Citibank Platinum Application rejected - advice

[drcam]

Hello

I recently applied for a Citibank Platinum VISA card after I ditched both
my 11-year-old CBA Visa card and my Westpac Krisflyer cards due to
the fact that neither of them were offering me sufficient benefits.

I applied for this card online through the special offers page for the 50k
points offer with Qantas as this would bring my QFF balance above a
level which I could obtain a oneworld J RTW award next year.

A couple of days later I received an e-mail saying that my application
was conditionally approved, but then a few hours later I was told that
it was declined. I was approved for a Gold card, however, which I never
applied for. (Of course, it would not come with any bonus points).

I have spoken to customer service which I found to be surprisingly
poor with limited English. I was told that the reason for my original
application's rejection was that the recommended credit limit assessed
for me was $5000 which is below the minimum for a Platinum card.

I was given a fax number to write a letter to if I wanted my application
re-assessed.

Please note that I had just commenced a new job at this stage (I'd only
received two payslips to this point) although my salary was well above
the cutoff for applying for the platinum card.

Advice?

 

[jdlover23]

I have given up on these guys for the moment to be honest. I had the citi plat visa for a number of years, tried to have my annual fee waived by threatening to cancel card, that failed as they proceeded to cancel my card, then spent the next four months getting supposed late payment fees that were being applied to my card weekly reversed.

Despite that I was interested in applying for the card again after my Kris flyer visa dropped to 0.5 points per dollar and the 60k points was a bonus.

I get a letter saying due to poor payment history I'm declined, when it was their computer error! And they won't budge, no amount of points is worth dealing with these guys in my opinion.

 

[Maca44]

It often has to do with your 'credit limit' and if you have a number of other credit cards then the limit of 'each' of those other cards is taken into account when they determine whether or not to issue you with a Plat card. As they have only offered you a $5K limit, this might be the case with your recent application.

 

[hummel]

It suprises me how much trouble other members have with citibank.

I only just met the requirements when applying however I was successful. I did apply for 10k limit as that is the cut off for platinum.

I transferred my bonus pts to KF almost immediately. Fwiw I have one other cc, Amex platinum edge.

 

[Qld4101]

Agree that there is a certain amount of difficulty with the language (which is disappointing for a supposedly premium card). I also applied for teh bonus 50k with QF and it was a very straight forward process and the 50k points credit to my FF account straight away - maybe I was one of the lucky ones......

 

[Zoe Nguyen]

I have just applied for the Citibank Platinum card and requested $ 2000 limit . Does it mean my application will be automatically declined ?

 

[straitman]

I have just applied for the Citibank Platinum card and requested $ 2000 limit . Does it mean my application will be automatically declined ?

Probably, but why would you do that in the first instant :?:

 

[Zoe Nguyen]

Probably, but why would you do that in the first instant :?:

I didn't read this thread until after I had received their conditional approval email. My previous Master card was only $2k (so that I wont spend too much on the card), that's why I think will keep it $2k as well, will prob call them Monday and ask to change the balance to $5k ??? or should be higher ???

 

[straitman]

I didn't read this thread until after I receive their conditional approval email. My previous Master was only $2k (so that I wont spend too much on the card), that's why I think will keep it $2k as well, will prob call them Monday and ask to change the balance to $5k ??? or should be higher ???

One would certainly expect that for a Platinum card the minimum limit would be well over $2000.

 

[Robert K]

My 'platinum' EDR is $2k

 

[straitman]

My 'platinum' EDR is $2k

Intriguing :!:

 

[Zoe Nguyen]

Really painful to communicate with them. Faxed over my application yesterday - called them back 2hrs later to recheck if they have received my fax. CS told me it's only updated after 3 hrs, she also asked for utility bill. Fair enough, I faxed over as well. Call back COB, CS told me they only received the utility bill, lost the other documents.

Faxed again today, called back 4hrs later, still have not received. This time, she said the system will be updated only after 8 HOURS. :shock: They said will call me back to confirm the process of my application. Never received a phone call, I have just called them again now, and CS confirmed they have received the document, in the process of verification, but they need to talk to my payroll department , and need my authorisation ???

I have faxed over 3 recent payslips, and they still want to talk to my payroll department. I dont want my colleague to think that I'm in financial hardship or something for NOTHING (need to fill out an authorisation letter), and I dont even know if I will get the Plat card or not, or they will give me the gold card, which I dont want at all. Dont trust them !!!

