topic Re: Citi DC no annual fee? in Credit Cards

Citi DC no annual fee?

pinkandgrey — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 17:07:45 GMT

I noticed today that there's a bolded "transaction" showing on my account that says "Membership Fee $0.00." The DC has never shown that before. I was almost concerned that the DC was planning on introducing an AF lol.

Anybody else seeing this for the first time?

Re: Citi DC no annual fee?

wasCB14 — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 17:10:53 GMT

It's normal. I get it on my DC and Costco.

Re: Citi DC no annual fee?

K-in-Boston — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 17:41:42 GMT

Yeah, all Citi cards do that once a year for some reason. They never forget an anniversary. It's just the way their system is set up and quirky like "Last Payment 30 November 1899" when you open a new account.

Re: Citi DC no annual fee?

M_Smart007 — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 18:53:37 GMT

"Last Payment 30 November 1899"

Going to ask @Anonymous bout that one .. He'll remember

Re: Citi DC no annual fee?

coreysw12 — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 22:23:39 GMT

I think it's Citi's way of humble-bragging.

"Here's your annual fee charge. What? Why is it $0, you ask? Oh that's right, there is no annual fee!"

Re: Citi DC no annual fee?

Anonymous — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 23:10:55 GMT

@M_Smart007 wrote:

"Last Payment 30 November 1899"

Going to ask @Anonymous bout that one .. He'll remember

Its just a minimum date value when a last payment date doesn't exist. Sometimes, 01/01/0001 is used as a minimum date on some systems. 1899 wouldn't work for an archeological site, as artifacts are dated much earlier than that, but its safe to assume no credit cards existed before 1900 with Citi lol.

Re: Citi DC no annual fee?

Anonymous — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 23:12:19 GMT

I've seen AF 0.00 for years on my Citi card.

Re: Citi DC no annual fee?

Anonymous — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 23:57:18 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
Yeah, all Citi cards do that once a year for some reason. They never forget an anniversary. It's just the way their system is set up and quirky like "Last Payment 30 November 1899" when you open a new account.

Researched back to 2010 and Citi was doing it at least back to April 2010. This is confirmed on more than one account

Re: Citi DC no annual fee?

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Sep 2020 00:08:15 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@K-in-Boston wrote:
Yeah, all Citi cards do that once a year for some reason. They never forget an anniversary. It's just the way their system is set up and quirky like "Last Payment 30 November 1899" when you open a new account.
Researched back to 2010 and Citi was doing it at least back to April 2010. This is confirmed on more than one account

So the plan is working. "Well done, we've lulled them into a false sense of security. After 10 years, they, with the exception of that pesky @pinkandgrey don't even see the Annual Fee line! We'll put it up to $95 next month."

Re: Citi DC no annual fee?

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Sep 2020 00:24:18 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@K-in-Boston wrote:
Yeah, all Citi cards do that once a year for some reason. They never forget an anniversary. It's just the way their system is set up and quirky like "Last Payment 30 November 1899" when you open a new account.
Researched back to 2010 and Citi was doing it at least back to April 2010. This is confirmed on more than one account

I can vouch for that. I looked at my oldest Citi statement and its on my Nov 2001 Platinum Select card statement lol.

Re: Citi DC no annual fee?

UpperNwGuy — Sat, 12 Sep 2020 10:19:39 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I can vouch for that. I looked at my oldest Citi statement and its on my Nov 2001 Platinum Select card statement lol.

Should we conclude from this data point that Citi hasn't revamped its IT systems since Nov 2001?

Re: Citi DC no annual fee?

NRB525 — Sat, 12 Sep 2020 11:12:59 GMT

I've noticed this on multiple banks, not just Citi. It relates to how to standardize the processing of credit card accounts in massive ( hundreds of millions in some cases ) volumes of card accounts.

1) Every credit card calculates interest on some balances. A category of balances that is 0% interest still goes through the same process of determining what amount to charge interest. Zero percent is applied as the percentage rate. Each tranche of carried balances also has an expiration date assigned, unless it is the standard purchase APR, which is usually adjustable.

2) If the bank wants to charge AF on some cards, then part of the logic on all cards is "on anniversary date, trigger AF to charge customer account." That AF amount on DC is $0. For other cards it's $95 or $450.

Re: Citi DC no annual fee?

pinkandgrey — Sat, 12 Sep 2020 12:09:21 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@K-in-Boston wrote:
Yeah, all Citi cards do that once a year for some reason. They never forget an anniversary. It's just the way their system is set up and quirky like "Last Payment 30 November 1899" when you open a new account.
Researched back to 2010 and Citi was doing it at least back to April 2010. This is confirmed on more than one account
So the plan is working. "Well done, we've lulled them into a false sense of security. After 10 years, they, with the exception of that pesky @pinkandgrey don't even see the Annual Fee line! We'll put it up to $95 next month."

