topic Re: Citi Double Cash Card and Account Questions in Credit Cards

Citi Double Cash Card and Account Questions

qlopp — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 21:30:39 GMT

Hi,

I've been searching this info for days but wanted a little assurance that I've gathered accurate info.

I just pulled credit scores and reports on my wife and I for the first time in about 10 years in the preparation for applying for a cash back type CC. For my needs the Citi Double Cash card appears to be the best choice. Today's score of 809 was reported by CreditKarma using VantageScore 3. The scores I received from Experian (FICO 8) were 834 (me) and 765 (wife). I would be the only name on my prospective new CC but I'm not sure if a spouse's score weighs into their application algorithm. I have zero hard credit inquiries and my wife has one.

Should I have reasonable expectations that Citi will issue me a DC card?

While they state that all purchases count towards the 1% + 1% reward they then go on to detail some exclusions in fine print. It appears that mortgage payments and utilities still count towards rewards, does that sound right?

I have a US Bank mortgage, and having just tried to modify or add a payment method (currently bank draft via autopay) to see how it works, it appears that a credit card payment is not possible. Has anyone found a workaround with US Bank or similar autopay methods to pay a mortgage monthly via CC? Maybe call in to a CSR? It's probably asking too much but if that large monthly lump sum could produce 2% cash back that would be amazing.

Thank you for any help!

Re: Citi Double Cash Card and Account Questions

M_Smart007 — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 21:34:56 GMT

With the DP's you provided, I cannot see why Citi would not approve you for a Double Cash Card.

ETA: To the forum!

Re: Citi Double Cash Card and Account Questions

summerterrace — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 21:36:24 GMT

@qlopp wrote:
Hi,

I've been searching this info for days but wanted a little assurance that I've gathered accurate info.

I just pulled credit scores and reports on my wife and I for the first time in about 10 years in the preparation for applying for a cash back type CC. For my needs the Citi Double Cash card appears to be the best choice. Today's score of 809 was reported by CreditKarma using VantageScore 3. The scores I received from Experian (FICO 8) were 834 (me) and 765 (wife). I would be the only name on my prospective new CC but I'm not sure if a spouse's score weighs into their application algorithm. I have zero hard credit inquiries and my wife has one.
Should I have reasonable expectations that Citi will issue me a DC card?
While they state that all purchases count towards the 1% + 1% reward they then go on to detail some exclusions in fine print. It appears that mortgage payments and utilities still count towards rewards, does that sound right?
I have a US Bank mortgage, and having just tried to modify or add a payment method (currently bank draft via autopay) to see how it works, it appears that a credit card payment is not possible. Has anyone found a workaround with US Bank or similar autopay methods to pay a mortgage monthly via CC? Maybe call in to a CSR? It's probably asking too much but if that large monthly lump sum could produce 2% cash back that would be amazing.

Thank you for any help!

You will likely have no problem with a DC approval of course not guaranteed and just add your wife as an authorized user after approval. It will report on both yours and hers credit bureaus. Beware Citi can issue kind of stingy credit lines with DC.

As for the mortgage payment, there are vendors you can use to pay your mortgage but the fees you pay to them to do so would eliminate any 2% cash back benefit. (Charges are usually 1.98-2.5% or more).

Re: Citi Double Cash Card and Account Questions

qlopp — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 21:41:39 GMT

@M_Smart007 wrote:
With the DP's you provided, I cannot see why Citi would not approve you for a Double Cash Card.

Thank you. I'm new to "worrying about getting a card" (for lack of a better term) and have heard about lower risk class / better benefits cards being difficult to qualify for.

I have a theory that the CC companies prefer to lend cards to those who keep a balance (but naturally aren't a credit risk) and assign them with that in mind. I do not keep a balance, hence another concern.

Re: Citi Double Cash Card and Account Questions

qlopp — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 21:42:58 GMT

@summerterrace wrote:
You will likely have no problem with a DC approval of course not guaranteed and just add your wife as an authorized user after approval. It will report on both yours and hers credit bureaus. Beware Citi can issue kind of stingy credit lines with DC.