I have applied several loans/ credit cards, including a mortgage, payslips and tax assessment are sufficient, I have never been asked by the bank to talk to my payroll department ??? Does anyone know if Citibank actually will make the calls ?

Should I trust them ??? My instinct tells me to forget about 40,000 bonus points.

 

[cove]

Yes Citi is a true standout when it comes to getting your application to YES. If you are not a person who has a streak of tenacity then this product won't work for you. We have 2 cards in our family and the level of difficulty in getting the cards and points going in the right directions was a 9.9 out of 10 in my imaginary difficulty index.
One year on from that I received a fraud check enquiry from their back room department which I was grateful to receive. Both of our family cards now work so I have ceased being a whinger to do with that first month of application through to first card use. See you can get past feeling you got put through the wringer!
Getting your application approved rather than put in the dustbin is definitely your special Citi challenge so if you have a short fuse there is the problem!
Both of our cards are Citi Select ones and just because the cards were expensive it was the same tough journey to get through to YES.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Ditto that cove - when you commence dealing with Citi steel yourself for a 'complicated and contradictory' ride. It took me 4 applications and a considerable amount of time and effort to get a basic Citi card - CitiBusiness Gold - this is after AMEX threw Centurion at me.

To specifically answer your question YES they will call your payroll dept - they called mine and spoke to my #1 man who just happened to be sitting at my desk talking to me when they called - I am pleased to say he accurately confirmed all information I supplied.

I was granted a 20K limit on this card - ok no problems. Then I applied for a Suncorp Visa card - also a Citi product with I think 40,000 Bonus Rewards Points - they OK'd that but asked I decrease CitiBusiness limit from 20K to 14K and gave me 6K limit on Suncorp - and then I found out you could not transfer these points to a FF program - so I cancelled the Suncorp card before activation.

I then requested Citi to reinstate the 20K limit and they told me they will need to talk to my accountant to verify some information. WTF would they need to talk to my accountant again? Welcome to Citibank - specialists in 'complication and contradiction'.

Long story short Zoe - if you want the points you are going to need to endure the pain to get set up.

 

[cove]

Cruiser Elite I just wonder how many applications Citi get from their TV blitz campaign so that your pain is spread over the whole community.
I did get another almost 67,000 points for $240 on my Citi Select card so I am smiling through the old pain barrier. SQ points....lovely results!

 

[Zoe Nguyen]

Thanks to Cove and Cruiser Elite, I decided to give it a go and authorise my payroll department for citibank to contact them. In fact, they called around lunch time, but my colleague wasn't at her desk, she called citibank back and left a voice mail. After that, Citibank has never called her back, but made several phone calls to me to verify some information.

The funny thing is because I asked them to change the limit amount from $2k to $6k (everytime I called them about 4-5 times I reminded again and again), they kept on not understanding it. Anyway, in the last phone call, I asked her based on the information given, if she thinks that I will get the plat card ? The answer was, I'm sorry but you have to wait for the letter in 2-3 days time by postage ? What's the difference between telling me now and by postage anyway ???

BTW, Citibank confirmed with me the minimum credit limit for their Platinum card is $6k.

 

[cove]

Yes Zoe you just take it easy and quietly let the system try to work itself out. The Citi back room is there only to gather information it seems to put into a standard template so if you get seen as a square peg and there is a round hole you will get contacted and asked for more information.
Always put identification numbers on each page you fax as they appear to be swamped and they could easily misplace anything you send.
Be patient and if you are thinking of Qantas points make totally sure they have enrolled you prior to spending. That fee is $49 and if it has not been done by them because the back room has muffed the account set up you will find you are earning points that can now only go to places other than Qantas.
I have the "other than Qantas" card and it works good.

 

[Zoe Nguyen]

Thanks, finally I got their approval for my Citi Platinum card last night, and I received it by email notification, instead of postage.

 

[Stephen65]

Citibank customer service are just painful to deal with. If they didn't offer 1.25 QFF per $ on a Visa I would have nothing to do with them.

 

[Foreigner]

I received my card last week and PIN yesterday. I used card number and PIN to access account info online. I'd say the security of registration and continuing online access is tougher than every other card I have dealt with.

I've put through two transactions in two days and look forward to getting 40k reward point bonus.

Mine is CitiBusiness Gold. I'm not sure how to link QF account to it. Will call Citi tomorrow.

Btw, I didn't seek a credit limit in my application. Intentionally left the box blank.

Smooth experience so far. Very happy to put all non-Amex transactions to Citi.