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CITI cards...

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enharu
Super Contributor

Re: CITI cards...


@maiden_girl wrote:

@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.


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.


All prime banks are picky. As for getting denied for too many inquiries, almost all banks will reject you if you do have too many inquiries. Every bank has their threshold limit and it also depends on how thick / thin and how good / bad your file is overall. Amex rejected me for having too many recent inquiries (5 in the past year). Therefore Amex is picky too. 

 

There's a difference between having a thin file (little or no history) and having a risky file (too many inquiries is an indicator of higher risk). 

College cards in general are more forgiving for thin files, not bad ones. This is true for most banks that offer college cards.

 


@longtimelurker wrote:

@MonkeyBelly wrote:
I've had a Citi card for 12+ years. It's really nothing special.

 

It's often not all that meaningful to make general statements about big banks.   Chase, Citi, BoA, Barclays etc, have a fairly large set of cards that change over time.   Some (entry level) probably are fairly useless for the majority of people, others might be much more tailored to a particular spending pattern, and so offer great value to some and little to others.  This is true of nearly all banks, Chase, Barclays, Amex etc have cards that make little sense if you cannot make use of the benefits.

 

Offerings also evolve as issuers compete with each other, so a 12 year old probably doesn't seem good compared to what is offered today.   As others have said, Citi does have some good cards.  The Forward card (sadly now only in a student version) is great value, for AA miles, the Citi cards with bonuses is the way to go, and, for now, the TYP 5% is really hard to beat.  With reasonable care, you can get several hundred $s a month in cash back, or more for travel when used with Premier/Prestige.

 

This doesn't mean that Citi has a card that is good for you, but then Chase/Amex/BoA etc don't have cards that are good for everyone either.


+1

 

 

JPMorgan Palladium (100k), AmEx Platinum (NPSL), AmEx SPG (46k), AmEx BCP (42k), Chase Sapphire Preferred (47k), Citi Prestige (31k), Citi Thank You Preferred (27k), Citi Executive AAdvantage (25k), JPMorgan Ritz-Carlton (21k), Merrill+ (15k), US Bank Cash+ (22.5k), Wells Fargo (12k), Bloomingdale’s (12.4k), Chase Freedom (5k), Discover IT (5k).
Message 31 of 43
maiden_girl
Valued Contributor

Re: CITI cards...

@scottwagnon

The inquiries were from 2010. The denial made no sense. I applied last year and this year. Same reason.
As of 2017, rebuilding...
Message 32 of 43
enharu
Super Contributor

Re: CITI cards...


@maiden_girl wrote:
@scottwagnon

The inquiries were from 2010. The denial made no sense. I applied last year and this year. Same reason.

it's probably a combination of reasons.

 

If you can tell me more about ur history, I can try to help, but at this point your best option is to first try calling their EO. If that doesn't work, lower your util ratio, and let your account age and uou could always try again if you want, or just move on with other cards.  There's plenty of options anyhow.

 

JPMorgan Palladium (100k), AmEx Platinum (NPSL), AmEx SPG (46k), AmEx BCP (42k), Chase Sapphire Preferred (47k), Citi Prestige (31k), Citi Thank You Preferred (27k), Citi Executive AAdvantage (25k), JPMorgan Ritz-Carlton (21k), Merrill+ (15k), US Bank Cash+ (22.5k), Wells Fargo (12k), Bloomingdale’s (12.4k), Chase Freedom (5k), Discover IT (5k).
Message 33 of 43
maiden_girl
Valued Contributor

Re: CITI cards...

No I was seriously denied for too many old inquires. When I called about my denial. ..the rep told I needed to let my inquires age then reapply. I called twice. The denial letter only stated too many inquiries. My credit history is in my sig..I've had credit since 2010 if that helps.
As of 2017, rebuilding...
Message 34 of 43
enharu
Super Contributor

Re: CITI cards...

try calling that number on monday and hopefully they can help you. how long ago was your app? if its >30 days you will have to re-apply.

best of luck!

they were much more help to me than regular CSRs.

 

JPMorgan Palladium (100k), AmEx Platinum (NPSL), AmEx SPG (46k), AmEx BCP (42k), Chase Sapphire Preferred (47k), Citi Prestige (31k), Citi Thank You Preferred (27k), Citi Executive AAdvantage (25k), JPMorgan Ritz-Carlton (21k), Merrill+ (15k), US Bank Cash+ (22.5k), Wells Fargo (12k), Bloomingdale’s (12.4k), Chase Freedom (5k), Discover IT (5k).
Message 35 of 43
MonkeyBelly
Regular Contributor

Re: CITI cards...


@longtimelurker wrote:

@MonkeyBelly wrote:
I've had a Citi card for 12+ years. It's really nothing special.

 

It's often not all that meaningful to make general statements about big banks.   Chase, Citi, BoA, Barclays etc, have a fairly large set of cards that change over time.   Some (entry level) probably are fairly useless for the majority of people, others might be much more tailored to a particular spending pattern, and so offer great value to some and little to others.  This is true of nearly all banks, Chase, Barclays, Amex etc have cards that make little sense if you cannot make use of the benefits.