As for the mortgage payment, there are vendors you can use to pay your mortgage but the fees you pay to them to do so would eliminate any 2% cash back benefit. (Charges are usually 1.98-2.5% or more).

Thank you. Great points and things to watch out for!

Re: Citi Double Cash Card and Account Questions

Remedios — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 21:50:41 GMT

@qlopp wrote:
@M_Smart007 wrote:
With the DP's you provided, I cannot see why Citi would not approve you for a Double Cash Card.

Thank you. I'm new to "worrying about getting a card" (for lack of a better term) and have heard about lower risk class / better benefits cards being difficult to qualify for.

I have a theory that the CC companies prefer to lend cards to those who keep a balance (but naturally aren't a credit risk) and assign them with that in mind. I do not keep a balance, hence another concern.

Lenders prefere customers who won't default. If some of those happen to pay some interest, that's great, but they aren't too happy to see those who are tethering on the edge of default while paying hundreds in interest.

What makes them happy are customers who use their cards.

Sometimes people even throw names around like "Transactor", which is congratulatory self pat on the back.

Some, like Cap One do dabble in *high risk, high reward" territory, but that's true of any lender whose business model is highly predicated on ABS. Discover follows this business model too, but to a lesser extent.

If not having keeping balance was a concern, I'd be paying with debit since all my cards would be closed by now.

Re: Citi Double Cash Card and Account Questions

qlopp — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 22:43:02 GMT

@Remedios wrote:
Lenders prefere customers who won't default. If some of those happen to pay some interest, that's great, but they aren't too happy to see those who are tethering on the edge of default while paying hundreds in interest.
What makes them happy are customers who use their cards.

Sometimes people even throw names around like "Transactor", which is congratulatory self pat on the back.

Some, like Cap One do dabble in *high risk, high reward" territory, but that's true of any lender whose business model is highly predicated on ABS. Discover follows this business model too, but to a lesser extent.

If not having keeping balance was a concern, I'd be paying with debit since all my cards would be closed by now.

Awesome, thanks for the info!

Re: Citi Double Cash Card and Account Questions

Anonymous — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 15:18:16 GMT

@summerterrace wrote:
.

As for the mortgage payment, there are vendors you can use to pay your mortgage but the fees you pay to them to do so would eliminate any 2% cash back benefit. (Charges are usually 1.98-2.5% or more).

Right. I don't think any mortgage lender will accept credit card payments (the fees to do are too large for them) so you would have to use a service like Plastiq, which also has some issuer-mandated restrictions on which cards can be used to pay mortgages. And, unless there are time-restricted offers, as @summerterrace says, fees will (more than) negate 2% rewards.

Not to open a very common topic (well, I am!) why double cash? This makes sense if you are using it for TYP rather than 2%, but there are other 2% cards that are better in many ways.

Re: Citi Double Cash Card and Account Questions

fatcomic — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 15:40:03 GMT

I agree your chances of approval for the Citi DC should be great, I was approved 5 or 6 years ago with scores much lower than you or your wife. It has been slow to grow the credit line however YMMV, it could be my profile or something they aren't excited about with me. The lower CL is the main reason it has fallen out of favor in my wallet, but it served it's purpose for years no problem. The DC is a no-thrills World Elite Master Card, you're not going to get all the perks some cardholders want, I used the card to pay everyday expenses and paid it off, I didn't need any thrills on this card.

I have not paid our mortgage with the DC, I'm not aware of any prime standard mortgage company that will accept a CC as a payment option. The DC primarily catches a lot of our auto payments now. I have not found any purchase that did not qualify for the 1% + 1% with the exception of using the cash back reward amount as a statement credit. If you apply the cash back to your balance as a "statement credit" you will not earn 1% on that credit amount. You have to deposit the funds to your bank and then make a payment from your bank account (or however you normally make a payment) to get the 1%. Depending on your cash back amount, the loss of the 1% using it as a statement credit could be minuscule, however it does drop the rewards rate to less than 2%.

The only other negative I could say about the card is your have to earn $25 to redeem cash back, that wasn't a problem when I used it as a primary daily card.

