A number of readers and comments on /r/churning have reported receiving a letter stating that as a valued banking and credit card customer they would be receiving a lower annual fee and a 15% relationship bonus. The people that received the letters did not have a banking relationship with Citi and unfortunately these letters were sent out in error. A spokesperson for Citi has made the following statement:
Recently, a portion of our U.S. Citi Prestige portfolio were mistakenly sent letters indicating they qualified for different pricing and benefits. We apologize for the error and will be providing these cardmembers 1,000 ThankYou Points for the inconvenience.
Thanks to the media team at Citi for getting back to me quickly on this one. It’s unfortunate that this letter was sent out to the wrong cardholders, but it’s nice to see they will be awarding those who were affected with 1,000 ThankYou points.
Update: 1,000 points will post automatically within 1-2 billing cycles. If you haven’t received the points after that time period, call the regular Prestige line.
Someone at Cit’s getting fired over this mistake, I heard over 3,000 people got the letter by mistake whoops
I heard it was more like 30,000+
Citi drops the ball……
I opened that letter today and actually thought “wow” because after I collect my $250 bonus for next year, I was planning to cancel this card because of all the benefits they eliminated. No more admiral club after the summer. Do they seriously think I’m going to pay $450 for that! (well, technically $200)… But still, unless they drop the price on this card to at least $350, it’s just not worth it. We also have a Citi executive card to get in and out of the Admiral Club… so good riddance.
Plus 1000 points? That’s about $10… big whoop. Don’t hold your breath to get ’em.
Wish I’d got one!
Typical Citi IT.
I just got my letter and was super excited. I was even considering keeping the card another year! This is very disappointing.
It should be 5,000 Thank You Points considering the type of mistake and the fact that they are re-identifying you as not quite as much of a valued customer after all. Embarrassing.
Dumb Mistake on Citi’s part. You were a valued customer – sorry, no that was a mistake, you’re really not.
I got one of these letters and couldn’t figure out what the heck was going on. Was worried for a minute that someone had opened a Citi bank account using my identity.
Points are automatic or you have to contact Citi and identify yourself as having received the letter?
Automatic, will post within 1-2 billing cycles.