Citi Personal Loan Plus=Velocity.

[bellroy26]

Here's my timeline so far:

Nov. 25 - applied for the 10k loan
Dec. 5 - loan approved
Dec. 9 - received card and activated
Dec. 14 - asked for ff number

smooth so far. Also does anyone know how to pay upfront? I can't seem to find any bpay/bsb details on the app, and I don't have a statement yet.

Happy with Citi. I got the Prestige last month and got the 300k bonus points too so can't wait to get the bonus for this one!

Update:

Dec. 21 - 100k points landed
Dec. 22 - 50k points landed

Absolutely thrilled that it took less than a month from application to bonus points with $10 amount owing. Still have not been charged the $199 establishment fee so I'm wondering if it's possible to call them now and just pay off everything and close the account and see if the $199 will be waived.

 

[SydneySwan]

I'm wondering if it's possible to call them now and just pay off everything and close the account and see if the $199 will be waived.

Stop wondering and get on the phone!

 

[Mr H]

Update:

Dec. 21 - 100k points landed
Dec. 22 - 50k points landed

Absolutely thrilled that it took less than a month from application to bonus points with $10 amount owing. Still have not been charged the $199 establishment fee so I'm wondering if it's possible to call them now and just pay off everything and close the account and see if the $199 will be waived.

I would definitely try it, and do not mention the fee. If they charge it then accept it, if they forget then take it as a win.

 

[tmdl]

I am having issues getting my points for the $5k loan amount


Approved: 25 August 2022
Citi Lending Card Arrived: 1 September 2022 (approx.)
Spent loan amount: 6 September 2022
Email asking for VV number and eligible for 150k points: 20 September 2022

After the VV number request, I make a few purchases on the account

Apparently I have not paid off the amount or established a regular repayment amount but have paid off my over $1000 in the past 3 months via Bpay

I also regularly get promos saying spend $300 for $50 cash back

I have had to email them a copy of the email saying I am eligible for the 150k points and requesting my VV number

Has anyone else had this issue?

 

[Mr H]

Citibank does appear to be trying to distance itself from this promotion. They had three different qualifying loan amounts in the initial weeks and now the promotion has been dropped altogether. I am assuming it has been an expensive disaster for Citibank. $200 in fees does not cover $1500+ in points.

 

[tmdl]

Citibank does appear to be trying to distance itself from this promotion. They had three different qualifying loan amounts in the initial weeks and now the promotion has been dropped altogether. I am assuming it has been an expensive disaster for Citibank. $200 in fees does not cover $1500+ in points.

I have had to escalate this as they are unwilling to provide me with my points.

It wasn't until I mentioned that I received the email from citi requesting my Velocity number that I had to forward the email to them and hopefully may receive my points

 

[Happy Dude]

That was absolutely clear in the terms and conditions - and so many warnings on this thread about not doing so accidentally.

True but if I was @billmurray I would call up and plead my case (ignorance is common ). I did this for one of the $100 GC FPO's and they rather nicely gave me the GC anyway.

 

[shonofear]

hi, I also got approved and recall supplying them with my personal bank details thinking the loan would be transferred into it automatically after activating account online.
But seems the $10k is just sitting in the citibank loan account as available credit.
Do I manually transfer it out? Then transfer back say around $9000. and pay rest off monthly?
Thanks for the help

As a follow up, I called Citibank, turns out the card was not activated (even though I did attempt to activate via web and app) so the 10k arrived in my personal bank.
Just gotta make sure I do the rest of the steps correctly to get the points.

 

[Mr H]

As a follow up, I called Citibank, turns out the card was not activated (even though I did attempt to activate via web and app) so the 10k arrived in my personal bank.
Just gotta make sure I do the rest of the steps correctly to get the points.

Worth checking you are still in time. It looks like Citibank are trying to find reasons to knock these back at the moment so if you are no longer in time, you might be able to walk away without paying a fruitless establishment fee.

 

[yojohnny]

When closing I had 3 x attempts at "why are you closing? maybe you can keep the loan?". They really want people to keep the loan and redraw!

 

[tmdl]

I have called citibank again (3rd time) to follow up on my bonus points. Still under review with the products team who are on holidays until the 9th January.

They initially said that i am not eligible for the 150k points due to not having a regular payment amount established even after receiving the email stating,

Thank you for activating your new Citi Personal Loan Plus account. You're now eligible to collect 150,000 Velocity Frequent Flyer Points. Follow the link below within 30 days of receiving this email to provide us your Velocity membership number. Your Velocity Points will be added to your Velocity Frequent Flyer account within 90 days of us receiving your member number.

Getting very annoyed with this

 

[Mr H]

I have called citibank again (3rd time) to follow up on my bonus points. Still under review with the products team who are on holidays until the 9th January.

They initially said that i am not eligible for the 150k points due to not having a regular payment amount established even after receiving the email stating,

Thank you for activating your new Citi Personal Loan Plus account. You're now eligible to collect 150,000 Velocity Frequent Flyer Points. Follow the link below within 30 days of receiving this email to provide us your Velocity membership number. Your Velocity Points will be added to your Velocity Frequent Flyer account within 90 days of us receiving your member number.

Getting very annoyed with this

I would be interested to know exactly how much of a disaster this promotion was for Citibank.

The Terms and Conditions for the promotion are no longer available, but establishing a monthly repayment was definitely part of the deal. We needed to be careful that we did not repay too much too early so that a scheduled monthly repayment would not accidentally tip us over into full repayment which would disqualify from receiving points. IIRC, failure to make a repayment would mean your loan was no longer in good standing and the bonus points required your account to remain open and in good standing.

