@celluloid17 wrote:
@Open123 wrote:
@thelethargicage wrote:
If those turn out to be the rewards on this card, Citi will curse the day they got mixed up with Costco. After all, they're only getting 0.4% of every transaction at Costco. I doubt that card will get much 1% spending, even at Costco.celluloidCitibank is the worst run of all the major American Banks, and it would be a mistake to underestimate their propensity to make financially cancerous deals. While it's universally accepted that their stupidity knows no bounds, not even they would be dumb enough to offer 5/3/2 on a no annual fee card.
Just curious, how do you know they're only getting 0.4%?
I don't necessarily disagree with the sentiment of your post, but this will be far from disastrous for Citi. A lot of people use their current TE as a daily driver, not just at Costco (as it stands, the Amex variant only gives 1% back for actually shopping at Costco) and I imagine the same will apply for the Costco Citi card. What Citi is primarily getting in this deal is access to a large pool of relatively affluent clients. Studies have shown that most Costco members earn over $100k a year and for the non credit jugglers out there, they will simply be looking for another card that can serve multiple functions along with the added convenience of being accepted at Costco (complete with photo - another layer of security other cards don't have). It would behoove Citi to keep those people in their product(s) by offering a competitive reward structure on their new Costco co-brand, especially now that their card(s) will be competing with every other Visa in a person's wallet.
@Anonymous wrote:
rewards will be better. My GM just came back from Seattle and he mentioned a few things from the meeting.( I work for Costco) what im hearing , just hearing lol so dont take it serious just yet haha, is that it will be 5 % gas 3% dinning/ travel 2 everything else.again that's just something i heard. CSR don't really know what they're talking about , there just trained to say whats in front of them (no disrespect.) Im sure when the time gets near there will be a product change, or better yet when they do honor the Citi TE visa that the portfolio will continue to keep your AAOA since itll be a co branded card chances will be greater for approvals even with BK only thing to worry about is your SL so make sure to transfer those trade lines to another amex !
I could see citi trying the rewards structure racer lists for the reasons celluloid mentions. It would hit the 3/5% threshold on travel, groceries, and gas which are the top rewards most people go after and offer 2% on general spend which could replace the QS or dc for many people. Granted the latter is their own product so that would be a wash. They could easily capture the market segment that doesn't want to remember what discover, cash+, freedom, etc are offering that month or that don't want to carry multiple cards.
The more they can get people to use the card outside of costco, the more they can retain in swipe fees. Also, for all those that dont PIF, they will earn more in interest from them if they can capture a higher percentage of that individuals spend.
Citi is going to have to do something big to convince people to use the citi Costco visa instead of an existing one or their debit card. Sams and MC had a similar reward structure work somehow.
Just had an on-line chat (and lowered by existing Blue another 2% down to 10.74... waiting a few more months and doing it again!) and the rep stated that before March I would proactively received a BCE with no AF or I could apply for any other card. Not sure if that was based on my account history or just a general response. Also... it was one rep saying something. My experience w/Amex is that their reps tend not to be too "inventive" with responses like that.
Based on that ... I'm going to keep trying to drive the APR on the Costco card down hoping Citi will keep it and Amex will give me a new BCE with that rate too 
