19 Things Everybody Should Know About Citi Credit Cards

We recently did a post on 15 things everybody should know about American Express, it was a popular post so I thought why not do similar posts for other card issuers. Given how much buzz there’s been for Citi cards recently (e.g Citi Prestige & Premier 50,000 point bonuses), Citi was a natural second choice. So here they are:

  1. Citi no allows you to view your pre-approved and targeted credit card offers online. Citi used regularly sends out sign up bonuses that are more than the public bonuses (e.g Citi Prestige 100,000 point offer). Unfortunately this is no longer available.
  2. Citi does not have a limit on the amount of credit cards you can hold with them. Unlike some other card issuers, you can have as many Citi credit cards as they’ll approve you for.
  3. It’s possible to create a virtual credit card number. If you’ve ever purchased something from a dodgy merchant or signed up for a free trial, chances are you’ll know how useful something like this is. You can create a one use credit card number that is linked to your Citi account that can be used for online purchases and also free trials and the like.
  4. Citi has strict application rules. You can only apply for one Citi personal card every 8 days, you can apply for no more than two Citi personal cards every 65 days and you can apply for one Citi business card every 95 days. Some people are also being limited to one Citi card every 60 days, but this doesn’t seem to be a hard rule. Because of these rules, it’s not possible to sign up for multiple Citi cards on the same day to get the multiple inquiries merged into one.
  5. You can get the sign up bonus on Citi cards more than once. You’re not eligible for another bonus if you’ve opened or closed a card within that brand/family in the past 48 months though.
  6. If you do a product change to a different Citi product, this 48 month clock will start ticking. When you do a product change with Citi, they’ll consider the original card closed. This means that you’ll be able to get the bonus on the card your product changing from in 48 months time, it also means you won’t be able to get the sign up bonus on the card your product changing to until the card has been closed for 48 months. Others have experienced that the 24-month clock does not start over with a product change.
  7. Asking for a credit limit increase with Citi can result in a hard or soft pull. Typically if you call and request a credit limit increase and they come back with an instant decision it will result in a soft pull, if they ask for more time it’ll result in a hard pull being done. The customer service representative should be able to tell you what they’ll do before they do it as well.
  8. If Citi denies you for a credit card, make sure you call their reconsideration line. Just because you’re denied doesn’t mean it’s the end, give their reconsideration department a call (numbers and opening times here). Usually it’s not too difficult to turn that denial into an approval. If you’re new to call reconsideration lines, read this first.
  9. Citi no longer allows credit limit reallocations.
  10. If you apply for a Citi credit card and then see a higher sign up bonus, ask to be matched. Citi doesn’t have a hard and fast rule like Chase, but they’ll usually match you to the higher bonus if there hasn’t been too much time in between when you first applied and when you request the bonus being matched.
  11. Citi will not expedite shipping on new cards, but if one of your cards has been lost or stolen they will expedite the new card to you. Simply call 1-800-756-7047 and ask to speak to a representative about getting a replacement card being sent out, ask it to be expedited and there shouldn’t be any additional charge. Update: reader Shan was able to request expedited shipping on a new card. Others mention calling phone number 1-888-248-4226.
  12. Citi is very very generous when it comes to spending bonuses, but you’ll need to ask to receive one. Citi regularly sends out targeted spending bonuses (e.g earn 5x ThankYou points on all purchases for the next three months). Most people just wait and hope, but if you actively call the Citi reconsideration line and ask them if you have any spending bonuses on your account, they’ll be happy to tell you (remember to be polite and friendly). We recommend calling at the 60 day mark, 180 day mark, new calendar year mark and 360 day mark.
  13. Citi is known for charging cash advance fees, so let your cash advance limit to $0. Citi is known for charging cash advance fees for things like: funding a bank account with a credit card and purchasing American Express gift cards. So becareful and make sure you set the cash advance limit to $0.
  14. Citi will refund the annual fee as long as you cancel within 30 days of it posting. After that 30 day period, they refund it on a prorated basis.
  15. For some cards, Citi often gives out the credit card number instantly, upon approval of the card, so that you can use it immediately online. Only AAdvantage and ATT cards seem to get this option.
  16. Citi business credit cards don’t get reported to the personal credit bureaus which is useful for keeping your credit report cleaner.
  17. A Citi credit card which was closed out can be reinstated upon request soon after being closed. If the card was closed by mistake, you should be able to convince them to reopen it with no hard pull.
  18. You can check your application status with Citi online.
  19. If you set up auto pay with Citi they will adjust your auto-pay if you pay it in full or make a partial payment.

