I recently signed up for the Citi Prestige card and didn’t complete the minimum spend requirement in time. I thought I had longer than I did. Is there anything I can do? I really want that sign up bonus.
Taylor
The first and most important thing you can do is make sure you keep proper records and have a plan for meeting each minimum spend requirement before applying. Also give yourself a lot of leeway in getting the minimum spend completed in case something happens.
Remember that the annual fee never counts towards minimum spending requirements. Some people will see that they owe over $5,000 and their minimum spend requirement is $5,000 and automatically assume they’ve met it. But if you owed $5,100 and the annual fee is $450 you’d be $350 short on getting the bonus. This is why it’s always good to remember that annual fees don’t count and also to give yourself a little buffer in case of a return or exchange or other issue.
[Read:Â How Long Do I Have To Reach My Minimum Spend Requirement With Each Card Issuer]
The second thing you can do is simply call Citi and explain the situation and see what they say, you’ll improve your chances if you’ve now hit the minimum spend requirement and there isn’t a long time between when you reached it and how long you had to reach. Below are data points of different card issuers and whether they did or didn’t give people the sign up bonus when they missed it. Each of the numbers represent a different data point, click them to get more information about why they were or weren’t given the bonus.
- American Express
- Yes: 1
- No:
- Chase
- Citi
Calling usually works better than sending a secured message or using chat. It’s much easier to say no to somebody (and use a form letter) when asking via text. It’s much harder to say no to somebody on the phone, use this to your advantage and call.
If you have any data points, please share them in the comments below so we can add to it.
