Citi launching new Signature card

[oz_mark]

Good news. Was told my Select was approved. Can't wait.

Did they change their mind?

 

[cove]

Thank you Foreigner for showing us that credit card table for QF points earning.

 

[ZeroPoint]

Happy spending and points earnings. Here's a link to various cards and earning rate in QF points...

Frequent Flyer - Earning Points - Pay

Thanks, but I think I'll be moving to the CitiRewards program instead of the QFF one

 

[ZeroPoint]

Did they change their mind?

Yeah, being Citigold does make a difference.

 

[ZeroPoint]

I like the packaging... a little bit fancy.

Couldn't find any information on the travel insurance policy inside though.

 

[cove]

Because the Holden Card is finishing in early October we wont start loading this Citi card until then.The $3000 Commodore rebate lasts for 5 years so we are running up $100,000 of rebate before that deal is over. $1Million put thru gets that rebate.That will get us 33 Commodores pretty cheap.
After 10th October it will be a "Go for it" at $1 per point on this Citi card.

 

[ZeroPoint]

I've just loaded the card with $200k, and the merchant had deducted it successfully. Hopefully the points show up during the next statement!

 

[Foreigner]

A citibank relationship manager from its retail bank in Sydney called in last week. Interestingly, he said he could waive fee for platinum cards if term deposits (>100k) was placed with them. when I mentioned Signature card, he said there was nothing on that.

 

[cove]

Hello ZeroPoint,
How did you load the funds into the CITI card?
They dont have branches and I saw Australia Post is an option.
How long does it take to get clear use of funds you deposit.
With Westpac I cash a cheque at their counter then go back to the office and put calls to the Tax Office to pay the BAS (on the same day).

 

[ZeroPoint]

Hello ZeroPoint,
How did you load the funds into the CITI card?
They dont have branches and I saw Australia Post is an option.
How long does it take to get clear use of funds you deposit.
With Westpac I cash a cheque at their counter then go back to the office and put calls to the Tax Office to pay the BAS (on the same day).

My day 2 day banking is with Citi so the funds appear straight away.

Aus post there's a surcharge (like $2).
Bpay can work, but there's a limit to how much you can Bpay in a day, and takes about as long as a cheque anyway.

So your options are limited, short of opening a transaction account with Citi

 

[Chicken]

How did you load the funds into the CITI card?

B Pay

How long does it take to get clear use of funds you deposit.

It's overnight when I do it to my gold card

 

[ZeroPoint]

Just saw this when redeeming miles

KrisFlyer
• Silver, Gold, and Platinum Cardholders earn 1 point per $1 spent and can transfer points to Singapore Airlines' KrisFlyer program at:
1.5 Citi Rewards points = 1 KrisFlyer Mile, and redemptions must be in multiples of 15,000 Citi Rewards points
• Citi Select Cardholders earn 2 points per $1 spent and can transfer points to Singapore Airlines' KrisFlyer program at:
2 Citi Rewards points = 1 KrisFlyer Mile, and redemptions must be in multiples of 5,000 Citi Rewards points
Velocity Rewards
• Silver, Gold, and Platinum Cardholders earn 1 point per $1 spent and can transfer points to Velocity Rewards at:
1.5 Citi Rewards points = 1 Velocity Point, and redemptions must be in multiples of 15,000 Citi Rewards points
• Citi Select Cardholders earn 2 points per $1 spent and can transfer points to Velocity Rewards at:
2 Citi Rewards points = 1 Velocity Point, and redemptions must be in multiples of 5,000 Citi Rewards points


So basically, the conversion is
1 AUD = 2 CR = 1 KF

Bit disappointed with that...

 

[crowman28]

Just saw this when redeeming miles


So basically, the conversion is
1 AUD = 2 CR = 1 KF

Bit disappointed with that...

That is indeed very disappointing, not much difference to the Westpac Kris Flyer VISA earn rate, but with roughly $500 more in annual fee for the Citi card of course.

Thought Citi could offer a bit more than that?

 

[ZeroPoint]

That is indeed very disappointing, not much difference to the Westpac Kris Flyer VISA earn rate, but with roughly $500 more in annual fee for the Citi card of course.

