topic Re: Customer-initiated Visa Signature Upgrade? in Credit Cards

Customer-initiated Visa Signature Upgrade?

mikelo22 — Sun, 21 Dec 2014 19:14:28 GMT

Hey all,

So I just got a SP CLI on my Citi Forward from $3500 -> $5,000. As far as I am aware, the requirement for a Visa Signature is usually a $5,000 limit. I also saw that many people with the Citi Forward had their cards upgraded to Visa Sigs. But it sounds like this was all done by Citi.

So I was wondering if anyone has had any experience on asking for a Visa Sig upgrade? I sent a SM to Citi asking for it, but wasn't sure if they'll go for it or not.

Re: Customer-initiated Visa Signature Upgrade?

Anonymous — Sun, 21 Dec 2014 22:32:34 GMT

@mikelo22 wrote:
Hey all,

So I just got a SP CLI on my Citi Forward from $3500 -> $5,000. As far as I am aware, the requirement for a Visa Signature is usually a $5,000 limit. I also saw that many people with the Citi Forward had their cards upgraded to Visa Sigs. But it sounds like this was all done by Citi.

So I was wondering if anyone has had any experience on asking for a Visa Sig upgrade? I sent a SM to Citi asking for it, but wasn't sure if they'll go for it or not.

Citi told me they only upgrade on their intiative. They have been doing Citi Forward Visa Signature upgrades (from the little info I could dig up) usually once a year in a window that runs December through February. Seems they look at a couple of years plus and utilization (again based only on the little info I could dig out) and their is NO "no preset spending limit" [no flexible spending limit]. People have been upgraded with less than $5k CL and originally this was a student oriented card with 5x categories. Citi did open it to the general public for a very short time and then closed it back down and nerfed it to 1x categories before it disappeared completely. Acquired this card the fall of 2012 by special personal invitiation of Citi (not a student) with the 5x categories. This card before being nerfed was one of the better cards in the market place. Hope this info helps.

Re: Customer-initiated Visa Signature Upgrade?

jsucool76 — Sun, 21 Dec 2014 23:02:52 GMT

I got a visa Sig upgrade on my forward card through chat. Had a 2600$ limit. Took 5 minutes.

Re: Customer-initiated Visa Signature Upgrade?

ForumPheen — Sun, 21 Dec 2014 23:06:22 GMT

Curious as well. Looking to upgrade one my of cards in this manner; for the World Elite Mastercard edition, was told originally that it requires a new application and a hard pull. I'm looking to see if one of my Visa cards will do this via SP for a Visa Sig.

Re: Customer-initiated Visa Signature Upgrade?

Anonymous — Sun, 21 Dec 2014 23:08:14 GMT

WOW! jsucool76 just reported the ability to obtain an upgrade through the Citi "chat" feature. Things may have changed. May want to jump on that. My info was from January 2013 so it must have changed. Let us know your outcome as others would surely benefit.

Re: Customer-initiated Visa Signature Upgrade?

Anonymous — Sun, 21 Dec 2014 23:16:18 GMT

ForumPheen - Curious as well. Looking to upgrade one my of cards in this manner; for the World Elite Mastercard edition, was told originally that it requires a new application and a hard pull. I'm looking to see if one of my Visa cards will do this via SP for a Visa Sig.

Citi has a Citi Dividend World Elite Mastercard with the 5% rotating quarterly categories and generally 14.24% apr purchases (only available as an upgrade/product conversion). There are better cards in the market place but, it is one with out an annual fee but there is a 3% FTF. Obtained mine through the Citi phone CSRs. Note it has been a couple of years since I did it.

Re: Customer-initiated Visa Signature Upgrade?

mikelo22 — Mon, 22 Dec 2014 01:02:34 GMT

Thanks for all the input guys. I got a response through SM and it was no dice. It was pretty much a copy-paste response (they thought I was asking to convert my Forward to a diffferent Citi card), so I guess I'll have to try to be more clear.

I just tried chat and they said it's possible, but that you need to call an account specialist for 'verification'.

Re: Customer-initiated Visa Signature Upgrade?

ForumPheen — Mon, 22 Dec 2014 01:11:26 GMT

Mikelo22, keep us posted on what happens next.

ArmyVietVet, thanks for the input. My card in question happens to be a retail card that can be a WEMC. I need to do some more research on it to gauge my chances. I burned Citi years ago. The account still shows up on my credit reports as closed by grantor and paid satisfactorily from 10 years ago.

