Many recent reports indicate that Citi is longer honoring the Citigold checking bonuses of AA miles or ThankYou points for those who didn’t receive direct communication about the offer.
Background
Citibank has offered excellent incentives to entice people to sign up for their premium checking account product called Citigold. The most recent offer expired on March 31, and it’s currently unavailable, as far as I know.
The deal used to be much better when it was possible to do the initial funding on the account with a credit card, up to $100,000. Those days are over, yet it’s still a generous bonus to consider with a 50,000 miles/points bonus, along with advantages for Citi Prestige cardholders in that they pay $100 less on their annual fee, and they get a 15% relationship bonus.
Citi Stops Honoring
As recently as the first half of April, many reports were coming in that the points WERE finally posting after a lot of nudging and escalating.
This changed as of around April 27. Tens of reports are now coming in that Citi is systematically rejecting most/all requests, even after multiple escalations and phone calls.
One report quotes Citi as saying,
Supervisor I spoke with said they are overwhelmed with calls about this right now and although they honored some in the beginning that the volume of accounts was too high and they were now denying everyone that wasn’t specifically targeted.
Is Citi Right?
Well, is Citi right? Was the offer, indeed, targeted?
As we’ve consistently noted, the terms always mentioned that the offer is available only to those who received this communication. In practice, most people were always getting the bonus after some nudging.
This offer is available to targeted bank cardmembers who receive this communication
Typically, if the promo code is not unique and the system accepts it from everyone – as was the case here – the bonus is effectively meant for everyone. When they want to keep something targeted, they’ll make it only available in-branch or with a unique promo code.
That being said, it’s hard to cry foul on this, and we all knew that there was a risk that it wouldn’t be honored.
What to do now?
Okay, what to do now?Â
Going forward, should the promo codes comes back, I wouldn’t recommend signing up for it without getting confirmation in-branch or some other way that the offer is available for you. Remember, the credit card funding is now off so there are only small ‘churning’ benefits of having the Citigold account (the Prestige benefits), and it comes with a high $30 monthly fee.
What about for those who signed up already?
I’ll leave this as an open question, but here’s my personal take:
For those who got confirmation that the offer is applied to their account, especially email confirmation, I’d say it’s worth fighting this further with escalation, social media, or even CFPB. The bonus is quite high and probably worth some effort, although there are no guaranteed returns here. Certainly if you got personal communication of the offer, it’s worth continuing the efforts to get this bonus.
Bear in mind that there is a $30 monthly fee, and the longer you keep the account, the more fees that are being accrued, so there’s no clear-cut solution. A reader mentioned the idea of downgrading the account from Gold to Basic and then trying to get the points. It might be harder, but it’s possible this can work.
For those who did not get any confirmation, and just assumed that it would work as it has in the past, I’d probably let it go and swallow any losses as the cost of doing business. If we hear back soon that they decide to start honoring it for others, it would then be worth trying again.
Note that in the recent email confirmations, the reps sometimes went out of their way to remark that they are merely confirming that the promo code is attached to the account and not that you are eligible for the promo.
Related Posts:
- Step by Step Guide to Citigold Checking Bonus
- PSA: Don’t Cancel Citigold – Downgrade It!
- Downgrading Citigold Checking Account to Basic
- Citigold: Do you lose points when downgrading to Basic?
- Citibank Rolls Out Citigold Client Center in Manhattan
Just had the same issue with another bonus. Gave them the code, got confirmation over the phone and via the web, now they refuse to honor the terms. Oddly enough, they gave me $12 as a bonus rather than the $500. I made about 5x the required deposit to receive the $500 bonus, yet they’re argument is that my deposit was too low to earn the top bonus (which of course makes no sense, as their offer explicitly states the minimum deposit required to receive the $500).
They also tried to force me to buy checks when I refused (I clearly said no, they sent me five checkbooks anyways, and then charged my new account without permission. Ended up getting the checks for free after complaining in person at the store and being asked, “Well, how are you going to pay your house cleaner if you don’t have checks?”) Also had one Citibank representative say to my husband following this check debacle: “I don’t know how they do things in YOUR country, but here in the U.S…” because my husband has an accent.
Prejudice and liars.
Hahahah….Citi is a business and needs to turn a profit….have we already forgotten about the bank bailouts. It’s all just a pyramid scheme. Got my bonus from last year, didn’t partake again.
Bailout fine…but when execs walk away with tens of millions (hundreds?)…that’s just not fair…but hey, that is the American way for some.
I”d have given back all the points I acquired from this game..and never played….if the banks that truly failed, were allowed to fail. Goodbye Citi, Merrill, Morgan, Goldman, whatever….but, can’t change the past….
I signed up in January…been getting run around for months, was confirmed twice by SM. Filed CFPB and was denied once again.
Have recently been dealing with this back and forth over SM for several weeks now. First I was told I had met the eligibility requirements and would be receiving the promotion. Then 90 days came and went and I was told there was an additional unknown amount of time because the department was busy reviewing the promotions. A couple weeks passed and I followed up again and had been told the TYP had been credited to my account several days prior. Fast forward to several days later and the points are still not there. I have screenshots of all messages containing case numbers and confirmation that the points were actually credited to my account. Time for CFPB
Wasn’t targeted but received confirmation via sm on two different occasions around three months ago that I would get the bonus (no conditional language). Citi denied me via sm when I asked about the points not posting by the end of the 90 day period. Filed the cfpb complaint straight away, received a call from Citi a few days later, and the miles a couple days after that.
