I just received some bad news – it looks like Citibank may very soon start to charge balance transfer fees on several of their credit card products. So if you have been on the fence about taking advantage of one of their offers, now may be a good time. I don’t see any changes yet, many still say “no balance transfer fees with this offer”, but I will be updating my prescreened best offers list as I find them.
Citibank May Start Charging Balance Transfer Fees
September 11, 2006 By 19 Comments
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they already removed all free balance transfer fee options on their cards. i called to inquire about the difference between the Platinum Select and the Diamond Preferred (not rewards) cards since they both offered 0.0% APR for all new purchases and balance transfers for 1 year, in addition to the no fee balance transfer. the customer service representative proceeded to tell me that Citi does not have any no fee balance transfer options at this time. i responded by saying my friend just applied about a week ago as i had been advising him, and we were looking at the citicards website together. it was definitely free. she pretended that she had no idea what i was talking about and proceeded to try and get me into the card. every card now appears to be the 3% fee up to $75 rule. i opted to sign up for the citibank diamond preferred rewards card to snag the 10000 thank you points after one purchase, and after i pay that balance off and receive the gift card, proceed to take advantage of the 0.0% APR balance transfer option. at least that way i get to keep $25. these monkeys are getting smart… keep up the good work jonathan.
one more thing, though it might not fully apply to this thread… i was looking to consolidate my credit line from my citi professional card to a new card. 2 things: they would not let me consolidate between personal usage cards such as the platinum select (which i was interested in applying for) and a business card (citi pro).
for example, i could consolidate my credit line from my Citi Professional card and Citi Professional Cash card since they are both business cards. and i could consolidate my platinum select dividend with another card such as the diamond preferred card, but they can’t be mixed.
the second point was that when they consolidate credit lines, 1 card must be CLOSED. i asked this question in several ways and repeatedly got the same response back from the CSR who was sure that i could not just shift a portion of the credit line while keeping both cards open. its all or nothing. this kinda stinks if you have one card that has lots of credit history that you no longer wish to use because the benefits have gone sour (dividend platinum select anyone?).
has anyone received similar information?
If this is true, then Citi will be like the other credit card companies. Too bad.
Does anyone know if it affects the citi american express offers? I just got my card and haven’t transfered my balance over yet. Don’t they have to keep there end of the bargain at least on that part of the deal?
Free xfer is rapidly disappearing and arbitrage is the reason. Once a few leaders leave, the rest will run out the door, because nobody wants to be sole provider of no-profit arbitrage. Was fun while it lasted.
I have been able to partially “reallocate” credit lines between my cards without closing them. I would call back again.
I just signed up for some cards last night including Citicards. The terms online all state that there is no transfer fees, etc. as always. I’m assuming that this is correct unless they send me a letter telling me otherwise.
I opened a Citi Rewards card last month. I just moved $8,000 of a $10,000 credit line from another Citi card to the Rewards card. Both cards remain open – no problems. I was not able to transfer available credit from Citi Exxon/Mobil card or my Citi issued Sears Mastercard.
Thanks for the comments, I will try back. Maybe they were unable to shift partial balances due to business cards (Citi Professional)?
TW: Which cards did you sign up for? I just went to universalcards.com and the two cards that formerly had no balance transfer fee now say that balance transfer fees apply.
Jonathan, Is there a percentage of your total credit limit that you prefer not to go over when utilizing balance transfers? Or perhaps the amount of BTs in relation to annual income? I am currently utilizing one BT that amounts to about 40% of the total credit limit of all my cards, with no real effect on my credit score. I’m thinking of doing another transfer that would result in locking up 80% of my available credit limit. Advisable? What are the drawbacks?
Billy: The Universal one, Simplicity, and Professional (for the 3% off restaurants). The 1st 2 for BT, no fee, 0%. Just click the link thru this MoneyBlog up top on the right under $100 bonus cards and go to the Universal card link. The Terms under signing up says “No transfer fee.”
For the Chase/Discover cards that I signed up for, I requested the BT with my current citi dividends card, i’m wondering how that goes since I have a low credit line on there. I’m concerned that they won’t BT more than the credit line… guess i’ll find out in a month or less.
This may already be known, but Citi sold their credit card business to a company called First Data. This may explain why they’re cutting their rewards programs. Citi Credit Cards are no longer Citi. First Data is just using them as a label.
I was able to reallocate credit lines without closing cards between the dividend, mtvu, and simplicity cards this week. So it sounds like ahnice just got a csr that didn’t know how.
The no fee balance transfers for my professional and simplicity cards are still available. Hopefully they will stay that way for a few weeks so I can take advantage of them.
If that’s true about First Data then it explains the sudden changes. It looks like Citi cards are going from my favorite to just like the rest unfortunately.
I just signed up for a Citi Platinum Select Mastercard (using a link from the Blueprint for Financial Prosperity Blog). It emphasized that although a 3% BT fee will apply to future transfers, there is no fee during the initial offer.
I will post again if I am unable to arbitrage once the account opens.
jason, I tried transferring credit lines again and this time got to the bottom of it. on personal credit cards such as the platinum select, diamond preferred, simplicity cards, etc. you may transfer credit lines as long as one stays at a minimum of $1000. but on business credit cards you are not able to. I was trying to shift most of the credit from my citi professional cash to my citi professional. however, the csr did note that if I were to wish to close one down entirely, they could consolidate the credit line. you gotta love it when you get a knowledgable csr on the line. . .
The Citi Dividend AE Card is still around…go to signup.citicards.com and use offer code F2G4. It said this offer would expire Sep 15 but today’s Sep 19, so if you want to apply, the application is still there.
To Joel: As I read this blurb, Citi sold their merchant processing to First Data not their Credit Card division.
“Depending on the action First Data takes, the company may be able to concentrate more resources in its merchant-processing unit, which is generating more profit for the company than the card business. Merchant services has acquired five merchant portfolios this year, including Citicorp Payment Services Inc., which processes for 15,000 merchants”