Upto 400,000 bonus points with Citi Prestige

[wohoo]

Try this link for the 120k points , ends 31/10/18. To me having 2 x virgin highflyer over 20 months beats Citi Prestige as I have Amex Platinum.

I merely use highflyer for creative ways of spending.

Apply Now | Virgin Money Australia

 

[PDog]

PS: I just realised that what I said about the High Flyer card above is not quite correct - the current sign up bonus is not a lump sum - it's 16,000 bonus points per month for the first 5 months if you spend at least $3k per month.

You would likely have to keep the card for close to 6 months to get all of the bonus points, and I assume you would not be able to close the account after 6 months and then immediately reapply, so I would say it's unlikely that you could get 3 sign up bonuses from the same card in 18-20 months these days. Obviously the $3k vs $1k monthly minimum is worth noting too.

At the risk of turning this into the Virgin money thread (sorry!), the 120k offer is still available (I received an email about it today). And my experience is you can swap between the higher and regular card quite swiftly- they define new customer as someone who doesn't hold the card currently.

Explore Our Offers | Virgin Money Australia

 

[blacksultan]

GOT DECLINED for this card. on appealing was informed it was because i was approved for qantas premier ( a week ago) -also issued by Citi.
have asked for a additional sources of income.

 

[Jack_OC]

Try this link for the 120k points , ends 31/10/18. To me having 2 x virgin highflyer over 20 months beats Citi Prestige as I have Amex Platinum.

I merely use highflyer for creative ways of spending.

Apply Now | Virgin Money Australia

Thanks for the link. 120k certainly does sweeten the High Flyer deal, but for me Prestige still comes out significantly ahead.

Also agree that there is no reason to consider having both Amex Plat Charge and Citi Prestige - although I think the Prestige can be worth considering as a potential alternative to the Plat for other benefits (Prestige benefits are obviously not as good, but then the annual fee is only $700 vs $1,400). ​

At the risk of turning this into the Virgin money thread (sorry!), the 120k offer is still available (I received an email about it today). And my experience is you can swap between the higher and regular card quite swiftly- they define new customer as someone who doesn't hold the card currently.

Explore Our Offers | Virgin Money Australia

Again this is good info - thanks. Always hard to keep a credit card thread strictly on topic, given that you have to compare to other cards to understand whether it's a good deal or not!

I'm a bit surprised that Citi let you switch between the two cards like that - I have only applied for a Virgin Money card once, and I got rejected as I had applied for another Citi-issued card (not a Virgin Money one) not long previously (I think it was 3-4 months previously from memory). I guess if they just go off when you applied though, it may be irrelevant how long it is since you cancelled!

 

[wohoo]

this would mean that one can only hold 1-2 types of citibank cards at once. I find it was easier to get approval for citcards if my kept my credit limit <15% of yearly income.

 

[ozjuice]

The sign on bonus is interesting and viable if that works for the individual. The usual points earn however is abysmal. You'd have to track all spend on this and be sure not to waste time going over the $1000 limit.

 

[Jack_OC]

The sign on bonus is interesting and viable if that works for the individual. The usual points earn however is abysmal. You'd have to track all spend on this and be sure not to waste time going over the $1000 limit.

In some cases the ongoing spend is abysmal, yes, and they certainly don't make it easy. However, the ongoing spend is quite good in some cases (e.g. 1.5 Velocity points or 1.2 KF miles per $ with hotels, restaurants & airlines as well as o/s spend, and 1 Velocity point/0.8 KF miles at supermarkets, major retailers and petrol stations - and bear in mind this is a Visa card).

The main problem is that most of those merchants also accept Amex, which typically have better earn rates, but I still wouldn't describe these earn rates as abysmal. At other merchants though, yes the Prestige earn rate is terrible for a high end card.

All things considered, this is definitely only one for people who are pretty dedicated and willing/able to pick and choose when to use it. In other words, not a card I will be giving to my wife

 

[wohoo]

Dunno, citibank has a habit of devaluing their point. Looked what happened to conversion rate to various airline in the last 2 to 3 years.

 

[Jack_OC]

Dunno, citibank has a habit of devaluing their point. Looked what happened to conversion rate to various airline in the last 2 to 3 years.

As I'm sure you're aware, there were particular circumstances that lead to that drastic devaluation, which caused every card issuer in Australia to reduce ongoing points earning potential. They still gave notice though, and plenty of time to transfer out at pre-existing rates, so that doesn't concern me a great deal.

I would say the risk of not being able to avail of new bonus point offers in 6/12 months with other cards is far greater than the risk of another Citi devaluation during that timeframe. There is no guarantee that they will keep offering such attractive sign up bonuses, but even if they do they could introduce a 12-18 month lock out period (which basically every other card provider has already done), or simply decline your applications (which is something that Citi often does already, even when people meet all their criteria on paper).

