Citibank upgrading fee free Gold to fee free Platinum

[Zippy7]

Well, I received my new chip-cards, but it was the old GOLD card, and no sign of any Platinum card.

While still happy to keep the free card, it would have been nice to get the platinum benefits. But most important for me is the fee free for life

At least its not a case of "Here, sign up for your free platinum card. Oops, it was too generous, so we'll have to bump you back to a paying card"

 

[iamdawalrus]

Anyone not with citi call up and get the fee free for life platinum? I'm considering changing from my altitude platinum... the service ive recieved from westpac has been nothing short of shocking things must move at a snails pace there.

 

[SIA1A]

Re: Citibank upgrade Gold visa to Platinum Fee Free

since I'm on the subject of Free travel insurance, has anyone every tried to make a claim, and what was the out come, or is the free travel insurance offered not worth the risk, Is it Better paying for it separately.

Johnny :-|

The insurance is underwritten and managed by Zurich, which seems to do most of the card insurance business that is provided by card issuers in Australia.

My strong advice is to read the policy carefully. If you did this a few years ago and found it reasonably flexible, read again - there have been many recent changes, mostly for the worse.

Examples:

- You are not covered for loss of goods such as cameras, computers, electronics, jewellery etc if they are lost in a public place. The definition of "public place" is broad and includes airports, train stations, aircraft, trains, rental cars, hotels, restaurants - in short, most of the places where you are likely to lose something.

- You must report any loss to the local police and obtain a written report within 24 hours of the loss. That's difficult - even in Australia, some (all?) police forces will not issue you with a copy of the written report that you might make, at best they might give you a report number. Overseas, in places like Indonesia, you join a long queue, pay to get to the front of it, pay to file the report, etc etc.

The reporting requirement was in the Citi T&Cs years ago - when I lost a pair of good sunglasses in Sri Lanka. I did not bother reporting this to the Sri Lanka police but filed a claim for the loss when I returned to Australia. Zurich, fortunately, was sensible about the whole thing although I was required to complete a detailed 4-page claim form. The money I spent on a replacement, identiacl, pair of sunnies was rebated to my credit card by Zurich within a few days of posting the claim form back to Zurich.

I suspect my one-claim experience went well because it ws small - I had the potential (through complaints) of costing Zurich far more in back-office time than the value of the claim. The Zurich tune would likely change if the claim was substantially more significant - Zurich would have a whole coughnal of ways, as specified by the policy, to avoid payment.

I don't have any claims history concerning medical insurance. However, my one comment here is that the policy section covering this seems to be much less onerous than the cover for loss of personal items.

 

[bazzam]

Re: Citibank upgrade Gold visa to Platinum Fee Free

The insurance is underwritten and managed by Zurich, which seems to do most of the card insurance business that is provided by card issuers in Australia.

My strong advice is to read the policy carefully. If you did this a few years ago and found it reasonably flexible, read again - there have been many recent changes, mostly for the worse.

Examples:

- You are not covered for loss of goods such as cameras, computers, electronics, jewellery etc if they are lost in a public place. The definition of "public place" is broad and includes airports, train stations, aircraft, trains, rental cars, hotels, restaurants - in short, most of the places where you are likely to lose something.

- You must report any loss to the local police and obtain a written report within 24 hours of the loss. That's difficult - even in Australia, some (all?) police forces will not issue you with a copy of the written report that you might make, at best they might give you a report number. Overseas, in places like Indonesia, you join a long queue, pay to get to the front of it, pay to file the report, etc etc.

The reporting requirement was in the Citi T&Cs years ago - when I lost a pair of good sunglasses in Sri Lanka. I did not bother reporting this to the Sri Lanka police but filed a claim for the loss when I returned to Australia. Zurich, fortunately, was sensible about the whole thing although I was required to complete a detailed 4-page claim form. The money I spent on a replacement, identiacl, pair of sunnies was rebated to my credit card by Zurich within a few days of posting the claim form back to Zurich.

I suspect my one-claim experience went well because it ws small - I had the potential (through complaints) of costing Zurich far more in back-office time than the value of the claim. The Zurich tune would likely change if the claim was substantially more significant - Zurich would have a whole coughnal of ways, as specified by the policy, to avoid payment.