Re: Citi Double Cash Card and Account Questions

qlopp — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 16:08:35 GMT

@fatcomic wrote:
I agree your chances of approval for the Citi DC should be great, I was approved 5 or 6 years ago with scores much lower than you or your wife. It has been slow to grow the credit line however YMMV, it could be my profile or something they aren't excited about with me. The lower CL is the main reason it has fallen out of favor in my wallet, but it served it's purpose for years no problem. The DC is a no-thrills World Elite Master Card, you're not going to get all the perks some cardholders want, I used the card to pay everyday expenses and paid it off, I didn't need any thrills on this card.

I have not paid our mortgage with the DC, I'm not aware of any prime standard mortgage company that will accept a CC as a payment option. The DC primarily catches a lot of our auto payments now. I have not found any purchase that did not qualify for the 1% + 1% with the exception of using the cash back reward amount as a statement credit. If you apply the cash back to your balance as a "statement credit" you will not earn 1% on that credit amount. You have to deposit the funds to your bank and then make a payment from your bank account (or however you normally make a payment) to get the 1%. Depending on your cash back amount, the loss of the 1% using it as a statement credit could be minuscule, however it does drop the rewards rate to less than 2%.

The only other negative I could say about the card is your have to earn $25 to redeem cash back, that wasn't a problem when I used it as a primary daily card.

Thanks for the info and help, fatcomic! The credit deposit to bank account is an easy solution. I wasn't expecting the extra 1% on rewards anyway since it isn't a purchase.

Re: Citi Double Cash Card and Account Questions

qlopp — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 16:14:31 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@summerterrace wrote:
.

As for the mortgage payment, there are vendors you can use to pay your mortgage but the fees you pay to them to do so would eliminate any 2% cash back benefit. (Charges are usually 1.98-2.5% or more).
Right. I don't think any mortgage lender will accept credit card payments (the fees to do are too large for them) so you would have to use a service like Plastiq, which also has some issuer-mandated restrictions on which cards can be used to pay mortgages. And, unless there are time-restricted offers, as @summerterrace says, fees will (more than) negate 2% rewards.

Not to open a very common topic (well, I am!) why double cash? This makes sense if you are using it for TYP rather than 2%, but there are other 2% cards that are better in many ways.

I wasn't thinking about the mortgage company's fees to process a CC payment (insert 'duh' here). That makes sense. For whatever reason I had thought or assumed there were multiple methods available with autopayment before actually playing around on their site.

I don't need anything special with a card; 2% on every purchase looks like it will average out better than the other options where their higher percentage rewards are for purchases I rarely make.

Re: Citi Double Cash Card and Account Questions

Anonymous — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 16:27:40 GMT

@qlopp wrote:

I don't need anything special with a card; 2% on every purchase looks like it will average out better than the other options where their higher percentage rewards are for purchases I rarely make.

I was referring to other flat 2% cards, that, e.g. give 2% straight away (rather than 1+1), have no minimum redemption (rather than the $25 with Double Cash) and have no foreign transaction fee (rather than 3% with double cash). Some of them also have better protections.

Re: Citi Double Cash Card and Account Questions

qlopp — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 16:32:39 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@qlopp wrote:

I don't need anything special with a card; 2% on every purchase looks like it will average out better than the other options where their higher percentage rewards are for purchases I rarely make.
I was referring to other flat 2% cards, that, e.g. give 2% straight away (rather than 1+1), have no minimum redemption (rather than the $25 with Double Cash) and have no foreign transaction fee (rather than 3% with double cash). Some of them also have better protections.

Are any of these cards completely stand-alone, i.e. do not require a bank account with the CC issuer to use? And are they for anyone or specific to military or profession for example? Do you have any recommendations? Thank you for your time.