 

[shonofear]

So could anyone suggest the best way to paying back the 10k so there would be still enough remaining of the loan to get a regular repayment in place?
My thoughts was to pay back the $9k straight up, then do the rest over a few payments to meet requirements based on the statements I guess.
And yes I did apply for the deal on the last day of the promotional and approved a few days later, and finally activated within the timeframe, I hope they don’t make it difficult

 

[tmdl]

I would be interested to know exactly how much of a disaster this promotion was for Citibank.

The Terms and Conditions for the promotion are no longer available, but establishing a monthly repayment was definitely part of the deal. We needed to be careful that we did not repay too much too early so that a scheduled monthly repayment would not accidentally tip us over into full repayment which would disqualify from receiving points. IIRC, failure to make a repayment would mean your loan was no longer in good standing and the bonus points required your account to remain open and in good standing.

The issue is currently still with citibank rewards team

Interesting as they have mentioned 2 issues,

1. I didn't have a regular monthly repayment established

2. I spent $5000, paid off $500 and then spent various transactions less than $50 3 or 4 times. I may of done this as an error as it was on my apple pay. I said to citibank that I have also received promos stating spend $300 and receive $50 cashback which promotes additional spending.

My father-in-law had the same loan, made 1 repayment since receiving the money into his account (didnt get the lending card) and definitely had a late payment fee and still received his 150k points

 

[bellroy26]

Update:

Dec. 21 - 100k points landed
Dec. 22 - 50k points landed

Absolutely thrilled that it took less than a month from application to bonus points with $10 amount owing. Still have not been charged the $199 establishment fee so I'm wondering if it's possible to call them now and just pay off everything and close the account and see if the $199 will be waived.

Stop wondering and get on the phone!

I would definitely try it, and do not mention the fee. If they charge it then accept it, if they forget then take it as a win.

Update on this:
Called them three days ago after coming back from a trip to close the account. The representative asked me to pay the remaining $10 which I happily obliged. She said there were no further actions required on my end but that a relationship manager will call me. The RM called me yesterday and closed my loan account while also increasing my Citi Prestige limit

All in all, this has to be the best deal ever for me. I essentially got 150,000 Velocity Points for free. Borrowed 10k, waited for the points to arrive, paid the 10k back, and closed the account. No mention of the establishment fee!

 

[Mr H]

Update on this:
Called them three days ago after coming back from a trip to close the account. The representative asked me to pay the remaining $10 which I happily obliged. She said there were no further actions required on my end but that a relationship manager will call me. The RM called me yesterday and closed my loan account while also increasing my Citi Prestige limit

All in all, this has to be the best deal ever for me. I essentially got 150,000 Velocity Points for free. Borrowed 10k, waited for the points to arrive, paid the 10k back, and closed the account. No mention of the establishment fee!

You were very lucky. The annual fee was triggered by the first statement, IIRC, and you must have just sneaked in to close the account before that. Most of us could not do that as we had to wait so long for the points, but it looks as though Citi were just trying to get the remaining points out of the door as quickly as possible so they could forget about the promotion. Even if someone had played the loan as they should - repaying $2000 over five years - I cannot see how the maths of the promotion ever stacked up. The points alone would have cost them $1500+.

 

[bellroy26]

You were very lucky. The annual fee was triggered by the first statement, IIRC, and you must have just sneaked in to close the account before that. Most of us could not do that as we had to wait so long for the points, but it looks as though Citi were just trying to get the remaining points out of the door as quickly as possible so they could forget about the promotion. Even if someone had played the loan as they should - repaying $2000 over five years - I cannot see how the maths of the promotion ever stacked up. The points alone would have cost them $1500+.

Yeah I believe I'm one of the rare cases. By the time they approved me they were pretty quick in handing out the points compared to the previous months' applicants.

I'm not sure what's the relationship between Citi and Velocity and their business model with regards to their aggressive bonus points offer, but there's another credit card (Citi Rewards) which offers 60k points with $0 annual fee. Let's see if this deal comes back.

 

[blastoise]

Yeah I believe I'm one of the rare cases. By the time they approved me they were pretty quick in handing out the points compared to the previous months' applicants.

I'm not sure what's the relationship between Citi and Velocity and their business model with regards to their aggressive bonus points offer, but there's another credit card (Citi Rewards) which offers 60k points with $0 annual fee. Let's see if this deal comes back.

Well done, that's a score!

Not unheard of with Citibank. I had their Citi Premier Qantas that had 100K Qantas points with an annual fee of $49. I met the spend and had the card open for six months or so...but they forgot to charge my the annual fee, so got the 100K for free haha.

 

[Fyrd]

Timeline so far:
My application:
Mon 7 Nov: Applied
Tue 8 Nov: Approved
Tue: 17 Nov: Activated Card/Account
Fri 18 Nov: Received funds
Thu 24 Nov: Email for points:
??? ?? ???: Points received


My wife's application:
Sun 20 Nov: Applied

Still pending which is weird but they had to call to confirm some details, may have made a mistake with the applications lol.

Update:
Mon 7 Nov: Applied
Tue 8 Nov: Approved
Tue: 17 Nov: Activated Card/Account
Fri 18 Nov: Received funds
Thu 24 Nov: Email for points:
Mon 19 Dec: Points received

• Credit Card19 Dec 22 - Citi Personal Loans Points
  +50,000 Points
• 
  Credit Card19 Dec 22 - Citi Personal Loans Points
  +100,000 Point

My wife's application is still pending, it might seem like Citi doesn't want to progress it further due to the costs involved. I have yet to close my account with Citi but I've paid everything off.

 

[tmdl]

Meanwhile, I am on my 4th call to citibank trying get my points