New Changes to Citi Cards

[Swappy74]

I have been a long time customer of Citi Bank and with these changes coming 18 March is looking for options

Any suggestions on the following

1. Credit Card that earn points on Bpay
2. Signature card earn rate to KF reduces to .75 KFM from 18 March. Any other Visa or Master card out there that earn more than .75 kfm
3. I asked to be upgraded to Prestige card which I was approved but $700 fees seems bit stiff. Also clearly told that no 70k bonus for upgrades.
4. My spend on Visa/MC is about 300K pa.
Welcome any of your suggestions

 

[trippin_the_rift]

I have been a long time customer of Citi Bank and with these changes coming 18 March is looking for options

Any suggestions on the following

1. Credit Card that earn points on Bpay
2. Signature card earn rate to KF reduces to .75 KFM from 18 March. Any other Visa or Master card out there that earn more than .75 kfm
3. I asked to be upgraded to Prestige card which I was approved but $700 fees seems bit stiff. Also clearly told that no 70k bonus for upgrades.
4. My spend on Visa/MC is about 300K pa.
Welcome any of your suggestions

300k thru visa/mc and $700 is a bit stiff?
Put 100k cash into a Citi account and you'll be upgraded to citigold for 2 years. This will reduce the prestige fee to 350.

 

[kpc]

Put 100k cash into a Citi account and you'll be upgraded to citigold for 2 years. This will reduce the prestige fee to 350.

Can you elaborate more on this? Do you have to keep the 100K in the citi account to maintain the $350 annual fee for the prestige card?

edit: found info: https://www.citibank.com.au/citigold/creditCards.htm

 

[Happy Dude]

I have been a long time customer of Citi Bank and with these changes coming 18 March is looking for options

Any suggestions on the following

1. Credit Card that earn points on Bpay
2. Signature card earn rate to KF reduces to .75 KFM from 18 March. Any other Visa or Master card out there that earn more than .75 kfm
3. I asked to be upgraded to Prestige card which I was approved but $700 fees seems bit stiff. Also clearly told that no 70k bonus for upgrades.
4. My spend on Visa/MC is about 300K pa.
Welcome any of your suggestions

ANZ Rewards Black for VA or ANZ Freq Flyer Black for QF

 

[Jack_OC]

Just to report that as an existing Signature holder, I applied for Prestige as a new card (not an upgrade), and received the 70,000 bonus points. I paid the full fee, but I'm happy with that as I believe 70,000 points is worth more than $700. It also means I still have Signature fee free for life as a backup.

 

[CaptJCool]

From what I can gather the international transaction fee was being avoided with overseas merchants taking that clip on the transaction - result. Less gouged profits back in Auatralia. When the Citi call centre is in the Phillipines based on a low % of equivalent wages if it was run in Australia there's nothing that get in the way of greed.

Where money goes - Interchange fees explained | finder.com.au. Found this article really good explanation

from the citi literature I'm none the wiser as to which card exactly I am on. And if as it turns out I'm billed interest from statement issue date not payment date, I would seriously reconsider if it's worth continuing to keep it. There's only so much that one can take especially when really all this seems to be is shifting the cost from one fee now banned by government legislation to another or new one - some Execs must have no real work to do if they are actively merely complying with the letter of the law instead of the spirit of the reason for the compulsory change and then proceeding to sabotage the process by shifting the cost to maintain or increase profit

 

[legroom]

Just to report that as an existing Signature holder, I applied for Prestige as a new card (not an upgrade), and received the 70,000 bonus points. I paid the full fee, but I'm happy with that as I believe 70,000 points is worth more than $700. It also means I still have Signature fee free for life as a backup.

Well done !

Two birds with one stone

 

[Kilo]

Just to report that as an existing Signature holder, I applied for Prestige as a new card (not an upgrade), and received the 70,000 bonus points. I paid the full fee, but I'm happy with that as I believe 70,000 points is worth more than $700. It also means I still have Signature fee free for life as a backup.

I may well be doing this too.
Any further details on how you applied?

 

[Jack_OC]

Just went online and applied as if I'm a new customer. AFAIK that's the only way you can apply online - there seems to be no online facility to upgrade or add a new card to your account as an existing customer - I think you have to phone them to do that (and phoning Citibank is always best avoided if possible!). They match the application your existing profile/account behind the scenes.