Re: Citi Double Cash Card and Account Questions

Anonymous — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 19:31:03 GMT

@qlopp wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@qlopp wrote:

I don't need anything special with a card; 2% on every purchase looks like it will average out better than the other options where their higher percentage rewards are for purchases I rarely make.
I was referring to other flat 2% cards, that, e.g. give 2% straight away (rather than 1+1), have no minimum redemption (rather than the $25 with Double Cash) and have no foreign transaction fee (rather than 3% with double cash). Some of them also have better protections.
Are any of these cards completely stand-alone, i.e. do not require a bank account with the CC issuer to use? And are they for anyone or specific to military or profession for example? Do you have any recommendations? Thank you for your time.

I use Paypal Mastercard, through Sync (which for some is a negative!) Not quite standalone in that you need a paypal account but that doesn't need any money. There was a big thread on all sorts of 2% cards recently

Re: Citi Double Cash Card and Account Questions

fatcomic — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 20:41:54 GMT

@qlopp wrote:
Are any of these cards completely stand-alone, i.e. do not require a bank account with the CC issuer to use? And are they for anyone or specific to military or profession for example? Do you have any recommendations? Thank you for your time.

The Citi Double Cash is the most no-strings 2% card, however there are several options. The main 2% cards are, there are others but these are the more popular ones in no particular order.

Citi Double Cash Master Card, no requirements other than $25 minimum to redeem the cash back rewards. Earns 1% on purchases + 1% on payments made to the card. No annual fee. No thrils and it does have a FTF.
PenFed Power Cash Rewards Visa - open membership to PenFed, no affiliation required. No annual fee. Does require a checking account with $500 avg balance or direct deposit. The checking account requirement can be waived if you're a veteran.
PayPal Master Card - Earns a straight 2%, no min redemption. Must have a PayPal account.
Navy Federal Flagship Rewards Visa - 3% on travel, 2% on all other purchases. No FTF. $49 annual fee. Must be eligible for credit union membership.
the AOD Visa signature - this is the 3% on all purchases unicorn card. No annual fee, low interest rate. AOD credit union membership is required, several hoops to jump through to join. Can be eligible to join the CU through membership to the Northeast Alabama Mountain Bike Association. AOD federal credit union in Alabama.

Re: Citi Double Cash Card and Account Questions

qlopp — Fri, 09 Apr 2021 00:09:30 GMT

@fatcomic wrote:
The Citi Double Cash is the most no-strings 2% card, however there are several options. The main 2% cards are, there are others but these are the more popular ones in no particular order.
Citi Double Cash Master Card, no requirements other than $25 minimum to redeem the cash back rewards. Earns 1% on purchases + 1% on payments made to the card. No annual fee. No thrils and it does have a FTF.
PenFed Power Cash Rewards Visa - open membership to PenFed, no affiliation required. No annual fee. Does require a checking account with $500 avg balance or direct deposit. The checking account requirement can be waived if you're a veteran.
PayPal Master Card - Earns a straight 2%, no min redemption. Must have a PayPal account.
Navy Federal Flagship Rewards Visa - 3% on travel, 2% on all other purchases. No FTF. $49 annual fee. Must be eligible for credit union membership.
the AOD Visa signature - this is the 3% on all purchases unicorn card. No annual fee, low interest rate. AOD credit union membership is required, several hoops to jump through to join. Can be eligible to join the CU through membership to the Northeast Alabama Mountain Bike Association. AOD federal credit union in Alabama.

Thank you for this. It turns out that I didn't miss any of these options when researching here and elsewhere though. I don't like PayPal, do not wish to open yet another bank account, want to avoid an annual fee, and while the AOD terms sound great it seems it isn't in the spirit of their CU to be taking advantage of their rewards card from afar, or pretending to mountain bike, or whatever. For a less altruistic reason their rewards plan seems unsustainable at 3% for everyone.

So I did apply online for Citi DC and received an instant approval response with 13.99% APR (not going to use it unless my life suddenly turns upside down and I desperately need credit) with $8K limit which is fine. I can always request an increase later but it's not a big deal. I was worried they were going to start out much lower.

Re: Citi Double Cash Card and Account Questions

FinStar — Fri, 09 Apr 2021 00:25:57 GMT

As the OP has updated their outcome with an approval, this thread is now closed to new messages.

OP - feel free to start a new thread in the Approval forums if you wish to do so.