Good lord it was an annoying past ~2 months but my wife and I finally received our 50k AA miles from Citi. I never filed a complaint with the CFPB but I did exchange many messages with Citi via secure online messaging and online live chat.
Hopefully others have the same good fortune and everyone gets their miles.
FWIW, I totally predicted (to my wife) that Citi would wait until 7/1/16 to credit our miles in order to hit us with another monthly fee. Citi claims that “it may take up to 60 days for the miles to show up in your AA account once credited” but I don’t believe that one bit. I think they were nickel and diming me the whole way.
Anyways, considering the 10k account funding and the 50k miles… we got our money’s worth!
F.I.N.A.L.L.Y.!.!.!
My partner didn’t want to deal with Citi BS and decided to close the citi gold account. Is it possible to file a CFPB regardless?
If you met the requirements, why not? Show as much documentation as possible, ideally an SM from them confirming you met the requirements.
After filing a complaint with CFPB, I received notice that I will be receiving the 50k AA miles within 60 days. I actually downgraded my Citigold account to Basic Checking several weeks before I filed the complaint since I received initial denial from Citi stating that had not been targeted. So, it appears that downgrading as soon as the requirements are met will not preclude you from
getting the miles later.
Alrighty I’m now 3/3 in getting it honored after filing CFPB complaints. The first 2 accounts I chatted, and “led” the rep to confirm the offer and then I printed the chat to PDF. The 3rd account I didn’t get a real confirmation via chat so my CFPB complaint was denied. I proceeded to chat a couple more times until I got a “yes you should get your points” via chat. I then filed another CFPB complaint and got the points!!!
Filed CFPB complaint. Received this response today- see below. Have asked for points to post ASAP and not in 60 days to avoid a dispute of this resolution and request for additional relief measures. I was targeted by mail, so they really are indiscriminately denying everyone.
Citibank said:
Explanation of closure
We are in receipt of your correspondence sent on your behalf from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Your inquiry was forwarded to Citibank’s Executive Response Unit, of which I am a member of the staff, and I appreciate your patience while awaiting my reply.
Mr. Xxxxx, please accept my sincere apology for the inconvenience you described. Our goal is to ensure that all of our clients are provided with the highest level of service and we regret that you had cause for dissatisfaction under any circumstance. I assure you that our marketing strategies are certainly not intended to mislead you. Citibank, like other banks, periodically offers promotional bonuses to deposit account applicants to attract new clients. In order to conduct our promotions in a manner consistent with sound business, we may customize offers by direct mail campaign initiatives to select individuals; in addition to the requirement of the standard terms and conditions that Citibank discloses for its promotions.
In our review we found that the offer in question, promotional code 42ERCWNQU6, was not directed to you. However, Citibank fully respects any obligations made to you. Therefore, we are honoring your request and the 50,000 AAdvantage miles will be applied to your American Airlines AAdvantage account within 60 days. We trust that this brings this matter to an amicable resolution.
Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to respond to your concerns.
Relief
The client will be credited 50,000 American Airlines (AA) miles within 60 days.
Amount of Relief:
50,000 AA miles
Thanks Sheetal,
I have been in the same boat for the last 6 months struggling to get my 50k american miles.
I just raised the complaint on CFPB yesterday. How many days it took for you to receive the reply after raising the complaint.
Regards,
Raman.
Filed May 23. Received response June 6. On May 24, I received a message from Citibank that they had heard from CFPB and would respond “no later than June 6”. Today I received a message from Citibank stating that they could not do it faster than 60 days as they had “so many that they were dealing with”.
I logged into CFPB and disputed the resolution saying that I was not satisfied with the resolution due to the amount of time it would take to receive the miles that should have been awarded three months ago. I also formally claimed that I doubted the intentions of Citibank due to this maneuver.
Good luck. I hope you get your points/miles. Keep us updated as these data points help all of us.
Received the following response from CFPB:
Thanks a lot Sheetal
Case number: 160603-000504
Back
STATUS
Company responded
Citibank N.A. said:
Explanation of closure
We are in receipt of your correspondence sent on your behalf from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Your inquiry has been referred to me for my review and response.
Mr. Vinocha, please accept my sincere apology for the inconvenience you described. Our goal is to ensure that all of our clients are provided with the highest level of service and we regret that you had cause for dissatisfaction under any circumstance. I assure you that our marketing strategies are certainly not intended to mislead you. Citibank, like other banks, periodically offers promotional bonuses to deposit account applicants to attract new clients. In order to conduct our promotions in a manner consistent with sound business, we may customize offers by direct mail campaign initiatives to select individuals; in addition to the requirement of the standard terms and conditions that Citibank discloses for its promotions.
In our review we found that the offer in question, promotional code 42ERCWNQU6, was not directed to you. However, Citibank fully respects any obligations made to you through our Citibank Customer Service Agent. Therefore, we are honoring your request and the 50,000 AAdvantage miles will be applied to your American Airlines AAdvantage account within 60 days.
Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to respond to your concerns
Relief
The client will be credited 50,000 AAdvantage within 60 days.