New Citibank Terms & Conditions

[tomassville]

Eligible Transactions: Excluding..."transactions made in operating a business" & "if the account is more than $10,000 in credit only, all other transactions" & finally they have put in writing that payments to the ATO are excluded.

Interesting.

edit: FYI this is for a Citibank Select card.

 

[kyle]

Excluding insurance charges? So we don't get points any more for paying insurance premiums?

 

[thehound]

The free hotel stay for Select card holders has been dumped! That's absolutely outrageous, and given that the hotel stay was worth about half of the annual card fee I won't be keeping my card unless they replace it with something equally valuable (like a return domestic flight as mooted in their recent survey).

Classic Citi to not even have the guts to email cardholders and tell them of the devaluation.

 

[akeno]

These new terms and conditions look similar to ANZ bank's credit card terms.

The awarding of points is up to the discretion of the bank. You might be lucky and still be awarded points for insurance premiums and ATO payments.

 

[DaveB]

I used the hotel stay once the past five years staying at the shoebox Sydney Hilton. I increasingly can't be bothered using the so called card benefits as often not worth the hassle.
Surprised they haven't moved on the Priority Pass which is by far the biggest waste of money given the expensive unlimited access level.
I wonder if anyone has the Select other than for Business purposes. So much personal spend can be done on Amex for a higher reward earn at less cost.
Have to admit last month stretched the friendship putting the card in credit close to 2.5x limit spend. No problem, will just start spreading the payments.

 

[DaveB]

Afraid the ATO is also long gone. If your card allows you otherwise, you should buy a lottery ticket.

 

[albyd]

Do insurance charges include paying things like home & contents & life insurance or only the card repayment "protection" cover? Do insurers pay skinny merchant fees like the ATO does?

Have "government charges" been widened to water rates and council bills etc or still the old abolished taxes like BAD and FID that disappeared with the GST?

 

[DeKa]

I am pretty sure the $10k rule has been there for a long time.

 

[cove]

It sure looks like they want to impose their rules.

 

[DeKa]

Where was this published? My Citi Signature September statement has no changes.. Maybe it was Select only?

 

[andrewf]

Does not appear to be many changes. I have pasted the old and new terms so we can see the differences.


Old terms and conditions
Eligible Transaction means any Retail Purchase which is made by the use of a Card or any other means permitted by Citibank, excluding (but not limited to) transactions by way of Cash Advances, Balance Transfers, Special Promotions, fees, purchases of foreign currency and travellers cheques, foreign exchange and ATM/ Bank charges, interest charges, finance charges, government charges, insurance charges, payments to Citibank loan accounts (mortgage etc), purchases in excess of limits on the Account, transactions made in operating a business and if the Account is more than $10,000 in credit only, all other transactions.

New terms and conditions
Eligible Transaction means any Retail Purchase which is made by the use of a Card or any other means permitted by Citibank, excluding (but not limited to) transactions by way of Cash Advances, Balance Transfers, Special Promotions, fees, purchases of foreign currency and travellers cheques, foreign exchange and ATM/ Bank charges, interest charges, finance charges, government charges, payments to the Australian Taxation Office, insurance charges, payments to Citibank loan accounts (mortgage etc), purchases in excess of limits on the Account, transactions made in operating a business and if the Account is more than $10,000 in credit only, all other transactions.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

what does citi possibly have to gain from pissing off people with business transactions? higher spend, less risk, use of more citi services.... loads of benefits for citi.

with the sheer volume of international transactions on my card for business, citi is making a fortune. Seems silly for them to not want a piece of this.

 

[albyd]

I just got my September Select Statement - no sign of any notice about these changes. How are they notifying us? I get electronic statements but haven't received anything in the mail.

 

[chrisishere]

Mine was attached to the September statement

 

[albyd]

Do You receive paper or electronic statements?

 

[chrisishere]

Electronic, however randomly I didn't get it emailed this month....

 

[DeKa]

Where was this published? My Citi Signature September statement has no changes.. Maybe it was Select only?

I found where this is published. I normally get the emailed statements, and that's the only one I open and read. There was no notice in that emailed statement (nor any other attachments).
Today I opened my September statement for my Citi Signature card through internet banking and the first page of it is a letter. It reads exactly the same as above.

 

[albyd]

Thanks for the heads up. I only ever red the pdf that they email. I logged on and downloaded my statement and it was there. Only negative I see in it apart from hotel stay is the insurance "charges" item. I don't want to make a big deal about it with them to not draw attention to it. most of my insurance is done through a broker. I'm guessing will depend on how they classify their merchant facility. Otherwise, I'm guessing other cover like car ctp & comprehensive insurance as well as life insurance payments may no longer earn pints. Not sure it's enough to worry about switching hose payments to another card. Any chance their definition of an "insurance charge" is limited to credit card repayment insurance they try to fog us?

 

[Tandoori]

I was quite annoyed when I first read the letter with my last statement as I thought the "government charges" and "insurance charges" would affect me. However, now that I see that they are also listed in the old terms and conditions in andrewf's post I assume they only mean citibank related charges.

I thought that things like health, car, house and contents insurance as well as things like car rego, council rates etc would be affected but I have always received QFF points for them in the past and I'm guessing that I will continue to do so. I hope so anyway.

 

[AdMEL]

These new terms and conditions look similar to ANZ bank's credit card terms.

The awarding of points is up to the discretion of the bank. You might be lucky and still be awarded points for insurance premiums and ATO payments.

Awarding of points is always at the card issuer's discretion!

what does citi possibly have to gain from pissing off people with business transactions? higher spend, less risk, use of more citi services.... loads of benefits for citi.

with the sheer volume of international transactions on my card for business, citi is making a fortune. Seems silly for them to not want a piece of this.

What makes you say less risk for business transactions?

I suspect there are a number of reasons at play that make pretty much all card issuers prohibit business transactions except for specific business cards, including, but not limited to:

- Government legislation, including:
- National Consumer Credit Protection (NCCP), which applies when expenditure is predominantly for non business, so easier to issue separate cards for personal and business expenditure and reduce the risk of breaching legislation;
- ATO guidelines - it becomes tricky when business and personal expenditure are mixed, so easier to issue separate cards for personal and business expenditure;
- Larger points liability from business related transactions (pricing may be based on lower points liability from non business related expenditure);
- Cost of funds (cost of funds may be higher for business related debt than non business related debt);
- Lower merchant fees paid by large organisations such as the ATO and utilities.