Re: Customer-initiated Visa Signature Upgrade?

mikelo22 — Mon, 22 Dec 2014 02:43:36 GMT

Well I don't like calling unless I have to (because I'm weird in that way), so I replied to the SM and clarified what I was asking for. I just got a response and they apologized for the misunderstanding and that my request has been forwarded to the appropriate department. I can expect a response in 24 hours.

Guess we'll see how it goes.

Re: Customer-initiated Visa Signature Upgrade?

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Dec 2014 03:13:50 GMT

@mikelo22 wrote:
Well I don't like calling unless I have to (because I'm weird in that way), so I replied to the SM and clarified what I was asking for. I just got a response and they apologized for the misunderstanding and that my request has been forwarded to the appropriate department. I can expect a response in 24 hours.

Guess we'll see how it goes.

My concern with trying this with a 5x Forward is that you end with a shiny Visa Sig 1X Forward, even if this hasn't happened to others. Maybe that's paanoid, but I value the 5x far more than I would another Visa Sig.

Re: Customer-initiated Visa Signature Upgrade?

mikelo22 — Mon, 22 Dec 2014 03:22:06 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@mikelo22 wrote:
Well I don't like calling unless I have to (because I'm weird in that way), so I replied to the SM and clarified what I was asking for. I just got a response and they apologized for the misunderstanding and that my request has been forwarded to the appropriate department. I can expect a response in 24 hours.

Guess we'll see how it goes.
My concern with trying this with a 5x Forward is that you end with a shiny Visa Sig 1X Forward, even if this hasn't happened to others. Maybe that's paanoid, but I value the 5x far more than I would another Visa Sig.

Gosh dangit, you're right. Now I'm paranoid too. I'm going to be staring down my next couple statements.

Re: Customer-initiated Visa Signature Upgrade?

jsucool76 — Mon, 22 Dec 2014 04:41:20 GMT

@mikelo22 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@mikelo22 wrote:
Well I don't like calling unless I have to (because I'm weird in that way), so I replied to the SM and clarified what I was asking for. I just got a response and they apologized for the misunderstanding and that my request has been forwarded to the appropriate department. I can expect a response in 24 hours.

Guess we'll see how it goes.
My concern with trying this with a 5x Forward is that you end with a shiny Visa Sig 1X Forward, even if this hasn't happened to others. Maybe that's paanoid, but I value the 5x far more than I would another Visa Sig.
Gosh dangit, you're right. Now I'm paranoid too. I'm going to be staring down my next couple statements.

i still get 5x on my forward after visa sig conversion.

Re: Customer-initiated Visa Signature Upgrade?

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Dec 2014 06:54:59 GMT

@jsucool76 wrote:
@mikelo22 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@mikelo22 wrote:
Well I don't like calling unless I have to (because I'm weird in that way), so I replied to the SM and clarified what I was asking for. I just got a response and they apologized for the misunderstanding and that my request has been forwarded to the appropriate department. I can expect a response in 24 hours.

Guess we'll see how it goes.
My concern with trying this with a 5x Forward is that you end with a shiny Visa Sig 1X Forward, even if this hasn't happened to others. Maybe that's paanoid, but I value the 5x far more than I would another Visa Sig.
Gosh dangit, you're right. Now I'm paranoid too. I'm going to be staring down my next couple statements.
i still get 5x on my forward after visa sig conversion.

Right, but this is Citi, every event seems unique!

Re: Customer-initiated Visa Signature Upgrade?

kdm31091 — Mon, 22 Dec 2014 13:09:07 GMT

I am not trying to be negative here, as I understand wanting a Visa signature.

My question is why is it so important to so many people? I have a card that's a Visa signature (Two actually), and I read over the benefits. Very, very few of them seem like anything the average person would use; it doesn't seem like it has this great level of benefits. But people on the forums act as if they HAVE to get a Visa signature upgrade, even though the benefits seem less than exciting. Is it just a status thing? Or what?

Also, if you have a current Visa platinum, and your credit line is increased past 5k, I thought you could just order a replacement card and it would be a Sig. I now can assume that's incorrect. I just don't see why it's such a big deal to so many people. Same thing with the World Elite Mastercard stuff. The benefits seem very niche and specific.

Re: Customer-initiated Visa Signature Upgrade?

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Dec 2014 13:44:12 GMT

I've asked the same question a few times. There are some people who do benefit from some of the features, but the overwhelming response seems to be "If it's available, and 'better' and free, why not?" Which shows the success of marketing I guess!

So personally I wouldn't spend ANY time trying to get a plat converted to a sig/WMC/WEMC but others value it differently.