topic Re: CitiFlex LOC in Credit Cards

CitiFlex LOC

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 23:50:11 GMT

I know it's not a CC, strictly speaking, but it is a revolving LOC, so I thought it would be appropriate on this forum.

CitiFlex LOC website says limits are $2K to $25K, depending on CR.

GF applied and was approved for an initial CL of $32.5K

WTH? I'm not complaining....but...huh?

ETA: I can't find the $2K - $25K stipulation anywhere on the website anymore. I'm positive I was told this by a CSR just 3 weeks ago, though.

Message Edited by cheddar on 11-23-2007 03:50 PM

Re: CitiFlex LOC

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 23:50:16 GMT

cheddar wrote:
I know it's not a CC, strictly speaking, but it is a revolving LOC, so I thought it would be apporpriate on this forum.

CitiFlex LOC website says limits are $2K to $25K, depending on CR.

GF applied and was approved for an initial CL of $32.5K

WTH? I'm not complaining....but...huh?

Just curious- would you mind telling us the apr and terms if she accepts the full 32.5 or whatever she chooses?

Re: CitiFlex LOC

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 00:01:13 GMT

Sure.

APR is prime + 4.99...currently 12.49%

She doesn't have to choose to "accept" the full amount or not, as it's not a loan. It's a LOC which works just like a CC, except that instead of getting a card you get checks you can write to pay your creditors.

When the LOC is first accessed, the repayment term is set at 60 months. At that point you can call and have the repayment term changed to anywhere from 24 to 72 months. If you have an existing balance and you access the LOC again, the existing repayment term is recalculated and started over.

Now, the sticking point. The T&C state that there is a transaction fee of 3% for each transaction ($5 minimum, no maximum). However, there is a footnote that says the transaction fee does not apply to the 12.49% APR offer described above. (If it doesn't apply to that, I'm not sure what exactly it applies to.)

Before she applied, I called a CSR and asked specifically about the transaction fee stipulation, and she told me there would be no transaction fees on the account. I'm still not clear as to why it's in the T&C.

Message Edited by cheddar on 11-23-2007 04:01 PM

Re: CitiFlex LOC

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 00:17:25 GMT

Not bad. I am confused about the 5.00 fee too.

Re: CitiFlex LOC

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 00:39:11 GMT

netpanther wrote:

cheddar wrote:
I know it's not a CC, strictly speaking, but it is a revolving LOC, so I thought it would be apporpriate on this forum.

CitiFlex LOC website says limits are $2K to $25K, depending on CR.

GF applied and was approved for an initial CL of $32.5K

WTH? I'm not complaining....but...huh?

Just curious- would you mind telling us the apr and terms if she accepts the full 32.5 or whatever she chooses?

Citibank mails me CitiFlex LOC offers quite often. Mine are for credit lines between $2K-$32K, with 9.99% Fixed APRs. These offers always end up in the paper shredder.

Message Edited by psychic on 11-23-2007 04:39 PM

Re: CitiFlex LOC

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 00:38:54 GMT

psychic wrote:

netpanther wrote:

cheddar wrote:
I know it's not a CC, strictly speaking, but it is a revolving LOC, so I thought it would be apporpriate on this forum.

CitiFlex LOC website says limits are $2K to $25K, depending on CR.

GF applied and was approved for an initial CL of $32.5K

WTH? I'm not complaining....but...huh?

Just curious- would you mind telling us the apr and terms if she accepts the full 32.5 or whatever she chooses?

Citibank mails me CitiFlex offers quite often. Mine are for credit lines between $2K-$32K, with 9.99% Fixed APRs. These offers always end up in the paper shredder.

9.99 fixed is not bad at all considering that out local CU LOC is at 8.49.

Re: CitiFlex LOC

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 00:40:25 GMT

You can also access your LOC with debit card because your LOC is linked to your

checking account if you have one.

cheddar wrote:
Sure.

APR is prime + 4.99...currently 12.49%

She doesn't have to choose to "accept" the full amount or not, as it's not a loan. It's a LOC which works just like a CC, except that instead of getting a card you get checks you can write to pay your creditors.

When the LOC is first accessed, the repayment term is set at 60 months. At that point you can call and have the repayment term changed to anywhere from 24 to 72 months. If you have an existing balance and you access the LOC again, the existing repayment term is recalculated and started over.

Now, the sticking point. The T&C state that there is a transaction fee of 3% for each transaction ($5 minimum, no maximum). However, there is a footnote that says the transaction fee does not apply to the 12.49% APR offer described above. (If it doesn't apply to that, I'm not sure what exactly it applies to.)

