Short Term Strategy

[Deuter]

Hey Guys,

I just had an eureka moment so i must write it on paper !! Bear in mind if this makes sense... Any opinions would be more than welcomed! Would like to hear from you how my roadmap looks if everything goes according to plan.

1. Apply for Citi Prestige, be approved.

2. Transfer CL from my AAdvantage Platinum to Citi Prestige.

3. Ask for Product Change AA Platinum to another downgrade card that it makes sense. It must be a $0 No Annual Fee card. I'm possibly considering the AA Miles up or any other card that i as a person without SSN/ITIN am allowed to pickup.  Ideas here!! Which one?? Must only be Citi - No AF is a must, and if it has no overseas transactions fees best!

4. Keep the no annual fee card opened forever as it is my oldest account, avoid the AF on the AA Plat (as it less than a year), have a larger CL on the Prestige, lower utilization ratio, and have two accounts instead of one so i can keep increasing my thin profile FICO score.

Downsides: Commit to pay the $450 fee but as i'll be in Europe the Prestige seems a better alternative to AMEX Plat. No possible Chase relationship as no SSN/TIN. Choice of cards limited. Like my relationship with Citi, i'm comfortable with it so i'm not really considering Venture and Altitude. The AMEX Plat i am setting it to the side due to acceptance in EU. 

So how does it look?? I am very patient and willing to work each step with Citi.

Comments, ideas, perspectives. All are welcomed ^^

[Deuter]

I have a Costco Membership so the $0 AF, no overseas fees could be the Costco card if approved. Also the MilesUp even with the 3% transaction fee would be valuable to me as this second card would rarely get used and would allow me to rack some AA miles to keep activity on my AA accounts. Then lastly there's also the Double Cash. But i don't what Citi approves me/allows me do do as an International customer. 

And i don't know what Citi allows me to downgrade this AA card in regards to product family. But if you have any ideas for the $0 Citi card. I travel internationally on AA and never do domestic flights, so the benefit of the free checked bag doesn't really impact me. I'm open to all of this 3 cards or maybe more ideas! Would put all spending on the newer premium card, the other one act as backup. 

[wasCB14]

I have Double Cash and Costco, which were previously Prestige and AA Platinum, respectively. Citi is quite flexible about PCs for US customers without international eligiblity complications.

I have a CSR and use that for most of my travel spend. No-AF Citi cards are as good as premium Citi cards for how I use them: extended warranties and price protection.

[Anonymous]

I would just be careful about downgrading it before paying the AF as you probably got the bonus and it could look suspicious. I just upgraded my Chase Freedom Unlimited to the Chase Sapphire Reserve and when I tried to downgrade current Chase Sapphire Preferred to a non-annual fee card (because it doesn't make much sense to keep both Sapphires), the person who I was talking to said that I wouldn't be able to downgrade because I had opened the CSP account within less than 1 year and and pretty much "advised" me not to close the account or try to downgrade within the first year as I got it waived.

He said something like: "Wait until your account anniversary (when I have to pay the AF) then, 1 day after that you can downgrade or cancel the account if you'd like but then you most likely would get the AF refunded to you". I understood his "hint" and, as I'm not trying to burn my relationship with chance, I decided to keep the account and downgrade in August (account anniversary).

[jdbkiang]

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@Deuter wrote:

Hey Guys,

I just had an eureka moment so i must write it on paper !! Bear in mind if this makes sense... Any opinions would be more than welcomed! Would like to hear from you how my roadmap looks if everything goes according to plan.

1. Apply for Citi Prestige, be approved.

2. Transfer CL from my AAdvantage Platinum to Citi Prestige.

3. Ask for Product Change AA Platinum to another downgrade card that it makes sense. It must be a $0 No Annual Fee card. I'm possibly considering the AA Miles up or any other card that i as a person without SSN/ITIN am allowed to pickup.  Ideas here!! Which one?? Must only be Citi - No AF is a must, and if it has no overseas transactions fees best!

4. Keep the no annual fee card opened forever as it is my oldest account, avoid the AF on the AA Plat (as it less than a year), have a larger CL on the Prestige, lower utilization ratio, and have two accounts instead of one so i can keep increasing my thin profile FICO score.

Downsides: Commit to pay the $450 fee but as i'll be in Europe the Prestige seems a better alternative to AMEX Plat. No possible Chase relationship as no SSN/TIN. Choice of cards limited. Like my relationship with Citi, i'm comfortable with it so i'm not really considering Venture and Altitude. The AMEX Plat i am setting it to the side due to acceptance in EU. 

So how does it look?? I am very patient and willing to work each step with Citi.

Comments, ideas, perspectives. All are welcomed ^^

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Don't want to sidetrack this thread, but out of curiosity, how do you apply for cards with no SSN? Do you have to go in-branch?

[Deuter]

thilimaa thanks for the tip.

I will have this in mind and also consult first with my Citi banker what i can do and what they advise me to do.

I unlike most of people would have guess, didn't get any signup bonus for opening my AAdvantage Plat. I just don't spend that much to qualify for any bonus that's north of $2K in 3 months. I suppose i won't get the Citi Prestige bonus and that's fine for me, i'm not getting CC for bonuses but to have a nice CC with perks and to use for an emergency. 

So since i didn't get any bonus perphaps is no problem i downgrade it before the year? I'm just asking because for me my anniversary is in May and i would not be physically present to do the changes in branch. I leave in about a month USA. 

Re: other poster SSN. Yes it can be done... i have a thread here that explains better: https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Card-Approvals/AAdvantage-Platinum-Select-Approved-without-S...

[Deuter]

Hey guys just an update here, i just got a mailer under my name with a code for the MilesUp with a 10K offer.  This might become handy in my strategy because i most likely downgrade to this one. 

Also my Citi Prestige got approved so my strategy is going good, but still i think i have to make many calls, manually have patience to do the product changes, rellocations of limits etc.