Thought Citi could offer a bit more than that?

Yes, even if they kept the old Platinum ratio of 1.5 CR to 1 KF that works out to be 1AUD = 1.3333 KF ... but 1:1...

The only thing going for it, from a purely points perspective, is that there's no expiration of the CR points.

 

[cove]

That was a good point about Citi rewards not expiring in 3 years like Kris points.
We are going for the QF rewards on this card as it is 1QF point per dollar spent. The Westpac Platinum Kris Flyer has Amex and Visa wrapped into one account for our Kris points.
I think I will airbag big cheques to Citi as the BPay is $5,000 a day limit off a personal account we use. Citi will get the cheque next day so it will clear quicker.

 

[ZeroPoint]

But wait! There's hope.

Citi Take Flight!

As a comparison, flying SQ it takes 80k KF points (68k with online discount) to fly to Narita Airport, Japan

With Citi Select transfer that would mean a spend of $68k
Westpac a spend of $68k (using the Visa card to simplify. Lower if using Amex)

That same flight would cost 128,130 CR points, but would mean a spend of $64k

I used to dismiss take flight as a rip off, but this isn't bad, and you have a selection of airlines to choose from.

 

[ZeroPoint]

That was a good point about Citi rewards not expiring in 3 years like Kris points.
We are going for the QF rewards on this card as it is 1QF point per dollar spent. The Westpac Platinum Kris Flyer has Amex and Visa wrapped into one account for our Kris points.
I think I will airbag big cheques to Citi as the BPay is $5,000 a day limit off a personal account we use. Citi will get the cheque next day so it will clear quicker.

Cove, for that same trip to Japan, it takes 125,295 CR points via Take Flight, so effectively 62.5k spend. According to Qantas website, it's telling me a classic reward would need 72k points.

So putting it into QF seems more cost effective?

 

[cove]

For us it is a big picture of making points between zero and .65 cents mainly for the family go business class to Australian destinations on QF plus some trips to LAX.
Other Visa cards have limits or pay half a point per dollar of payments.
The Tax Office charge 0.65 cents for Visa payments and Amex costs 0.83 cents a point so I like the lower cost.
To go Syd to LAX in First for about $2,000 real cost is why I felt $749 card fee was an ok price to pay to do these trips.

 

[SIA1A]

Citi sending "upgrade from Platinum" mailout

Guys,

I just received a letter in an all-black, plastic-pouched envelope offering me the Select card with the same "enjoyment" package described by others here, annual fee $700.

The offer is not subject to a credit assessment and is not subject to an income check (I think it has been mentioned by others that Citi wants to see evidence of $130K/year for new customers). I guess the offer is based on the turnover of my Platinum card.

All I need to do is sign a small card that is pre-filled with my Platinum card number and agree to the $700 fee ($0 for supplementary cards), which will be charged pro-rata on my next statement. The acceptance card rather loosely states that after the upgrade all other T&Cs remain the same - but clearly that is wrong because things like the Select reward program are in fact different to the Platinum reward program and there are extras such as the airline club card that are unique to Select.

However, there doesn't seem to be a compelling reason to upgrade - and there's a big downside, like that $700 fee which as others have said can only be ameliorated with a big annual spend on the card.

I already have an airline multi-club card (Priority Pass I think, it came cheap with some other offer a while ago, good for Virgin Lounge in Australia) but I rarely use it. I'm a Qantas Club life member anyway (Priority Pass won't get you into any Qantas Club.)

The "customer assistance centre" number is 1800 801 732 but is only open from 8 am to 8 pm. This suggests it is Australian-based. I'll try calling during the daytime to verify this.

All in all I am very underwhelmed. I really do wish that Citi would fix its systems, offer competitive interest rates, devise a less clunky website etc rather than offering bling. Citi shares are still trading near their abysmal bottom post-GFC. I guess we can't really expect much coming out of Citi, given that the US Govt is a major shareholder and calls many of the shots at Board level.

 

[ZeroPoint]

Thanks for the interesting tidbit. Were you a platinum fee free for life?