I don't have any claims history concerning medical insurance. However, my one comment here is that the policy section covering this seems to be much less onerous than the cover for loss of personal items.

I used the free insurance included on the gold card for medical reasons once and found the process quite good. I had to cancel a trip due to illness, obtained a medical certificate to state I should not travel. After lodging the claim and filling out some forms the cost of my flight and ground expenses were refunded (less the excess amount which from memory was about $250 which is not bad since my outlay was about $4000). I note that I also had to get a letter from the airline to state there was no refund on the ticket I purchased. In summary, I thought it was good BUT YOU MUST read the product disclosure document and comply with the requirements. For example. don't expect them to refund your expenses if you don't have the correct medical certificate etc.

 

[jingles]

Re: Citibank upgrade Gold visa to Platinum Fee Free

My new card is with a chip and a photo card.

I really dont see the point in the photo card.
Have you had anyone ever check the photo to your face?

Hi all, Just got my new, NOT asked for Platinum visa card in the mail, and apparently Fee Free as well, same as my old GVisa.
Question is why?

Interesting to see they are still upgrading people.

I was under the impression that the offer ceased at the end of October.

For you nothing changes (apart from getting the Plat previlages)
For citibank they make more money each time you use the card as the merchant fees are higher.

Is it fee free permanantly or just fee free for a year?

If the latter then it really benefits the bank since the annual fee is much higher

Dave

It is free for life as long as citibank upgraded you from a free for life gold card.


--


Did anyone with a Gold Master card receive an upgrade to Plat MasterCard or was it only for Visa?

 

[sparoy]

Re: Citibank upgrade Gold visa to Platinum Fee Free

Did anyone with a Gold Master card receive an upgrade to Plat MasterCard or was it only for Visa?

I have both Gold Visa and Gold MasterCard and they are both upgraded to Platinums.

 

[spa]

hmm... i upgraded my account on 30/11, and i forgot i had a bpay amount scheduled for 2/12 to pay off my last credit card bill. i hope the payment still goes through, it's already been taken out of my bank!

is the account number for the platinum a different one to the gold?

 

[Deleted member 6404]

I think you will find that the Platinum card has a different number to your gold visa

 

[SIA1A]

hmm... i upgraded my account on 30/11, and i forgot i had a bpay amount scheduled for 2/12 to pay off my last credit card bill. i hope the payment still goes through, it's already been taken out of my bank!

is the account number for the platinum a different one to the gold?

Your BPay will work with your old card number. In fact, Citi does not cancel your old card - if it has an expiry date of, say, 11/09 it will remain valid until Nov 09 and work perfectly for over-the-counter and phone/interned purchases. You will find that it still appears on Citi's internet site too - though not with other accounts that you may have at Citi. I'm not sure if it continues to work with BPay. However (no surprise) the card won't be re-issued at the time it expires.

And yes, the card number for Platinum is quite different to your Gold card number.

 

[Starship]

Your BPay will work with your old card number. In fact, Citi does not cancel your old card - if it has an expiry date of, say, 11/09 it will remain valid until Nov 09 and work perfectly for over-the-counter and phone/interned purchases. You will find that it still appears on Citi's internet site too - though not with other accounts that you may have at Citi. I'm not sure if it continues to work with BPay. However (no surprise) the card won't be re-issued at the time it expires.

And yes, the card number for Platinum is quite different to your Gold card number.

Interesting. Trying to recall if the Citi person who handled the transfer said they would cancel my old account? Have not tried a transaction - and do not receive statements. Presuming any transaction on the old card would be debited to the account of the new number.

You seem to be in the industry! If the old account was open, with a credit limit against it, would not the bank in question have to apply some balance sheet against it as it is an undrawn facility?

 

[spa]

Your BPay will work with your old card number. In fact, Citi does not cancel your old card - if it has an expiry date of, say, 11/09 it will remain valid until Nov 09 and work perfectly for over-the-counter and phone/interned purchases. You will find that it still appears on Citi's internet site too - though not with other accounts that you may have at Citi. I'm not sure if it continues to work with BPay. However (no surprise) the card won't be re-issued at the time it expires.