 

[Duffa]

and a free hotel night once per year (although this can be somewhat tricky to redeem).

I am pleased to report that this is now, most definitely not the case - they have a new system using the concierge and can book almost any 5 star hotel in any city. All it took was a call and an email to confirm. Hotel value $250.

 

[Jack_OC]

So I finally got approved. It was a monumental ordeal, even by Citibank's lofty standards in making things as difficult as possible!

They phoned me FIVE times to ask for more info/documents, and also phoned my employer. Just for background, I'm a full time employee of an ASX-listed company (and have been with the same company for quite a few years now), and my salary was confirmed by payslips. I comfortably meet all of their stated criteria. I have also been a Citibank customer for at least 8 years, and I currently have two other credit cards issued by them!
In one case they asked me to send my ATO notice of assessments and my complete tax returns for the past 3 financial years. I have never been asked for these documents before - and when I asked why they needed them, the agent couldn't explain why, so I said I'm not providing them unless someone tells me exactly what info they are looking for. He said in that case they will just go ahead and assess the application anyway without these additional documents - I said fine, and TBH assumed they might reject the application at that point. However, it turns out they approved me anyway, even though I did not provide any new information or additional documents as a result of any of their calls! Just bizarre.

Let's hope the bonus points materialise after all of that!

 

[wohoo]

Good Job! Given that the minimum credit limit is $30k. Not many people can be approved of such limit in total, let on one card.

 

[Jack_OC]

Good Job! Given that the minimum credit limit is $30k. Not many people can be approved of such limit in total, let on one card.

Thanks, but I think you may have too much faith in the so-called responsible lending practices of our banks!

Not long ago my wife, who works part time and earns less than $30k per year, was given a credit limit of $20k on a new card (from a Big 4 bank), despite already having another card in her name (which she declared) with a limit of $10k. As per usual with cc applications (except Amex), they did not ask for any information about her spouse's income, so they basically just decided that they could give her a total cc credit limit that equals her gross annual income. Based on this experience, I would say it's not difficult for most people to get approved for credit limits of $30k+.

However, getting approved by Citibank for anything is another matter!

 

[Jack_OC]

I am pleased to report that this is now, most definitely not the case - they have a new system using the concierge and can book almost any 5 star hotel in any city. All it took was a call and an email to confirm. Hotel value $250.

This sounds great - I look forward to giving this a go as soon as my new card arrives. Just to be clear, are you saying it's a simple $250 credit now? Or just that in your case the value was $250?

 

[Clive005]

I hold the Virgin High flyer Card, am I eligible for this card and the points bonus?.

Thanks
Clive

 

[cvmceg]

So I finally got approved. It was a monumental ordeal, even by Citibank's lofty standards in making things as difficult as possible!

They phoned me FIVE times to ask for more info/documents, and also phoned my employer. Just for background, I'm a full time employee of an ASX-listed company (and have been with the same company for quite a few years now), and my salary was confirmed by payslips. I comfortably meet all of their stated criteria. I have also been a Citibank customer for at least 8 years, and I currently have two other ...

Incredible. Citi are so useless haha

 

[wohoo]

I hold the Virgin High flyer Card, am I eligible for this card and the points bonus?.

Thanks
Clive

Maybe, but you would need to have an impressive income to take on 30k credit limit.

 

[Jack_OC]

I hold the Virgin High flyer Card, am I eligible for this card and the points bonus?.

Thanks
Clive

There are two quite different questions here.

1. Are you eligible for the card? Depends on your circumstances (check the eligibility criteria on the Citibank website), but I don't think holding other Citibank cards in itself will affect your eligibility for new cards (I now have 3 Citibank issued cards). That said, it seems like Citi don't approve multiple applications in a short space of time (but not sure what that timeframe is - maybe 3-6 months). So if you only got your Virgin Money card recently, that could be an issue.

2. If you are approved for the card, would you be eligible for bonus points under this offer? My understanding is yes. AFAIK, and based on reading the T&Cs, holding other cards issued by Citi has no bearing on your eligibility for bonus points under this offer.

​

 

[Duffa]

This sounds great - I look forward to giving this a go as soon as my new card arrives. Just to be clear, are you saying it's a simple $250 credit now? Or just that in your case the value was $250?

The value of that hotel on that night was $250 ($256 to be precise) on Trivago. They will pay up to their limit for all the hotels on their books
I don't know that limit but at least it got me a $250 night....
A month ago, I asked them to look for Melbourne (but didn't actually proceed to book) and they came up with this list of choices 4* and 5*
Intercontinental Melbourne
The Swanston Hotel Melbourne Grand Mercure
The Olsen
Stamford Plaza Melbourne
Pullman Melbourne On The Park
The Sebel Melbourne Docklands
Melbourne Marriott Hotel
The Como Melbourne Mgallery By Sofitel
Sheraton Melbourne Hotel