40k bonus points with Citi Gold Business card...

[cjd600]

applied for the card yesterday. There was no option to change the rewards program to Qantas FF. Do i have to call up when i get the card?

Yes - have them add your QFF number when you call to activate the card and ensure they put your rewards as QFF.
Don't complete first spend until you can verify online your account is tagged for Q rewards not Citi.

 

[WindowSeat]

This is not actually the case for the Citibusiness Gold Card (although I think it might be for the normal Plat credit card).

For Citibusiness Gold you actually accrue Citibank reward points but (unlike other Citi cards) can transfer them to Qantas in blocks of 10,000 over the phone. You don't need to give them your Qantas details until you do the first transfer - there's no opt in required (eg you could send your first 10k points to Qantas but then use your next 5k on a Citi reward, then another 10k to Qantas).

As I say, I think this only applies to the Citibusiness card, from what I've read the other Citi cards are either Citi Rewards or Qantas rewards only (with opt in at card activation).

 

[Stephen65]

Yes that's exactly how the Citibusiness Gold card works. I waited till I accumulated 70,000 Citi points and then rang them and asked for them to be transferred to my QFF account. The QFF points arrived in a day or two.

It's not as convenient as being able to do it online but the advantage of being able to keep them as Citi points and not specifically have to opt in to QFF from the outset is more than worth it.

Now that this card has had its cap raised to $250,000 points it's even more attractive to me with its $1 = 1.25 QFF earn rate on a Visa card, which is I believe the best Visa option for QFF points. I suspect Citi charge a higher merchant fee
to compensate but I have never had this card declined or been asked to pay an extra surcharge over any usual Visa/MC surcharge.

 

[cjd600]

Thanks - I stand corrected,having assumed it was same as Citi Platinum Visa.Good to know,as am now getting the Business Gold

 

[JOC469]

This offer is really making me question how much I value QFF points. Currently up to 4 weeks trying to process my application. They get all confused when I say that my payroll department will not speak with them, and I send them copies of my tax return due to pay slips not being an accurate reflection on income. They speak with my accountant (twice) but I still haven't got an answer. Frustrating to say the least! Bloody Citi service.

 

[Moopere]

Frustrating to say the least! Bloody Citi service.

Yep, I fully understand. They are a bit of a joke and I'd only deal with them for the points. No way I'd use this bank for any sort of real business or as my only CC. Still, 40K = about $1200 of value to me, more or less, so I could lend them a few hours of my time for that

 

[TonyHancock]

This offer is really making me question how much I value QFF points. Currently up to 4 weeks trying to process my application. They get all confused when I say that my payroll department will not speak with them, and I send them copies of my tax return due to pay slips not being an accurate reflection on income. They speak with my accountant (twice) but I still haven't got an answer. Frustrating to say the least! Bloody Citi service.

I agree the application process is painful, but the 40,000 points appeared straight after my first expenditure on the card. At 1.25 points per dollar it is worth sticking with it.

 

[cove]

Citi offered to freeze my Select card for a week so the back office could tinker with the mess up with my enrollment. I politely declined because even though they messed up the points transfer and points calculated I did transfer some Citi Rewards points that they were warehousing to Kris Flyer.
When things go wrong at the start that can just be the beginning of your Citi journey where at least half of your calls get wrong answers from the call centre. Relax and expect the worst and once it is running the points are fantastic. On Select Visa it was a 1.33 points per dollar spend but at $700 annually your 1.25 on Gold Business is a very sweet deal provided you don't exceed the capped limit.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

On Select Visa it was a 1.33 points per dollar spend but at $700 annually your 1.25 on Gold Business is a very sweet deal provided you don't exceed the capped limit.

2pts / $1 on Select - transfer to KF at 1.5 / 1 equates to 1.33 KF pt / $1 spend

1.25pts / $1 on GoldBusiness - transfer to KF at 1.5 / 1 equates to 0.833 KF pt / $1 spend - good deal but not as good as Select.

I spoke to Citi yesterday about upgrading to Select - they would probably do it but I cannot get the bonus 50,000pts by upgrading - only applicable for new applications.

Have had CitiBusiniess Gold for 3 months now - average 20K / month - cannot apply for Select for another 6mths. Will probably get back to them and upgrade as points forgone by not upgrading - ave $20K / mth x .5pts / $1 = $120K x .5pts = 60,000pts - compared to bonus 50,000pts.

 

[cove]

Thanks for the correction with Kris points earn on Citi business.
I had only used my Select for work expenses as I had not realized it was 1.33 per dollar.
The part of my Citi set up is I do not have proper visibility of points earn so I can get to see the numbers better by logging on under Mrscove's log in seeing she has the supplementary card seeing she has the QF point earn.
We now have a 50,000 BPay limit so that fixes my old problem of getting my Citi card balance cleared.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

In the same vein as 'Who owns Status' in another thread - who ownd 'Citi Reward Points'?

Do they belong to Card or do they belong to Cardholder?

 

[oz_mark]

In the same vein as 'Who owns Status' in another thread - who ownd 'Citi Reward Points'?

Do they belong to Card or do they belong to Cardholder?

Points are a unit of measure, and don't constitute property in the Citibank program. Having said that, the point balance 'belongs' to the primary cardholder. Holders of supplementary cards cannot participate in the program (although points are accrued for their expenditure).

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Having said that, the point balance 'belongs' to the primary cardholder.

Yes I understand that - but if I have points balance 164,999 in CitiBusiness Gold - I think can transfer to KF in blocks of 15,000 - so if I transfer 150,000 then upgrade to Plat or Select - do balance of points belong to me and thansfer balance to new card or would they be forgeited as they belong to that card. (164,999 used as extreme example only)

 

[oz_mark]

Yes I understand that - but if I have points balance 164,999 in CitiBusiness Gold - I think can transfer to KF in blocks of 15,000 - so if I transfer 150,000 then upgrade to Plat or Select - do balance of points belong to me and thansfer balance to new card or would they be forgeited as they belong to that card. (164,999 used as extreme example only)

In my experience of changing cards (upgrade, downgrades, crossgrades after security issues), the points have always come along.

(Looking at the T&C's it seems on some cards, the first additional cardholder does have some ways of getting to your points :shock

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Gotta love Citi - made a call yesterday - emphatically told remaining points balance will be forfeited if I upgrade - called again this morning - told totally different story - points balance will carry over to new card if upgrade.

 

[Stephen65]

What would be amazing would be to ring Citibank and get the same answer from two different call centre staff.

I swear if they weren't offering 1.25 QFF on a Visa card I would never do business them. I can't imagine how awful it must be to have them as your actual bank.

 

[cove]

I was thinking just that as their site coughs out on me when I try to print a statement off my Kris account.
Mrscove log in gets me enough detail from her supplementary card.
It's ok I am off using points tomorrow so I am over caring and calling for a month seeing I zeroed the 2 balances.

 

[WindowSeat]

You do have to wonder how they manage to run a bank* given their inability to run a call centre. That's before we even get started on how user-unfriendly and counter-intuitive their site is. I'm with Cove - just tried getting a statement online and it coughped out. Have tried updating my contact details (essential for e-statements) but it doesn't seem to update properly.

But yes, it's worth it for the 1.25 points per dollar and as long as you don't "need" them as your main bank and can put up with a couple of days messing around every now and then.

*OK now the GFC makes sense.