 

[DeKa]

I've put my first "post 18 Jan" foreign transactions in AUD on my Citi Signature card... it was an online shop in Australia, charging in AUD, who obviously are based offshore with an offshore merchant facility.
It's interesting to see that rather than roll the FX fee into the transaction line, they separate it out now.
eg
<XYZ Merchant> London GB AUD$250
<Intl Transaction Fee> $250 AUD$8.50

I haven't had any overseas transactions in foreign currency yet, but I suspect that rather than roll the FX fee of 3.4% into the transaction line, they'll display it separately.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Just to report that as an existing Signature holder, I applied for Prestige as a new card (not an upgrade), and received the 70,000 bonus points. I paid the full fee, but I'm happy with that as I believe 70,000 points is worth more than $700. It also means I still have Signature fee free for life as a backup.

Any idea how quick the 70K will post? ie Before or after 18 March.

 

[DerekG]

I suspect that rather than roll the FX fee of 3.4% into the transaction line, they'll display it separately.

Yes, this is now a requirement under changes to Australian credit card laws.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

ANZ Rewards Black for VA or ANZ Freq Flyer Black for QF

Swappy74 was after Krisflyer (KF) miles.

I believe this is redeemed at 3:1. VISA Card earn at 2:1.

ie Spend $3000 to earn $6000 Reward Points. Transfer to KF to gain 2000 Krisflyer Miles = 0.667 KF miles per Visa $ spent.

To VA Spend $3000 to earn $6000 Reward Points. Transfer to VA to gain 3000 VA Miles, Transfer to KF (the transfer rate is 0.7405)to get 2222 miles = 0.74 KF miles per Visa $ spent (= slightly less than 0.75)

[h=2]Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Miles[/h]

Redeem 6,000 Reward Points for 2,000 KrisFlyer Miles. Allow up to 14 business days for Kris Flyer Miles to be allocated to your account. Account Holder must be a member of the KrisFlyer program. KrisFlyer conditions apply. Visit www.krisflyer.com.

 

[DerekG]

It's interesting to see that rather than roll the FX fee into the transaction line, they separate it out now.

As you already have a Citi Credit Card it would be easy to apply for the CitiBank Visa Debit Card. This is free & it uses your own funds, however there are NO forex fees applied to international transactions. You can also withdraw cash from most overseas ATMs for free. The exchange rate is normally within 0.1% of the xe.com daily rate, so it is one of the best value cards to use when travelling/purchasing from OS merchants. You can use Westpac & a few other ATMs here in Australia for free. The cash you are withdrawing is your own, so no interest is charged.

 

[Jack_OC]

Any idea how quick the 70K will post? ie Before or after 18 March.

My bonus points posted at the same time as the standard points on my initial spend - ie within a couple of days. I transferred to KF straight away to take advantage of the higher conversion rate.

 

[bigmudcake]

It looks as though you can pay via Paypal in Australian Dollars from overseas online merchants and it avoids the overseas transaction charge. I have paid for membership fees using paypal on an overseas website (USA) and there is no extra charge showing in my credit card transaction list. (I have Citi Platinum annual fee free for life card).

 

[Cynicor]

I thought the DCC change is coming in later? Have I got the dates wrong? Anyone have a link to the PDF handy, I'm on my phone.

Thanks!

 

[bigmudcake]

I thought the DCC change is coming in later? Have I got the dates wrong? Anyone have a link to the PDF handy, I'm on my phone.

Thanks!

My understanding based on the product changes page in the Citibank Website,

For International Transaction Fee changes it states "18 Jan 2016 - Citibank Classic, Citibank Platinum, Citibank Signature, Emirates Citibank World, Citibank Gold, Citi Prestige, CitiBusiness".

 

[tharaka]

Paypal exchange rate isn't as good as citibank's i find though. If you get the 5 points Citi still almost breaks the fees even. I'm not sure if you'd get 5 points if you pay via Paypal. Talking about the Prestige card here..

 

[Chicken]

Paypal exchange rate isn't as good as citibank's i find though. If you get the 5 points Citi still almost breaks the fees even. I'm not sure if you'd get 5 points if you pay via Paypal. Talking about the Prestige card here..

PayPal rate is really bad, so don't use PayPal to convert overseas transactions into AUD. Let PayPal charge you in USD etc. Citi will charge you forex fee if PayPal charges you in USD or whatever, so back to square one: any overseas transaction should be done using Wizard MasterCard or BankWest Platinum.