topic Re: Prestige: More nerfs in Credit Cards

Prestige: More nerfs

wasCB14 — Thu, 24 May 2018 23:02:37 GMT

Citi Prestige's new benefits guide, effective July 29, 2018:

https://www.cardbenefits.citi.com/~/media/CPP/Files/LegalDocs/SOAPI/M_039092_CITI_MV6704_Elite-Prestige_PG_CAR20_FINAL.ashx

Various nerfs to trip delay protection, price rewind, etc.

Re: Prestige: More nerfs

Anonymous — Thu, 24 May 2018 23:55:42 GMT

For someone who doesn't have the card, I wish they would just say what the card doesn't have anymore that way I don't have to read through that whole thing But I get it, if they did that approach then it would make the card look bad.

Thanks for posting!

Re: Prestige: More nerfs

wasCB14 — Fri, 25 May 2018 21:47:43 GMT

My next AF posts mid-June. I have a lot of travel and some price rewinds to complete before then.

~~Come mid-June, I may consider closure and just get a CSR.~~

CSR approval. Will close Prestige mid-June.

Let's unpack it a bit...

Trip delay requirement: 3 hours, nerfed to 6

Rental car insurance limit: $100k, nerfed to $75k

Damage/theft purchase protection: Primary nerfed to secondary

Return protection: Annual cap was $2,500, now nerfed to $1,500.

Price rewind: Was $500 per item, $2,500 per year. Nerfed to $200, $1,000 per year.

Several benefits are now limited to just the cardholder and family. Coverage for unrelated companions is being dropped from: Trip delay, trip cancelation/interruption, lost baggage, baggage delay, travel and emergency assistance

*Cancelation insurance is also reduced from "$5k per person per trip" to "$5k per trip"

Previously, this card was great for a narrow range of uses. Now it's going to have to go.

Re: Prestige: More nerfs

MrDisco99 — Fri, 25 May 2018 00:42:42 GMT

The trip delay insurance had to get nerfed sooner or later. I can't imagine how much money they were losing on that one.

Re: Prestige: More nerfs

wasCB14 — Fri, 25 May 2018 01:06:32 GMT

@MrDisco99 wrote:
The trip delay insurance had to get nerfed sooner or later. I can't imagine how much money they were losing on that one.

Well, they had already nerfed it a little by disallowing claims based on close-ish connections. Maybe people were abusing that, I'm not sure.

Re: Prestige: More nerfs

Anonymous — Fri, 25 May 2018 01:11:06 GMT

If they changed the 3x point redemption to just "travel" (like Chase) and not "air travel and hotels" AND added better redemption value for TY points, I would consider getting this card.

Re: Prestige: More nerfs

wasCB14 — Fri, 25 May 2018 01:15:24 GMT

Citi must really be earning a huge commission from hotels on 4th night free bookings. For that to have survived relatively unscathed while so much else gets nerfed would otherwise seem difficult. Some people just use the card for that and get several thousand dollars a year back.

Re: Prestige: More nerfs

MrDisco99 — Fri, 25 May 2018 13:12:50 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
If they changed the 3x point redemption to just "travel" (like Chase) and not "air travel and hotels" AND added better redemption value for TY points, I would consider getting this card.

Yeah I never understood this, especially since the Permier card does return 3x on all travel, including gas.

Re: Prestige: More nerfs

swpopham — Fri, 25 May 2018 15:05:19 GMT

I think I agree with you and am going to do the same thing. Our AF hits in July, we have been stuck at a 25k limit, been running 8-9k a month on it and they deny credit increase requests so its time to go.

Re: Prestige: More nerfs

wasCB14 — Fri, 25 May 2018 15:14:27 GMT

@MrDisco99 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
If they changed the 3x point redemption to just "travel" (like Chase) and not "air travel and hotels" AND added better redemption value for TY points, I would consider getting this card.
Yeah I never understood this, especially since the Permier card does return 3x on all travel, including gas.

Maybe Citi intended Prestige to be more of a perks and benefits-focused card...before taking away most of said perks. Now they are further weakening said benefits, leaving just a piece of junk.

Re: Prestige: More nerfs

Anonymous — Fri, 25 May 2018 16:05:43 GMT

A long as the 4th free night stays more or less in tact and I can finagle the reduced annual fee, this one's still on my short list.

Re: Prestige: More nerfs

Anonymous — Fri, 25 May 2018 17:24:03 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
If they changed the 3x point redemption to just "travel" (like Chase) and not "air travel and hotels" AND added better redemption value for TY points, I would consider getting this card.

Or added an American airline carrier (other than Jet Blue), and a hotel transfer partner.

American Airlines should be a 1:1 transfer partner from the Citi Prestige - but Citi's incompetent upper management failed once again.

I'm not sure why Citi insists on having nothing but foreign airline partners. I get you can book flights through alliances, but it's stupid and takes extra work.

Re: Prestige: More nerfs

MrDisco99 — Fri, 25 May 2018 19:34:18 GMT

I guess they figure people are less likely to transfer them that way and more likely to take simple redemptions like through the portal where you don't get as much value per point.

Re: Prestige: More nerfs

Anonymous — Fri, 25 May 2018 19:47:37 GMT

Those monsters...

@MrDisco99 wrote:
I guess they figure people are less likely to transfer them that way and more likely to take simple redemptions like through the portal where you don't get as much value per point.

Re: Prestige: More nerfs

FinStar — Fri, 25 May 2018 19:50:46 GMT

For those of us who were able to get the AF lowered to $250 it's still not horrible, so as long as the remaining benefits remain in place...for the interim.

Re: Prestige: More nerfs

wasCB14 — Fri, 25 May 2018 20:05:35 GMT

@FinStar wrote:
For those of us who were able to get the AF lowered to $250 it's still not horrible, so as long as the remaining benefits remain in place...for the interim.

How did you manage $250?

Re: Prestige: More nerfs

FinStar — Fri, 25 May 2018 20:09:11 GMT

CitiGold was the first step, which was grandfathered, then I had a subsequent offer with brokerage (via branch).

Re: Prestige: More nerfs

wasCB14 — Fri, 25 May 2018 20:16:39 GMT

I figured it was something like that. I only got mine two years ago. I've been paying the full $450, but I've been unprofitable in plenty of other ways.

Re: Prestige: More nerfs

FinStar — Fri, 25 May 2018 20:26:59 GMT

Interestingly enough, two colleagues followed a similar approach and closed their CitiGold accounts and transferred their brokerage services and their Prestige AF remains $250 to this very day.

Of course, if at some point Citi decides to devalue the TY redemptions or reduce the 4th night benefit the way of the Dodo Bird then the Prestige will be no longer a prestige to have 😁

Re: Prestige: More nerfs

wasCB14 — Sat, 26 May 2018 03:30:47 GMT

@MrDisco99 wrote:
I guess they figure people are less likely to transfer them that way and more likely to take simple redemptions like through the portal where you don't get as much value per point.

My understanding is that banks like it when people redeem for miles, since banks can buy miles very cheaply from airlines (at a fraction of 1 cpp in most cases). I would think Citi's problem is that a lot of people redeem at 1.25 cpp for "travel cash" in the portal (instead of taking miles in exotic programs) while Amex and Chase can simultaneously keep their cost of rewards low while keeping customers happy with miles in more popular programs.