Whenever a bank increases the sign up bonus on a card that you’ve recently applied for, it’s always worth asking them to match the increased sign up bonus. Citi recently increased the public sign up bonus on their Citi Prestige card to 50,000 points from 30,000. Citi’s matching policy is a bit all over the place, but I’ve had multiple readers confirm that they were able to get matched to this higher sign up bonus. Here’s the important information to know:
- Your card must be no more than 90 days old (if your card is older than this, it’s still worth a try though)
- You can call or send a secured message asking to be matched to the higher bonus
I had a few readers report that originally they were told that they wouldn’t be matched to this sign up bonus. I recommended they try the “squeaky wheel tactic”, where basically you just try to make this request as public as possible. In this case I told them to tweet @AskCiti asking to be matched to the higher bonus (make sure to include the link to this higher sign up bonus: http://creditcards.citicards.com/usc/thankyou/Prestige/2015/Mar/external/50k/) – in a few minutes they were asked for a contact number and then were called and the rep confirmed they would be bumped to the higher sign up bonus.
Matt over at Saverocity also mentioned that it might be worth buying a few thousand twitter followers for these types of interactions to make it seem like your a big shot (can’t remember exact post, sorry!), I know I definitely get better responses to my tweets because of my followers so that’s probably worth doing for those that don’t use Twitter often.
On last note, if you’re interested in the in branch offer which is 30,000 points after $3,000 in spend and an additional 30,000 points if you spend $15,000 or more within the first three months then Frequent Miler reports success in being matched to this offer as well, but I imagine you’d need to prove that your a Citi Gold customer.
i applied last week for the prestige card and received it on saturday. Lo and behold that same day I received in the mail a 100K point application offer. I mailed in a copy of this offer along with the account number of my brand new card to see if they would match it. Hoping they will. Anyone had experience with them matching these offers?
Yup, they should match it if you actually received the direct communication.
Hi William,
I am in Seattle and there are no citi branches nearby.
How can I take advantage of the 350$ annual fee offer ?
You can try calling, but I don’t think you’re able to get that offer unfortunately.
Call branches until someone will put a banker on the phone, ask them to email you the application. I did it and wrote about it here https://saverocity.com/miles4more/citi-thankyou-prestige-card-citigold/
Thanks, Kenny. I knew I read something about this being possible!
Thank you Kenny for the info.
I will replicate your process.
I was approved for the Premier card two days before the new Prestige offer. While Citi couldn’t or wouldn’t switch me to that card, they did suggest trying to cancel the Premium and than apply for the Prestige. I did that and was denied. I called Reconsideration and they approved me for the Prestige and also told me that the Premium could not be cancelled as it was already in processing. Citi told me that there was no problem having both cards! 100,000 Thank You points in one week!
Slightly OT, but I recall seeing that Citigold checking account holders only pay an AF of $350 on this offer – not the 60,00o in branch – but now I can’t find that? Did I dream that up? Thanks.
The in branch offer is supposed to be for Citigold checking customers and has an AF of $350, maybe that’s why you’re getting confused?
What about getting this card then downgrading to something with no/less annual fee?
Anyone has any experience with buying Twitter followers, cost and whether they stay for how long?
I applied for the Premier 50k bonus 45 days ago. Can I go for this one? Already have many open accounts so the only way for approval might be CL transfer.
My wife got 50k bonus as well from Premier, can she transfer her points to me? combine our points?