Retention Offers: Keep this in Mind When Calling Citi

Citi continues to wow us with retention offers and many of us have been able to maximize rewards utilizing these offers.

The way I’ve been always doing this is telling the automated system that I want to close the card; this automatically gets me directed to the retention department and they’ll usually have some nice offers available.

Numerous reports today on Reddit indicate that Citi is no longer redirecting calls automatically to the retention department – they’ll just close the card using the automated system after you confirm that you want to close the account.

Most of the reports refer to the Platinum Select card; it’s unclear if this is now the case for all other cards as well.

When calling in for retention, go through the front-line customer service and ask for a retention specialist. Or tell the automated system that you want to close the account and see if the system transfers automatically.

Main thing is not to confirm that you want to close the account – unless you really do.

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Chris W.
Chris W. (@guest_383664)
April 5, 2017 09:54

Called today about my Citibusiness AAdvange card. Transferred to a retention specialist who offered a $95 statement credit if I spent $95 in one month. Accepted. Note: Had the card just 13 months and spent $800 on flight taxes plus minimum spend only the whole year.

kijo
kijo (@guest_364152)
March 4, 2017 17:20

Another data point. After 3 calls, including speaking to a retention specialist, closed my Citi Platinum Select Mastercard. No offers except to downgrade.

MoMo
MoMo (@guest_340369)
January 17, 2017 22:01

Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select card. AF hits in Feb; called 4 different reps today. Mentioned the Barclaycard Aviator Red sign up bonus of 40k miles. No dice (no AF statement credit or bonus AA miles). I was given the Citi CC Application center number and advised to sign up for a different card. Bummer

DDV
DDV (@guest_329115)
December 19, 2016 13:30

AA Platinum citi card, AF time, but no offers. Weird thing was they didn’t even transfer me to retention when I called to talk to them, just said there aren’t any offers currently.

Will try calling back in January before statement is due to see if anything has come through.

rahul
rahul (@guest_289265)
August 29, 2016 01:03

Annual fee about to be posted next month. Called and spoke to 3 different reps – all said there are no offers for me 🙁
will try one last time. if it also doesnt work, i guess i will downgrade to citi preferred/ double cash.

David
David (@guest_285074)
August 18, 2016 09:29

Citi Thank You Premier:

Annual Fee posted to my account this statement. Called twice yesterday and this morning and told them I was thinking of closing my account. All pointedly asked if I wanted to “close” my account and I responded that I wasn’t sure and that it depended on what offers existed. All reps told me that I have no offers on my account.

I asked the last rep if there was a retention dept and he said he had no way of getting me over to them. When I asked if I said that I was going to close the account would that matter and he said it wouldn’t because I didn’t have any offers on my account.

Does that sound right? Should I continue to HUCA?

William Charles
Admin
August 18, 2016 19:37

HUCA

Doug
Doug (@guest_284890)
August 17, 2016 18:59

Citi ThankYou Premier:

Annual fee just posted. I got first year no fee + 50K ThankYou Points for spending $3,000 in first 3 months.

After that first $3,000 I put the card away and just started using it again the past month or so…probably charged $400 – $500 on it this month.

Just called in and was offered $95 credit + 500 TY Points if I spend $500 per month for next 3 months.

As that is easy and I have no other spending requirements at the moment (have stopped applying for new cards, for the most part since I have enough points, miles, etc.), I accepted the offer.

William Charles
Admin
August 17, 2016 20:07

Not a bad deal.

Richard
Richard (@guest_265056)
June 3, 2016 17:21

Just got these offers calling in and asking to speak to a retention agent, because I was thinking of canceling my Forward card since the benefits changed.

Forward:
a) For the next 6 months, spent $3,000, earn 10k TY points.
b) For the next 6 months, spent $4,500, earn 15k TY points.
c) For the next 6 months, earn an additional 2 TY points on ALL purchases, up to 35k bonus points.

Prestige:
a) For the next 6 months, earn an additional 4 TY points on all airlines/hotels/travel, up to 35k bonus points (so, 7 TY total in these categories).
b) For the next 6 months, earn an additional 4 TY points on all supermarkets/drugstores/gas stations, up to 50k bonus points (so, 5 TY total in these categories).

AA Platinum Select:
No offers.

JL
JL (@guest_245419)
April 13, 2016 13:51

Citi Thank You Premier:
4/11/16 – I called Citi Thank You Premier (opened in July 2015). Offered a $95 statement credit and a total of 1,000 TY points for spending at least $1,000/month for 3 consecutive months. I asked about any other offers, and was told that this the best offer currently available. Accepted.

In addition – I’ve received 2 emails from Citi TY Premier in the past week!!
– Spend $3,000 on purchases with your Citi ThankYou® Premier Card over the next 3 months starting April 15, 2016 and you’ll earn 10,000 bonus ThankYou Points.
– Now, for a limited time, add an authorized user and spend $2,000 in purchases to receive 5,000 bonus ThankYou® Points by 06/30/2016.

**Per fine print, you can be enrolled in multiple promotions at once!

Final Minimum Total TY Point Earnings = 16K TY Points + $3K Spend = 19K TY Points

Bill S
Bill S (@guest_217126)
January 13, 2016 13:58

I was offered nothing for my AA card last month. I thought they’d at least offer to waive the AF, but no. I went ahead and cancelled. Cancelling was no big deal, but I thought they’d offer something.