 

Offerings also evolve as issuers compete with each other, so a 12 year old probably doesn't seem good compared to what is offered today.   As others have said, Citi does have some good cards.  The Forward card (sadly now only in a student version) is great value, for AA miles, the Citi cards with bonuses is the way to go, and, for now, the TYP 5% is really hard to beat.  With reasonable care, you can get several hundred $s a month in cash back, or more for travel when used with Premier/Prestige.

 

This doesn't mean that Citi has a card that is good for you, but then Chase/Amex/BoA etc don't have cards that are good for everyone either.


It's often not all that meaningful to make general statements about other people's personal experiences either. 

Starting myFICOs 2013
TU:664 March --> 726 May 25
EQ: 687 on March 6 --> 772 May 25
USAA EX (FAKO): 701 March 27 --> 768 May 26
Original goal (720+ across the board) achieved!
Message 36 of 43
LS2982
Mega Contributor

Re: CITI cards...


@MonkeyBelly wrote:

@longtimelurker wrote:

@MonkeyBelly wrote:
I've had a Citi card for 12+ years. It's really nothing special.

 

It's often not all that meaningful to make general statements about big banks.   Chase, Citi, BoA, Barclays etc, have a fairly large set of cards that change over time.   Some (entry level) probably are fairly useless for the majority of people, others might be much more tailored to a particular spending pattern, and so offer great value to some and little to others.  This is true of nearly all banks, Chase, Barclays, Amex etc have cards that make little sense if you cannot make use of the benefits.

 

Offerings also evolve as issuers compete with each other, so a 12 year old probably doesn't seem good compared to what is offered today.   As others have said, Citi does have some good cards.  The Forward card (sadly now only in a student version) is great value, for AA miles, the Citi cards with bonuses is the way to go, and, for now, the TYP 5% is really hard to beat.  With reasonable care, you can get several hundred $s a month in cash back, or more for travel when used with Premier/Prestige.

 

This doesn't mean that Citi has a card that is good for you, but then Chase/Amex/BoA etc don't have cards that are good for everyone either.


It's often not all that meaningful to make general statements about other people's personal experiences either. 





EQ FICO 548 3/3/16
Message 37 of 43
youngandcreditwrthy
Senior Contributor

Re: CITI cards...

Well,
Does Citi even have a true cashback card??
Something other than lose lame ever-value changing TY points?

Their CSRs are completely ill informed.

I remember getting approved for Amex/Discover, then before those accounts even reported...
Citi denied me for "too many recently opened accounts" when it had been 6 months to a year since I had opened anything.
Citi is a little rediculous and one of the toughest lenders out there.
I don't get it; I'm pretty certain their scoring model is very sensitive to new accounts/inqs, not just in the past 6 months, but in the past year or two.
I get it; they had a HUGE bailout loan to pay back. Most of their high credit requirements are likely the result of them loading up on MBS(mortgage backed securities) and then losing tens of billions of dollars.
Still it's odd that someone with a 640 can get approved, but a 740 with a few new accounts/inqs. gets denied lol! Heh. Bastards.
Marriott PR$25k | BCE $24.5K |BankAmericard Visa $25k| BOA Better Bal $17.5k |Wmt Discover $12.5k | BR Visa $17.5k | Amex Delta Gold $10k | Discover IT $10k | Paypal Extras MC $15k | Amazon Store $10k|Smile Gen $7.25k | Dillard's $10k | West Elm $4k| Express $3.05K | Mypoints.com Visa $4.5k | Freedom Visa $1k| Amex Surpass $1k
Message 38 of 43
annebythesea
New Contributor

Re: CITI cards...

I like Citi.

 

I get that it isn't really well liked here and I understand that because not 100% of everyone is going to like a bank but I've had my Forward for almost 5 years now and I love the 5x points I get on dining, fast food, movie theaters and Amazon orders. And the 2 or 3 times I've had to call CSR they have all been very nice and very knowledgable regarding my questions and I've never had any problems with them. And they keep dropping my APR (on my last stamement it dropped another .25 to 11.24%). So yeah, I'm glad to be a card member with them.



Starting Score: MyFico EQ 694 (3/2013)
Current Score: MyFico EQ 707 (4/1/2013), EX 734 (4/12/2013 - AMEX pull)
Goal Score: 740+, gardening since: 5/17/13



Message 39 of 43
longtimelurker
Epic Contributor

Re: CITI cards...


@youngandcreditwrthy wrote:
Well,
Does Citi even have a true cashback card??
Something other than lose lame ever-value changing TY points?



Well, depends on what "true" means here! 

 

As has been posted before, you get a bad rate for cash back or statement credit, but... you get the full 1:1 on student loan/mortgage payments. 

 

And why that matters is when you call to redeem, Citi just asks which bank to make it out to, and, presumably to avoid liability issues, they sent the check to YOU so you can send in on.   So, for example, you can ask for the check to made out to Bank of America, and when it arrives, you just deposit it in your own Bank of America account.   So cash back made complex, but it works well.

 

TYP have been devalued over the past, but lots of other programs have done the same, so it's always a risk.

 

And, once again, if you don't have the 5% TYP card, you are missing out on some great earnings.  But hopefully people's dislike of Citi will keep that going longer!

 

Message 40 of 43
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