A reader commented recently that they were told by a Citi rep about a 14-day grace period for signup bonus on their AA Platinum card. For example, if you have to spend $3,000 in 3 months, you’ll actually get 3 months plus 14 days from the approval date to meet the spend requirement. The thinking is that it takes a few days until you get the card so they add on a bit.
I don’t recall ever hearing about this before, but I was able to confirm this with my contact at Citi.
With the Citi /AAdvantage Platinum Select MasterCard, we’re pleased to offer customers 50,000 AAdvantage bonus miles after $3,000 is spent in purchases on the card within the first three months of account opening. We know that customers are eager to receive the card after sign-up and so Citi strives to ensure the card is received in a timely manner. The bonus period does begin when the card is approved, however, we realize that it may take a few days for customers to get the card in hand. As such, Citi adds 14 days on top of the specified duration for bonus miles on Citi /AAdvantage credit cards to provide customers with the best possible experience as a new cardmember.
We then confirmed with them that this is true with regards to ALL Citi cards…
For Citi consumer credit cards that offer an introductory bonus offer of miles or points, Citi adds an additional 14 days (on top of the stated time period) for cardmembers to reach the specified amount of spend.
and all business cards as well…
Yes, for Citi business credit cards that offer an introductory bonus offer of miles or points, Citi adds an additional 14 days (on top of the stated time period) for cardmembers to reach the specified amount of spend.
Of course, we always try meeting spend requirements early, but it’s useful to know that there is 14-days there as a backup.
In general, I’ve been finding Citi much more forthcoming than other issuers with regards to signup bonuses. They send out emails reminding you about it and Julian at FrequentMiler reports that on some cards they even have a way to track your spend toward the signup bonus by looking the ‘Miles Summary’ tab.
Other Card Issuers
After hearing that Citi offers a 14-day grace period, I set out to verify if any other issuers offer this. I contacted Chase, Amex, and BofA.
- BofA told me that they also have a grace period to give the customer time to receive and activate the card. Based on what we’ve written previously, it appears that BofA starts the 3-months at the time of card activation.
- Chase indicated in their reply that there is no additional grace period. It’s just 3 months from account opening.
- Amex confirmed with us on Twitter that they do not offer any special grace period.
See also:
-  I Didn’t Complete My Minimum Spend Requirement, Is There Anything I Can Do?
- How Long Do I Have To Reach My Minimum Spend Requirement?
Can confirm this still is true. I was approved for personal AA platinum on 10/9/17 and was told I have until 1/23/18 to meet the spend requirement.
I also recently had a good interaction with Citi. I called to pay my credit card bill one day late. The customer service rep took my payment and offered to keep an eye to waive any late fee should it appear on my account a few days later. She kept to her word and the fee was waived a few days later after it hit my account.
Citi has really been stepping up to the plate lately with their improved sign up bonuses, rules for getting bonuses again, and now this grace period. It seems they want to establish good customer relations which in turn should be rewarded back to them with consumers spending more on their product lines. In situations where I have a choice and everything is relatively equal between a Citi card, a Chase card, and an Amex card, I will be leaning more and more towards using my Citi card as a way to show my appreciation for their efforts to help out their customers.
Totally agree. I’ve been voting with my feet in regards to Chase’s new > 5 cards in 2 years ridiculousness. Only using Chase when 5x is in play, otherwise I am happy to show my appreciation to Citi via increased utilization. This is how markets work, people – if you don’t like the status quo ie Chase’s draconian requirements, then stop supporting the status quo …
I opened a Chase bank account earlier this year and received my $300 bonus. Initially my thought process was to keep the account through next year in hopes of applying for other Chase cards with the idea being a banking relationship would increase my approval chances.
But now? Naaah, closed it last week. Set a reminder as to when I can churn the bonus again next year. Going to do it a la Hangover style https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXYU7FDqxp0
Chase knows they’re going to get fallout from their recent changes. My guess is they’re underestimating the damage. There’s been a lot of positive changes with other card providers this year and they’re not the only show in town.
Now if only they would get better at matching recent offers when better offers come out. I tried so hard to get my 40k HH offer matched with the (I think) 60k offer that came out a week later. 4 agents would not budge.