Citi Takes Temporary Hiatus from Product Changing Credit Cards

Numerous reports indicate that Citi is on a temporary break from allowing product changes on their credit cards as they go through some sort of internal changes. Some suggest that this is the result of Citi’s recent deal with Mastercard to convert most of their consumer cards over from Visa onto the Mastercard network.

Most people who call in are told that they’ll need to wait until October or November before they can do any sort of product change. (See milesforfamily’s experience here.)

Oddly, some people have been having success getting a product change done. When I called in about my Dividend card, the rep initially had a knee-jerk reaction that product changes are temporarily unavailable. When I pressed him for exact dates when it would become available, I was put on hold and ultimately he came back and said that I can do a product change.

Possibly, since my Dividend is a Mastercard, it won’t be undergoing any network changes and thus is allowed to be product changes. Most people are not having success with Mastercard product changes either, but it could be that this is just a misunderstanding on the part of the reps.

I’ve been holding off on posting this for the past few weeks since we were supposed to hear back from Citi with more exact details on what’s going on. We’ll let you know if we find out more, but for now it’s important to keep this in mind when evaluating your options with Citi credit cards, particularly with regards to annual fees coming due.

Bear in mind that you have at least 30 days after the annual fee hits to receive a refund on the annual fee; if you can hold out until October-November and product-changing to a no-annual-fee card at the time it could be worth doing so. Also, with most Citi cards you should be able to get a prorated refund when you cancel or product change the card.

Update 11/2/15: A report indicates that they are now saying to wait until January.

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TWoK
TWoK (@guest_217953)
January 16, 2016 22:09

I was able to do a conversion today.

Valentine
Valentine (@guest_195690)
November 10, 2015 15:56

I chatted with them on Nov. 3 about doing a product change from my dividend card. I was also told that I would have to wait until December once the terms have been processed.

denny
denny (@guest_193289)
November 3, 2015 19:16

Citi is lying about what they are up to. I had the same experience of them telling me Nov 1 then Nov 2, then when my November statement posts. Then on top of that she said that the card wont be effective until 51 days after the change. Seems to me they are using the advertisement of the Double card but they don’t want to pay the money to people who pay off their bills on time. Citi is a fraud as far as I’m concerned. I am very unhappy with them and will not use their cards anymore. The citi dividend is a joke unless you buy lots of stuff from their categories. I’d rather use Discover or even Chase.

Neil
Neil (@guest_178736)
September 29, 2015 01:30

I called a few days ago for a fee waiver on my AAdvantage card (whichever one it is that has a $95 fee). Asked to downgrade, rep explained they couldn’t do so at this time and as a result she waived my fee until December. Said she would followup at that time to process the downgrade (while I’m just hoping the fee is gone for a full year).

HokiE36
HokiE36 (@guest_186557)
October 16, 2015 09:50

Same situation. AA VISA, offered conditional refund of the annual fee, told to call back after Dec statement or to wait for their call 10 days later. Anyways, would call in every month till Dec to get it converted to Dividend.

V
V (@guest_178687)
September 28, 2015 22:10

I think whether you can convert or not depends on which exact card you have and whether Citi recently updated that card’s terms.

My experience: The annual fee for my AA exec card posted in mid August. I called in to convert in late August but was told I could not until November but could get a partial refund if I convert later. I called in again a week later and the agent said I could not convert until Nov, but that she would refund the annual fee and note in my account that I wanted to convert. The annual fee refund processed a couple days later.

DaninMCI
DaninMCI (@guest_178593)
September 28, 2015 15:40

Maybe that’s why I just got the Citi letter on my AA card telling me they are doing away with the 5% miles bonus annually, switching the 2x from office supplies to gas and no FTF’s