Not cool Citi... Not cool

[One7]

So I just received my Citi Thank You Preferred Signature Visa over a month ago and have put heavy use on it. My limit is $5k and so I planned on putting most of my purchases and other things through it for the free points and paying it in full. Well unfortunately they wont allow me to pay even a single dime on it until after the first statement...seriously? I have a $4.5k balance on it and they wont let me pay it off? I talked to multiple reps and they all said the same thing, since its my first payment I am only allowed to pay the minimum (which at this moment is $0) which means ill be stuck for 31 days with a terrible utilization on my reports. Uggghh how dumb is that? I know its only for a month but still. Oh well lesson learned. I do have 0% interest for 12 months but I didnt plan on using it unless I absolutely needed to. Apparently thats how they do it with all their cards, according to the reps, so keep that in mind new card holders.

[Kenny]

You can do a push payment from your bank to the card. Easy to do. Do you have a bank that has bill pay? Chase/BofA/USAA all have the ability to do bill pay. Amex is the same way.

[One7]

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@KennyRS wrote:

You can do a push payment from your bank to the card. Easy to do. Do you have a bank that has bill pay? Chase/BofA/USAA all have the ability to do bill pay. Amex is the same way.

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I have Chase and BofA, Ive never used their Bill Pay system. I'm going to give that a try, thanks!

[eagle2013]

Just enter your routing and account number directly into Citi under "pay bill/automatic payments". You should be able to do it from there. You may as well wait for the statement though - Citi reports to the CBs quickly and they credit your balance slowly (3-4 business days for me). Even if you manage to pay now, there is still a very high chance the $4500 balance will still be reported to the CBs. 

[One7]

Yeah Im pretty sure that it'll be too late by the looks of this, I'm just going to have to bite the bullet on this one. It looks like it will be a slow process doing it this way.

[Longroad]

Good to know in case i ever get my HHonors card

[Kenny]

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@One7 wrote:

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@KennyRS wrote:

You can do a push payment from your bank to the card. Easy to do. Do you have a bank that has bill pay? Chase/BofA/USAA all have the ability to do bill pay. Amex is the same way.

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I have Chase and BofA, Ive never used their Bill Pay system. I'm going to give that a try, thanks!

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I really love BofA's bill pay system.. use it more than any of mine.

[axledobe]

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@One7 wrote:

So I just received my Citi Thank You Preferred Signature Visa over a month ago and have put heavy use on it. My limit is $5k and so I planned on putting most of my purchases and other things through it for the free points and paying it in full. Well unfortunately they wont allow me to pay even a single dime on it until after the first statement...seriously? I have a $4.5k balance on it and they wont let me pay it off? I talked to multiple reps and they all said the same thing, since its my first payment I am only allowed to pay the minimum (which at this moment is $0) which means ill be stuck for 31 days with a terrible utilization on my reports. Uggghh how dumb is that? I know its only for a month but still. Oh well lesson learned. I do have 0% interest for 12 months but I didnt plan on using it unless I absolutely needed to. Apparently thats how they do it with all their cards, according to the reps, so keep that in mind new card holders.

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This does not sound right and I'm sorry you're having to go through this.  I opened my AAdvantage card on 3/15 and the due date is tomorrow 4/17 with a statement date of the 18th or 19th (can't remember what they told me).  I charged it up to $1,200 in the first week and a half and called in and paid it off over the phone (ACH payment from US Bank, a regular "over the phone" payment).  I then charged another $600 and called in and was able to PIF again so my first statement cuts with a zero balance.  No issues at all.  Their rule, as I understand, is that you can only make ONE payment on their website your first month due to security of your bank account being set up anew online with them.  After that, you can pay up to 4 online payments per month within a billing cycle and any others need to be processed over the phone.  I've had my card 32'ish days and it's my first month with Citi and have PIF twice.  Not saying I don't believe you but you might want to try another rep.  I would be SO mad if my statement cut at the 1.8K I spent.  

Good luck getting this worked out.  Hope this helps.   

[fungoman]

Amex did this to me when setting up online pay for the first time. They only let 1 payment in the first 30 days and it can only be the minimum or statement balance. I wrote them a check and mailed it in and they processed it and now the 30 days is up so its no issue.

[One7]

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@axledobe wrote:

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@One7 wrote:

So I just received my Citi Thank You Preferred Signature Visa over a month ago and have put heavy use on it. My limit is $5k and so I planned on putting most of my purchases and other things through it for the free points and paying it in full. Well unfortunately they wont allow me to pay even a single dime on it until after the first statement...seriously? I have a $4.5k balance on it and they wont let me pay it off? I talked to multiple reps and they all said the same thing, since its my first payment I am only allowed to pay the minimum (which at this moment is $0) which means ill be stuck for 31 days with a terrible utilization on my reports. Uggghh how dumb is that? I know its only for a month but still. Oh well lesson learned. I do have 0% interest for 12 months but I didnt plan on using it unless I absolutely needed to. Apparently thats how they do it with all their cards, according to the reps, so keep that in mind new card holders.

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This does not sound right and I'm sorry you're having to go through this.  I opened my AAdvantage card on 3/15 and the due date is tomorrow 4/17 with a statement date of the 18th or 19th (can't remember what they told me).  I charged it up to $1,200 in the first week and a half and called in and paid it off over the phone (ACH payment from US Bank, a regular "over the phone" payment).  I then charged another $600 and called in and was able to PIF again so my first statement cuts with a zero balance.  No issues at all.  Their rule, as I understand, is that you can only make ONE payment on their website your first month due to security of your bank account being set up anew online with them.  After that, you can pay up to 4 online payments per month within a billing cycle and any others need to be processed over the phone.  I've had my card 32'ish days and it's my first month with Citi and have PIF twice.  Not saying I don't believe you but you might want to try another rep.  I would be SO mad if my statement cut at the 1.8K I spent.  

Good luck getting this worked out.  Hope this helps.   

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Yeah it was pretty annoying.  I tried it off my phone originally and it didn't work so I then tried it the next day off my PC and had the same problem, so I talked with one rep through chat and they gave me that answer.  I then called the number on the back of my card and the rep there told me the same thing. Doesn't make any sense