And yes, the card number for Platinum is quite different to your Gold card number.

my payment to the old gold account number went through today, so looks like that would work too

 

[pauly7]

Recently upgraded to the Fee-Free Platinum, must say it looks nice in my wallet.

Has anyone else been offered massive increases in their credit limit since accepting the offer? I got an offer to increase by about a substantial amount (don't really want to post details) and then 'progressively increase' to more than triple my original limit!

Interesting...

 

[serfty]

I received a similar offer (of a large increase with regular increases) for my Silver some time before I upgraded to Plat.

 

[Starship]

Has anyone else been offered massive increases in their credit limit since accepting the offer? I got an offer to increase by about a substantial amount (don't really want to post details) and then 'progressively increase' to more than triple my original limit!

Interesting...

I find it very interesting that whilst Citibank are one of the recipients of the US Govt. largesse in terms of bailouts, as well as the largest reducer of staff numbers - they seem to be the most agressive at expanding their credit base. ie. offering people unsolicited credit uplifts, marketing a new joint card with Emirates via full page press advertisements etc.

While others (acknowledge it is a non bank lender), such as GE are reducing card limits unless you complain, and hiving off credit groups - no longer funding motor vehicle leases / acquistions. Banks are also reducing exposures.

It will take some time to see if the Citi approach is either strategically smart (capturing market space while others are hurting) or tactically dumb - taking on potentially riskier credit mix whilst they have a thin balance sheet and govt analysts all over them like a rash. We wait and see.

 

[Flying Fox]

Recently upgraded to the Fee-Free Platinum, must say it looks nice in my wallet.

Has anyone else been offered massive increases in their credit limit since accepting the offer? I got an offer to increase by about a substantial amount (don't really want to post details) and then 'progressively increase' to more than triple my original limit!

Interesting...

Yes and Yes.

 

[Iza]

Recently upgraded to the Fee-Free Platinum, must say it looks nice in my wallet.

Has anyone else been offered massive increases in their credit limit since accepting the offer? I got an offer to increase by about a substantial amount (don't really want to post details) and then 'progressively increase' to more than triple my original limit!

Interesting...

I declined the upgrade to platinum offer. Interestingly enough, I too, received a letter offering a substantial credit limit increase.

 

[Deleted member 6404]

I declined the upgrade to platinum offer. Interestingly enough, I too, received a letter offering a substantial credit limit increase.

I went the other way and accepted the upgrade, I had a high credit limit from the beginning so no extra credit limit increase. Still I was concerned about the rumours that platinum card holders will be slugged extra fees from the merchants, CitiBank tells me they haven;t heard of this happening, if this does happens then I will ditch the card

 

[Starship]

I went the other way and accepted the upgrade, I had a high credit limit from the beginning so no extra credit limit increase. Still I was concerned about the rumours that platinum card holders will be slugged extra fees from the merchants, CitiBank tells me they haven;t heard of this happening, if this does happens then I will ditch the card

Have not heard of this happening, but will watch closely.

 

[Alanslegal]

I didn't get to UPG my card to PLT because 1) I left it to the last minute and 2) co-incidentally lost my Gold card a day before the UPG promo period expired.

I rang up CB and told them of my missing Gold card and then at the same time requested to activate the PLT card. CB said it was a 'no can do upgrade' if I do not have an active GC.

So they said they would have to reissue the GC and activate that, then activate the PLT card.

Anyway, left it at that, and stuck with the newly chipped GC.

 

[SIA1A]

It will take some time to see if the Citi approach is either strategically smart (capturing market space while others are hurting) or tactically dumb - taking on potentially riskier credit mix whilst they have a thin balance sheet and govt analysts all over them like a rash. We wait and see.

A comment on Citi and the US Fed bailout that I saw the other day:

Firstly, two definitions:

Citi: The 'smart' gals & guys who are in debt to the tune of hundreds of billions

US Govt: The 'smarter' gals & guys who are in debt to the tune of trillions.

..and now the question:

Who is better equipped to assess who? The people with the hundreds of billions in debt, or the people with trillions in debt.