CITI cards...

[L0RDAVENTAD0R]

I've been a Citi cardholder for almost three years & a Chase cardholder for barely a month & I'm telling you right now, Chase > Citi.

[enharu]

I just applied for Thank You Preferred and got approved. They gave me my highest CL too.

I was expecting really terrible service from what I've read on the forums, but so far I've been very wrong. Maybe it's because I'm dealing with their executive department more than their normal CSR. But so far the level of service has been extremely good and I'm very happy.

The good thing about Citi is that you can have more than 1 of the same exact card. I know it probably sounds ridiculous, like why would anyone want 2 Thank You Preferred?! Well, if you ever need to carry a balance for a large purchase or whatever, you can apply for 1 more card and still get the same promotional APR. At the end of the day you have more CL, and another rewards card, abeit the same one. Still a better deal than having to go for BT cards such as Simplicity / Slate that has 0 rewards even after their promotional periods, or having to go to subprime lenders just for some 0% APR.

The bad thing......well their rewards are lacking compared to Chase. There's really not much to dispute about that, and Citi knows it. There's been a lot of rumors about them ramping up their rewards and also signing on more partners, so hopefully they'll have a much better offering soon.

[zerobacan]

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@enharu wrote:

I just applied for Thank You Preferred and got approved. They gave me my highest CL too.

I was expecting really terrible service from what I've read on the forums, but so far I've been very wrong. Maybe it's because I'm dealing with their executive department more than their normal CSR. But so far the level of service has been extremely good and I'm very happy.

The good thing about Citi is that you can have more than 1 of the same exact card. I know it probably sounds ridiculous, like why would anyone want 2 Thank You Preferred?! Well, if you ever need to carry a balance for a large purchase or whatever, you can apply for 1 more card and still get the same promotional APR. At the end of the day you have more CL, and another rewards card, abeit the same one. Still a better deal than having to go for BT cards such as Simplicity / Slate that has 0 rewards even after their promotional periods, or having to go to subprime lenders just for some 0% APR.

The bad thing......well their rewards are lacking compared to Chase. There's really not much to dispute about that, and Citi knows it. There's been a lot of rumors about them ramping up their rewards and also signing on more partners, so hopefully they'll have a much better offering soon.

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Enharu, wondering why you got denied for the Amex?

I was just checking out Citi's CC in the bank.  I had to talk to a csr about my wife citi card that got fraudulent charges on it...and the AA Advantage sign up bonus looks pretty good. I can book a RT flight to Chile with those miles... the ticket its about 1k normally...

[enharu]

Amex quoted me for too many recent inquiries (had 5 a month before I applied. All due to auto loan), and loan balance to original amount borrowed too high (100% loan balance, since its a brand new auto loan). I didn't even want to recon because it's going to be another HP for Amex, so I figured my best chances is to wait. 

The AAdvantage and Hilton has some really nice rewards right now. And Citi allows you to have 2 of the same cards (except for AA it has to be visa / amex + MC), so the sign up bonuses stack

[dddewdrop]

     The three biggest banks in the United States are Citicorp, Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo. It follows that these companies all offer credit cards which are highly rated and competitive. Both Citi and Chase have a huge number of credit card account holders and are industry standards. A Citi or Chase tradeline on a credit report with a decent CL is great for credit and looks good for lenders when applying for a mortgage. How you dissect the individual benefits of different cards is a matter of opinion but the prestige of each company as a credit reference is not. They are both very prestigious.

[jsucool76]

Chases rewards seem to be better than citis from what I've heard.

Also @dddewdrop
3 largest banks are chase, boa, and citi xDz

[medo]

How hard would you say it would be to get a Citi card?  You must have excellent credit or would they work with fair credit?

Thanks.

[maiden_girl]

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@medo wrote:

How hard would you say it would be to get a Citi card?  You must have excellent credit or would they work with fair credit?

Thanks.

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Citi is very picky. When I applied, I had a 714 FICO score and it was denied due to too many inquires but I notice many college students here end up getting a card with little or no history so I have no idea.

[CS800]

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@maiden_girl wrote:

Citi is horrible. They deny you for stupid reasons then if you try to RECON with them...they pretend they arent looking directly at your credit report and tell you to send them a copy of it with the denial letter attached..reallly CITI? Really?

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I share your frustration and that's the reason why I don't even have a CITI card. I have tried to get in with them for the longest time and finally gave up recently. ALways denied for the silliest reason.

I remember calling to recon and they told me that I had 4 inqs on EX (only 2 were about 1 year old, the rest were over 3) tha'ts why they denied it.

Another time was that My accounts were too new. I had 3 new accounts (new as in they were over 1 year old with low limits back then). Right after I gave up, I applied for the BOA privileges card and they also check EX just like citi and they gave me a $15000 CL; go figure

So as much as I wanted to add CITI to my portfolio, I just gave up on them.

But as usual YMMV

[dddewdrop]

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@jsucool76 wrote:
Chases rewards seem to be better than citis from what I've heard.

@Also @dddewdrop
3 largest banks are chase, boa, and citi xDz

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    It really depends on how you are ranking them. I believe the article I was looking at was talking about outstanding mortgages. It listed the three I mention and left out BofA. It was on the front page of the Wall Street Journal a couple weeks ago. Here is one that lists these three and BofA   as the top 4. Either way, it doesn't change the point I was making...

http://banking.about.com/od/bankaccountreview1/tp/the-big-4-banks.htm