Before she applied, I called a CSR and asked specifically about the transaction fee stipulation, and she told me there would be no transaction fees on the account. I'm still not clear as to why it's in the T&C.

Message Edited by cheddar on 11-23-2007 04:01 PM

Re: CitiFlex LOC

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 00:42:39 GMT

netpanther wrote:

psychic wrote:

Citibank mails me CitiFlex offers quite often. Mine are for credit lines between $2K-$32K, with 9.99% Fixed APRs. These offers always end up in the paper shredder.

9.99 fixed is not bad at all considering that out local CU LOC is at 8.49.

I agree. 9.99% isn't a horrendous APR. I can just do better elsewhere.

Re: CitiFlex LOC

Red1Blue — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 00:48:55 GMT

As long as there is no transaction fee it is not bad. As a matter of fact any of the local banks and credit unions can offer this feature. I am not sure what is special about CitiLOC. I probably can get better terms with a Local CU than Citi or any other big banks.

Re: CitiFlex LOC

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 01:04:42 GMT

I am extremely surprised she was approved for $32.5K, since this is a line of credit rather than a HELOC and Citi has no collateral for the LOC. Most banks and CUs won't get give much above 10-20K unless it is a HELOC.

Re: CitiFlex LOC

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 02:47:02 GMT

fillibert wrote:
I am extremely surprised she was approved for $32.5K, since this is a line of credit rather than a HELOC and Citi has no collateral for the LOC. Most banks and CUs won't get give much above 10-20K unless it is a HELOC.

As was I. Granted, she has pristine reports and high scores, but I was really expecting $15-20K.

Re: CitiFlex LOC

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 16:26:04 GMT

what are the benefits/draw backs of this?

I've received these offers before but was always confused about how they report. are they considered installment loans? revolving loans? LOC sim to HELOC?

Re: CitiFlex LOC

haulingthescoreup — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 17:01:44 GMT

I have a HELOC from USAA. I have started some remodeling, and the big stuff will start in the spring. If you get a good rate, you can shift CC expense over to the HELOC. Mine is .95 less than WSJ prime rate, so that means it's currently 6.55%. Also, I only have to pay interest for the next 20 years, and then the principal is due (not doing that!) I don't know if that is how the CitiFlex is structured.

My HELOC reports to the CRA's on the last day of the month, and my USAA AmEx reports on the 5th. So I can charge on the AmEx, let the HELOC report whatever, quick like a bunny move the AmEx balance to the HELOC, and let the AmEx report $0. Obviously, it all gets reported eventually, but it delays the score hit for a month.

On EQ and EX, HELOC expense is treated as mortgage, despite the way they name it. TU treats it as revolving, so if you really are using a HELOC, your util is going to get hurt on your TU score. Since a regular LOC isn't tied to your home equity, I don't know how those get treated.

Re: CitiFlex LOC

Anonymous — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 06:26:45 GMT

dizzier wrote:
what are the benefits/draw backs of this?

Like anything, they have their pros and cons. We applied for this LOC for a very specific purpose. We will be moving to a new apartment in Manhattan in a few months, and we will need cash to pay first and last month's rent as well as our security deposit, which we will then be able to pay off in three months or so. A LOC is ideal in this situation for a couple of reasons:

- We get cash at the standard APR of 12.49, instead of paying the ridiculous cash advance rate on a CC.

- We can get the cash the same day we need to pay the prospective landlord, rather than taking out an installment loan and possibly being required to pay some of it back before we even find an apartment we like.

- When the landlord pulls our credit reports, if this account shows up at all it will have a zero balance, so the landlord will never know we took on this debt. The alternative would be to run up our CCs over the previous couple of months in order to save the cash for the rent and security deposit, but then the landlord would see high balances on our CCs and we would be less likely to get the apartment at all.

BTW, yes, we have emergency savings, but we decided we'd rather not dip into those funds for a non-emergency situation like this, since this is far enough in advance we can prepare for it. We don't want to screw ourselves over in the event a real emergency arises in the interim.

dizzier wrote:
I've received these offers before but was always confused about how they report. are they considered installment loans? revolving loans? LOC sim to HELOC?

This particular LOC reports as revolving. I have read on other boards that the CitiFlex LOC either doesn't report a CL, or it reports a CL that is the same as the current balance, always showing 100% UTIL. This is unfortunate, but once we move, STBDW won't be applying for anything before we get the balance paid off anyway. (She's extremely gunshy about INQs...currently has one INQ on each CR and insists that we wait until they fall off before apping for anything else.)

Re: CitiFlex LOC

Anonymous — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 16:13:46 GMT

oooooooo thanks! I just got another one of these offered in the mail saturday. I'm seriously considering it!