Citibank Reward Points to QFF

[bushtuckerman]

Hi all

Just letting you know that I received my Citi Platinum card, and it is fee-free for life as agreed. There is no cost for the side-card. There is a $19 QFF sweep fee. All good.

Cheers
Bush

 

[acward]

I have the citi gold fee free for life card and like others here have not been offered an upgrade and so could not opt into the Qantas FF scheme without paying the platinum annual fee. I get a free westpac card with my home loan so have got an earth card fee free now and have the citi fee free card sitting in the draw in case. Given the $25K limit Citi have to continue to provision for, it seems its not a great business deal for them, but it seems to work well for me as the Earth platinum is better than Citi and while I have the Westpac home loan there is no fee.

 

[Moody]

Have you got Janet's direct number?

I have also been knocked back on the fee-free Platinum upgrade after myself deciding that there was no need to bother when the card turned up in the mail last year. I have since resorted to applying independently for a new Plat card with the first year's fee waived ... so that gives me a year to keep ringing Citibank until I find Janet and get the fee-free-for-life Plat upgrade. The $19 is worth it and I will transfer my Gold points across so that they all get swept to QFF.

Trouble is .... now that I have a Plat Mastercard and Gold Visa will there be any issues with upgrading the Visa to Platinum as well? Do they care how many Citibank cards you have (apart from the usual credit checks)?

Is it big-headed to quote yourself?

So to nearly finish off my Citibank saga, I rang them yesterday to ask how I could get all the points from my FFFLife Gold Visa across to my FFFaYear Plat Mastercard and then enroll the latter in the $19 Qantas direct scheme. "Would you like me to upgrade your Gold Visa to a Plat Visa?" she asks. Her name was not Janet so I declined saying I did not want to lose the FFFLife status. "No - I am offering you a FFFLife Plat Visa. Would you like me to go ahead?"

After a long sigh I accepted, and apart from a very legalese sounding statement that I had the feeling was being recorded, she put my application in. Now I just have to call back on Monday to opt-in to the Qantas sweep on the new Plat Visa and also send a fax saying please transfer my Plat Mastercard points across. Then I can kill off the FFFaYear Plat Mastercard that I didn't really want in the first place.

The only people who are really ahead are the ones who make the plastic cards as my wife and I have had 10 out of Citibank within a year. I am also running out of sensible usernames on the web site because every card means you have to create a new account.

 

[edman]

I am also running out of sensible usernames on the web site because every card means you have to create a new account.

You can rename the existing profile, then set up your new profile for the new card using your old login details. Worked for me the last couple of times and it makes things so much easier.

 

[zzyss]

I have the citi gold fee free for life card and like others here have not been offered an upgrade and so could not opt into the Qantas FF scheme without paying the platinum annual fee. I get a free westpac card with my home loan so have got an earth card fee free now and have the citi fee free card sitting in the draw in case. Given the $25K limit Citi have to continue to provision for, it seems its not a great business deal for them, but it seems to work well for me as the Earth platinum is better than Citi and while I have the Westpac home loan there is no fee.

This is almost the same as my story, except for Altitude Platinum instead of Earth.

Looks like Citibank might be losing some business thanks to Qantas

 

[beardoc]

With other people having luck, I decided to try again for a FFFLife Plat Upgrade from my FFFLife Gold Card. Still the same thing - no, you can't - you have to upgrade at a fee of $250/year.

I suggested that others have been offered the FFFLife Platinum Upgrade, and that without it, I'd have no need for my Gold Visa anymore (without QFF points) and so I'd likely be cancelling my card.

She said:

• I might be offered FFFLife Platinum in a month (I suggested that this was no good as it would be after 31st March and I'd lose some points here by not getting it now).
• Other people have got the offer, but it was random, and she couldn't offer it to me.
• Lots of people were ringing planning to cancel their Gold cards because they wouldn't be any use to them after 31st March (as far as QFF points)

Still hasn't resulted in an upgrade.

Should I keep trying with other customer service agents?

 

[Moody]

Other people have got the offer, but it was random, and she couldn't offer it to me.

Not so long ago I would have called that a ridiculous statement, but Citibank have been consistently inconsistent to the point where it may as well be random behaviour.

The challenge is to play them at their own game and get a result within a week. Good luck with it.

 

[Flashback]

I'm going to ring and cancel mine also, in a week. By that stage the QF deadline will have passed (although an article has just been released saying it will be extended for a "limited time period"), so may have a bit more muscle...

 

[WA flyer]

I called today and had mine quickly upgraded to Platinum, I already have a platinum Citibank m/c.
I had to wait while they checked if I was qualified for the change. I'll need to transer my points and pay the $19 if I decide to swich to QFF.

 

[Jeffrey O'Neill]

just spoke to the CB call centre.

I was told that since there is no online option to transfer the reward points to QFF I will need to call to do the transfer.

The good news is they will not charge the usual 2500 points for the "manual" process.

Seems like the Citibusiness card is allowing you to keep your options open. Fingers crossed.