different countries around the world and they couldn't punch their way out of a wet paper bag.

However, I'm not cancelling my fee-free-for-life Signature because:

- It's fee free
- It gets me two Priority Pass lounge visits per year
- We still don't know what merchants will do once the changes come into effect. I know if I was a merchant, I'd consider a surcharge for Amex usage. I'm not sure what benefit having customers pay via Amex rather than MC/Visa is, but it can't be worth the difference between a 0.8% and 1.8% merchant fee.

 

[Jack_OC]

- We still don't know what merchants will do once the changes come into effect. I know if I was a merchant, I'd consider a surcharge for Amex usage. I'm not sure what benefit having customers pay via Amex rather than MC/Visa is, but it can't be worth the difference between a 0.8% and 1.8% merchant fee.

So by the same token, it would make sense for retailers to refuse MC/Visa without surcharge as well, on the grounds that it can't be worth the difference between a 0% and 0.8% merchant fee compared to cash?

The reality is - the difference between attracting/retaining customers and losing them to competitors could be worth a helluva lot more than 0.8% or even 1.8% per transaction.

 

[PLANT]

The reality is that we will pay via Google pay, apple pay and Amazon pay. All credit cards will feed into them and the merchant cost may decrease as the banks get left like the taxi industry

I read on points hack something about 3k limit per month and thought WTF?

 

[RAM]

Fully agree - in fact it makes me wonder if I should call up and threaten to cancel too! But you said you were just considering keeping it in light of this offer?! With an extra 0.5 pts/$ it would earn more than most bank issued Amex cards for that period, even those with a fee of several hundred bucks! I hope you didn't spend too long considering what to do - at least until the end of Oct!

BTW I plan to cancel my Select card at the end of the year unless they waive the fee, but like theblank, I never plan to cancel my fee-free Signature card. I don't like Citi either, but it's not costing me anything to leave it sitting in a drawer in case it ever becomes useful.

It seems the "Evil Empire" is fighting back.

Pleasant surprise - it seems Amex on Plat Velocity will (or already has begun) pay full value for utilities vs previously only 1/2 value.

One major use of the Sig CC will soon be shifting.

 

[Supersonic Swinger]

So by the same token, it would make sense for retailers to refuse MC/Visa without surcharge as well, on the grounds that it can't be worth the difference between a 0% and 0.8% merchant fee compared to cash?

The reality is - the difference between attracting/retaining customers and losing them to competitors could be worth a helluva lot more than 0.8% or even 1.8% per transaction.

If you're a merchant and, after materials, labour, overheads, GST etc., your profit margin is only say 15%, you may be fine to give up 5% of your profit (the 0.8% merchant fee) to accept payment with cards pretty much everyone with a credit card has, but you may balk at paying 12% (1.8% merchant fee) to accept Amex. I think that's why many small retailers already don't accept Amex and when Visa/MC are capped at 0.8% I suspect we may see more pull out from Amex or impose a surcharge.

 

[oz_mark]

If you're a merchant and, after materials, labour, overheads, GST etc., your profit margin is only say 15%, you may be fine to give up 5% of your profit (the 0.8% merchant fee) to accept payment with cards pretty much everyone with a credit card has, but you may balk at paying 12% (1.8% merchant fee) to accept Amex. I think that's why many small retailers already don't accept Amex and when Visa/MC are capped at 0.8% I suspect we may see more pull out from Amex or impose a surcharge.

It is the interchange fee that is being capped at 0.8%.

As far as I know, there is no cap on Merchant fees, and they will likely be more that 0.8% (as they will also include assessment fees, and the merchant bank cut)

 

[Jack_OC]

If you're a merchant and, after materials, labour, overheads, GST etc., your profit margin is only say 15%, you may be fine to give up 5% of your profit (the 0.8% merchant fee) to accept payment with cards pretty much everyone with a credit card has, but you may balk at paying 12% (1.8% merchant fee) to accept Amex. I think that's why many small retailers already don't accept Amex and when Visa/MC are capped at 0.8% I suspect we may see more pull out from Amex or impose a surcharge.

Yeah - as you say many small retailers (the vast majority in my area) already don’t accept Amex so it won't make much difference there. For larger retailers, I believe they treat these fees as a cost of doing business, and understand that refusing to accept CCs (or certain CCs) and/or applying surcharges could have a seriously negative impact on their business (unless all of their competitors started doing the same thing – but they are not allowed to collude with each other when deciding on these policies).

Obviously I understand that 1.8% is worse that 0.8% (I assume those figures are just examples anyway), but the point is, if a retailer takes the view that these fees should be passed on to the consumer, then logic would say they should apply a surcharge to both Amex and MC/Visa (different surcharges, obviously). I don’t think many big players will go down this road, but we will see.

 

[Jacques Vert]

I suspect we may see more pull out from Amex or impose a surcharge.

My local Terry White chemist has recently stopped accepting Amex.

I haven't shopped there since I found out.

 

[ric_melb]

I am a little surprised that no one seems to have mentioned the Citibank Dining Program. This provides you with a free bottle of wine at a considerable number of restaurants provided you spend say $50, or order one or two main courses. It would be easy to use this offer a number of times during a year, and save some $40 each time you use it.
With the Signature Card you also get 2 free Priority Pass visits.
If you have a Signature Card free for life keeping it for these benefits alone is a no brainer.
In addition the Qantas Signature Card can earn you between 0.5 and 1.0 Qantas points on spend, with no spending cap on higher point earn and $20,000 per month on the 0.5 category.
That earning rate is not bad considering other bank offers.

 

[Roberto]

Time for a credit card backlash

It's obviously time for a consumer backlash following the recent devaluations across all non-Amex credit cards.

My suggested solution is for everyone to switch to the offerings of a single bank. This should have the desired effect of getting some reaction from the other banks.

Of course the problem is to get everyone to agree on the particular bank for the switch. My vote would be Bank of Melbourne Amplify Card as by my research this card will give the best earn/burn rates. I don't have this card as yet - but I am about to apply.