You can view other posts in this series by clicking the links below.

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231 Comments
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mark
mark (@guest_1599576)
April 17, 2023 13:59

If you get instantly denied for a Citi card, can you apply for another Citi card immediately, or do you need to wait for 8 days? Thanks.

Morris
Morris (@guest_1594957)
April 10, 2023 22:08

Bonus ThankYou® Points are not available if you have received a new account bonus for a Citi Premier account in the past 48 months.

48 months from the last Premier account bonus received date? Close date? Opening date?

RAM
RAM (@guest_1639165)
June 21, 2023 15:28

It reads as “date of bonus being date” , item 5 and 6 here should be updated

Angie
Angie (@guest_1592610)
April 6, 2023 13:12

I was just denied for the Citi AA because according to them “I have too many cards”. I called the reconsideration line and got nowhere, they would not inform me of what I can do to change my situation to be eligible for a Citi card. Super frustrating… At least with Chase I’m well aware of the 5/24 so I can keep track.

mark
mark (@guest_1629762)
June 6, 2023 12:22

same here, there is really no reconsideration.

Haley
Haley (@guest_1655340)
July 17, 2023 09:38

Had the same thing happen to me where I had too many recent credit inquiries and recon line wasn’t able to change anything.

RAW
RAW (@guest_1576494)
March 13, 2023 22:25

I was just declined and told that if you have had ANY other applications for credit in the last five days, you are auto-declined, and not even a supervisor can override. (got a Cap 1 card approved same day) It is now a Citi rule.

Matt
Matt (@guest_1512162)
December 16, 2022 13:33

Do you receive any warning that you’re ineligible for the bonus like Amex does when you apply?

Diego
Diego (@guest_1480200)
November 4, 2022 22:30

The 20th thing everyone should know:

You can use a debit card to make a phone payment on a Citi credit card. And “debit card” includes VGC and MCGC issued by Swagbucks, Mypoints, et al. I don’t do store bought cards, but the My Prepaid Center MCGC is issued by MetaBank and that definitely works, so there’s a fair chance those work as well.

Dakota
Dakota (@guest_1542685)
January 26, 2023 16:11

This doesn’t work with Visa or Mastercard gift cards issued by Pathward (gift cards.com)

Matt
Matt (@guest_1469878)
October 21, 2022 08:22

RE: Citi no longer allows credit limit reallocations.

I called in to cancel my AA card with Citi, was offered a retention which I refused, they then offered to reallocate my CL to one of my other cards, so I reallocated to Premier. No credit pull (or if they did it was a soft pull) and was immediate after confirming via a text message they sent.

20201103
20201103 (@guest_1456882)
October 2, 2022 13:57

“You can only apply for one Citi personal card every 8 days”
Does this include cards like Citi Shop Your Way (Sears) Mastercard?

WunibaldTax
WunibaldTax (@guest_1445271)
September 14, 2022 16:50

I applied for the Citi AAdvantage on 07/12 and got approved. Would I be eligible to apply tomorrow 09/15 for the Citi AAdvantage biz version? First time having both of these cards.
Also, I am quite terrified at the comments below regarding not having any hard inquiries within the last 5 days. I plan to apply to both Venture X and Citi AA Bz tomorrow. Hopefully I get approved for both!

oliver
oliver (@guest_1432282)
August 25, 2022 22:37

When we ask to downgrade a citi credit card, will our credit history has a newly opened account and a closed account or it will remain the same account? I saw someone said that he experienced the first case recently but I hasn’t seen any other data point like that.