Is Citi losing its competitive edge among all other good credit cards?

[Reoxys]

They're good for BTs, IMO. Not so much for rewards.

[Legen_dary]

The only reason I would want Citi is for AAdvantage.. but I'm probably blacklisted, oh well!

[rlx01]

There are 2 (maybe 3) Citi cards worth having:

1. AA Exec
2. Citi Prestige
3. HH Reserve

There's not enough value in their other cards.

As far as competing with CSP: unlikely.

I think Chase is eating a huge loss from heavy CSP users -- no FTF + UR + UR mall + UR travel for $95 - $450 (nominal value of 45,000 UR)? Anyone carrying balances @ 15.42% is doing it wrong.

Not sure Citi has any interest in going after that. But it must be hurting AMEX plenty. If there's no PRG revamp coming soon then they're not paying enough attention.

[CreditUnionFan]

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@dearppl wrote:

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I had the Diamond card, too. I have to say I got it because it looked really fresh lol. A nice black card. But the new one with the EMV chip just looks somewhat cheap IMO. I then called to get a PC, and it took them nearly 3 months to convert my Dimond to Dividend. Since then, I SDed the card. For this quarter, I get 5% at home improvement stores... Which I've spent prob like $10 in total so far lol..

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A way of making the 5% at home improvement stores more useful is to purchase some of the gift cards they sell. I picked up a couple of Hulu Plus cards, and so I've effectively earned 5% back on the monthly charge that I ordinarily would only get 1%. I don't go overboard though with the gift cards because.

1. department stores very often offer a special discount for using their store card. (like Kohl's for the next week or so is minimum 15% off if you use their card)

2. Discover Cashback can be redeemed for various restaurant gift cards with a bonus like $45 in cash back gets a $50 gift card - effectively 10% off the meal.

[john398]

They seem to be running commercials lately about 2 times the thank you points for dining out, I think its a bad time to advertise that with Chase Freedom quarter being 5%

[enharu]

It really depends on what you are using the points for. Citi points are average for most people but it appeals to a certain niche.

For instance, TY points can be redeemed at 1.6ccp towards AA flights reservations. Dining gives you 2 TY points, and flight miles add an additional 1 TY point per spending. Coupled together, that's 4.8% in rewards towards dining expenses, which isn't a bad deal. If you have citigold or private banking relationship, then there's an additional bonus on top of points earned, which makes it an even better deal.

Personally I get much better value out of citi TY points than Barclays arrival 2.2% rewards.

That being said, Chase UR points and Amex MR points are of good value too, depending on how you use them.

If you are looking for just regular cashbacks, then both citi TY and Amex MR will seem really subpar to you because they both redeem at horrible rates.

[john398]

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@enharu wrote:
It really depends on what you are using the points for. Citi points are average for most people but it appeals to a certain niche.

For instance, TY points can be redeemed at 1.6ccp towards AA flights reservations. Dining gives you 2 TY points, and flight miles add an additional 1 TY point per spending. Coupled together, that's 4.8% in rewards towards dining expenses, which isn't a bad deal. If you have citigold or private banking relationship, then there's an additional bonus on top of points earned, which makes it an even better deal.

Personally I get much better value out of citi TY points than Barclays arrival 2.2% rewards.

That being said, Chase UR points and Amex MR points are of good value too, depending on how you use them.

If you are looking for just regular cashbacks, then both citi TY and Amex MR will seem really subpar to you because they both redeem at horrible rates.

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Oh wow I did not realize it was such a good deal to use on AA, what about transfer TY points to AA? is that possible and a good conversion

[enharu]

Ok I should add. 1.6ccp redemption on AA flights is possible only if you have the prestige card. If you have the premier, its 1.3ccp (I think?). All other airlines redeem at 1.3ccp, which is nice because you are not stuck with just AA. Even for UA or Virgin flight redemptions, it's essentially 3.9% in rewards not including relationship bonus.

Currently the points cannot be transferred to AA. There are rumors (and hopes) about being able to transfer to AA, but nothing is announced as of yet.

[chwebb1]

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@dearppl wrote:

I remember Citi used to have some great cards with low APR and good rewards. But now, it seems like Citi's cards aren't so much relevant in the credit card game anymore. The reward on the Thank You card isn't attractive at all, and TYP is pretty much useless, too. I see more people applying for Discover, Amex, Chase, and Barclays than applying for Citi. 

The only Citi card that I actively use is the Forward card for eating-out (5x TYP), but they discountinued this card last year. I wonder how long they will wait before they do a PC for me or take away this benefit from my account.. 

What are you thoughts on Citi cards, and do you think they will have to come up with some better cards in the near future?

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I have the Dividend, and while I'm happy with the limit and customer service, I have to say that the card itself could use some improvements. On the Dividend, you're limited to earning $300/year, both on the 1% spend and on the 5% spend. Because of that, I rarely use the card at 1% locations. I would use the card a lot more if they would limit only the 5% bonus to $300/year like Chase and Discover (although they do it per quarter). Also the furniture store 5% is useless to me on both my Citi and Discover cards unfortunately.

[rwb22]

I have the hhonors reserve card.  I would say I am fairly happy with it.  It definitely beats Amex's Hhonors offering.

My only complaint is the partner cards can't use the CITI mobile app.  I find this to be hilarious in 2014.