Lol maybe I really am just that unobservant.

Re: Citi DC no annual fee?

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Sep 2020 16:02:07 GMT

@NRB525 wrote:
I've noticed this on multiple banks, not just Citi. It relates to how to standardize the processing of credit card accounts in massive ( hundreds of millions in some cases ) volumes of card accounts.

1) Every credit card calculates interest on some balances. A category of balances that is 0% interest still goes through the same process of determining what amount to charge interest. Zero percent is applied as the percentage rate. Each tranche of carried balances also has an expiration date assigned, unless it is the standard purchase APR, which is usually adjustable.

2) If the bank wants to charge AF on some cards, then part of the logic on all cards is "on anniversary date, trigger AF to charge customer account." That AF amount on DC is $0. For other cards it's $95 or $450.

Not to side track this thread from Citi Bank ... US Bank has been doing the same thing noted for Citi Bank on my various credit cards and PPLOC. This has been noted back for more that ten years.

Re: Citi DC no annual fee?

M_Smart007 — Sat, 12 Sep 2020 16:18:01 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@NRB525 wrote:
I've noticed this on multiple banks, not just Citi. It relates to how to standardize the processing of credit card accounts in massive ( hundreds of millions in some cases ) volumes of card accounts.

1) Every credit card calculates interest on some balances. A category of balances that is 0% interest still goes through the same process of determining what amount to charge interest. Zero percent is applied as the percentage rate. Each tranche of carried balances also has an expiration date assigned, unless it is the standard purchase APR, which is usually adjustable.

2) If the bank wants to charge AF on some cards, then part of the logic on all cards is "on anniversary date, trigger AF to charge customer account." That AF amount on DC is $0. For other cards it's $95 or $450.
Not to side track this thread from Citi Bank ... US Bank has been doing the same thing noted for Citi Bank on my various credit cards and PPLOC. This has been noted back for more that ten years.

@Anonymous,

Wished I could pull up the 27 year old Citi card I used to have, but that is not going to happen. (fell off reports)

I have had my latest batch of Citi cards for around 4 years or so, snd honestly, I have never noticed.

Never noticed on US Bank either. Guess I better start looking at things a little closer, or get my eyes checked.

Re: Citi DC no annual fee?

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Sep 2020 16:23:49 GMT

@M_Smart007 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@NRB525 wrote:
I've noticed this on multiple banks, not just Citi. It relates to how to standardize the processing of credit card accounts in massive ( hundreds of millions in some cases ) volumes of card accounts.

1) Every credit card calculates interest on some balances. A category of balances that is 0% interest still goes through the same process of determining what amount to charge interest. Zero percent is applied as the percentage rate. Each tranche of carried balances also has an expiration date assigned, unless it is the standard purchase APR, which is usually adjustable.

2) If the bank wants to charge AF on some cards, then part of the logic on all cards is "on anniversary date, trigger AF to charge customer account." That AF amount on DC is $0. For other cards it's $95 or $450.
Not to side track this thread from Citi Bank ... US Bank has been doing the same thing noted for Citi Bank on my various credit cards and PPLOC. This has been noted back for more that ten years.
@Anonymous,
Wished I could pull up the 27 year old Citi card I used to have, but that is not going to happen. (fell off reports)
I have had my latest batch of Citi cards for around 4 years or so, snd honestly, I have never noticed.

Never noticed on US Bank either. Guess I better start looking at things a little closer, or get my eyes checked.

On a cash + statement:

01/06 ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP FEE $0.00

Re: Citi DC no annual fee?

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Sep 2020 17:06:32 GMT

I've never really paid attention to it, but now that it was brought up, I do vaguely recall seeing it pop up annually. Never concerned myself with it because it's 0.

Re: Citi DC no annual fee?

MrT_521 — Sat, 12 Sep 2020 18:30:39 GMT

@coreysw12 wrote:
I think it's Citi's way of humble-bragging.

"Here's your annual fee charge. What? Why is it $0, you ask? Oh that's right, there is no annual fee!"

This kind of reminds me of Southwest Airline's "Transfarency" campaign about five years ago. They made a big deal out of no change fees and no luggage fees. And hey, I'm not knocking them; it's a good thing! It's interesting that the legacy carriers have done that now due to low sales because of the pandemic and subsequent drop off in travel.

Re: Citi DC no annual fee?

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Sep 2020 19:18:40 GMT

@UpperNwGuy wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I can vouch for that. I looked at my oldest Citi statement and its on my Nov 2001 Platinum Select card statement lol.
Should we conclude from this data point that Citi hasn't revamped its IT systems since Nov 2001?

No, they've updated their statements a couple of times. In November 2001, the statements looked like they were typed with a typewriter lol. That was before I made my first payment since 1899.