Citi Shutting Down Credit Card Accounts

We’ve got a number of reports from people regarding their Citi credit cards being shut down (thanks to Miles Per Day for letting me know about this originally on Twitter), the official reason that Citi has given them is as follows:

Pursuant to our Card Agreement, we have the right to close your account at our discretion anytime without prior notice. We have chosen to exercise this right.

There is some discussion of this talking place on Flyertalk and I’m told it’s also being discussed in various private forums/chat groups/snapchat accounts/however else people share information these days. From what I can gather at the moment it seems these shut downs are relatively small scale at the moment and are targeted towards people with unusually high levels of spend on their cards.

It also seems like these people have been blacklisted by Citi, meaning any cards that they apply for in the future will lead to an instant denial. We’ll talk about blacklists for all the different card issuers in a future post. This also follows on from Citi disallowing credit card funding on their deposit accounts.  Please feel free to share your data points in the comments.

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Chris
Chris (@guest_371940)
March 17, 2017 11:34

Old post but figured I’d add just had my Citi Double Cash card closed due to security risk. Not sure what that means as no one would explain it. Always paid the full balance off but I did do a lot of spending with the card and some months would earn close to $1k in cash back,.

Sean
Sean (@guest_429756)
June 28, 2017 18:28

2 of my credit cards with Citi were closed with no explanation. Never missed a payment. I am baffled and confuse.

Mariano
Mariano (@guest_457779)
August 13, 2017 00:13

how long did you have the Citi DB card? just to know around how much cash back in total that card gave you? you spent around 100k per month to gain 1k in cb

Chris
Chris (@guest_457874)
August 13, 2017 08:00

I got it whenever it was first released to the general public. Total cash back I’m not sure. I was spending up to 50k per month as the balance was always paid off in full.

RNP
RNP (@guest_227585)
February 22, 2016 00:29

Citibank is very sensitive on how you pay their credit cards. I got a phone call from Citi Rep asking me why I pay my Citi credit cards with money orders. I don’t pay the whole balance with money orders, some from personal checking account. I don’t know what will happen next. They also questioned some of large $$ of purchases.

Drake
Drake (@guest_230456)
March 3, 2016 18:08

I had to field a similar call. Any update on your credit card accounts?

Larry
Larry (@guest_226227)
February 16, 2016 16:50

How much danger is there to leaving your thank you points accumulating? Should we just transfer to travel partner every so often?

Aks
Aks (@guest_226181)
February 16, 2016 14:21

Citi’s compliance department is closing account without providing any explanation. Once they made decision (without giving you an opportunity to explain) and flag your account, nobody within Citi can have them change the decision. Not even executive office. I have tried all avenues of Bank manager, social team, banking back office, executive office, etc. with no result.

I had my Citi checking account closed because I could not provide explanation for few legitimate cash deposits within 5 days as I was traveling out side country. Within 3 months they closed all my credit cards accounts even thought there were no transactions in past 6 months.

To those whose checking account is closed first; will have 3 months to empty all your Thankyou points via gift cards or transfer to partner programs. Your partner program points are safe from any citi closer.

Realist
Realist (@guest_226147)
February 16, 2016 11:09

2016 will start a recession. 8+ years of Bull Market is getting “tired”.
Save your dollars for upcoming rainy day!

robertw
robertw (@guest_226116)
February 16, 2016 08:45

Anyone you had their account closed and lost points should put up a fight to at least recover those. Most will just let it go. I once had a situation with Chase where they tried to keep more than 300K of points earned fairly. Eventually they gave me the value in a check because I worked non stop against them. I do not do any MS. I think one comment about banks seeing a recession in one way or another could be a possibility. They may be using some AI to identify accounts that might carry higher risk to the bank. If they can reduce their losses in any way, that benefits them.

Aaron
Aaron (@guest_225342)
February 12, 2016 21:31

Just got a notification today in the mail that my old citi preferred card account is shutdown due to inactivity (I havent used it in over a year). I’m definitely not an MSer, so it seems they are closing old and unused accounts as well.

Credit
Credit (@guest_224843)
February 11, 2016 13:37

Banks are getting ready for a recession. Forget points, are your jobs safe?

My name is credit and remember my post as a forewarning in a few months.

dave
dave (@guest_226124)
February 16, 2016 09:46

Don’t get injured patting yourself on the back there Nostradamus. Newsflash – many intelligent people here keep up with what’s going on in the world economy.

Juan
Juan (@guest_224690)
February 11, 2016 02:23

I realize this will be very unpopular with those selling tickets.

BoonDR
BoonDR (@guest_224834)
February 11, 2016 13:17

This disregards cashback. I suspect people who do $100k+ are doing a majority of it in CB because after a certain level points/miles lose value if they aren’t being used. With cashback flexibility is king.

JUAN
JUAN (@guest_225158)
February 12, 2016 05:39

Good point. That could add up to a ton of cash.

Juan
Juan (@guest_224689)
February 11, 2016 02:21

The banks should quit focusing on collecting points and make the airlines clamp down on using (or selling) the points for other peoples’ tickets.
If only the points member and designated family member could use his points, then there would not be much need to collect 100,000 every month.
That would benefit both the airlines and the banks and reduce the scammers.