Themanwhocan wrote:
longtimelurker wrote:
And don't talk to me about the Citi Premier!
Actually, I have the Citi Premier on my list of cards to obtain. But just for the 2 sign up bonuses, then cancel.
Bad idea?
Didn't I say "don't talk to me about the Citi Premier!"? I don't know if it is a bad idea, have to evaluate the bonuses against what else is available, especially as this requires keeping the card past the first annual fee. I just cancelled mine, and that process was harder than it should have been (and was promised to be!)
But really my complaint is due to the nerfing, and as I said about the Cash Plus, past history shouldn't color the evaluation for new users. But briefly, Premier was nerfed in horrible ways:
1) 15% discount on airfare. Any trips purchased on the card via Spirit (Citi's agent) got 15% off the non-tax portion. Yes, complaints that they sometimes increased the price, had reduced availability or calculated wrong (some people had to complain after every purchase, and Spirit then gave them the extra money they should have got) but in just one trip I made up the annual fee if I had paid one. Some people bought the flights for others and did well. This benefit was cancelled.
2) Flight points. If you bought a ticket with the card from anywhere (except Spirit perhaps) you got flight points, one per mile flown. Then, as you earned Thank You points on the card, flight points got converted to Thank You points, 1 conversion for each Thank You point earned. So, if you spent a $, you got two Thank You points, if you had flight points remaining. With 4) below, this made the card a 2.66% card for travel.
3) Domestic companion ticket free. Once a year, you could get a free companion ticket for domestic travel.
More minor:
4) It used to be that the travel portal gave you a conversion rate of 1 point = 1.33 cents. This was changed to 1.25 cents, to match UR for example.
So again going from a great card, but this time to a very ho-hum card (whereas I think the Cash Plus still has some merit).
There are rumors that Citi is about to do 1 and 2 to the Prestige, which will greatly reduce the value of that card as well.
