What in the world has happened to Citi Cards over the last 15 years?

[Twix]

Hi everyone,

15 years ago I was an 18 year old college student.  (A smart 18 year old that knew credit would be important.). So, I opened several student credit cards back then.

One of them was the Citi Dividend Platinum Select card, that, back then, had an awesome 5% cash back going on as well as other generous cash back tiers.  I used this card almost exclusively for many years and earned hundreds of dollars in cash back over that time period.  Eventually, I received a letter in the mail saying that the Dividend card was being taken away from me and being converted to some substantially less generous card.

Lucky for me, however, Citi had created the Citi Forward card.  I product changed to this card and continued using my Citi for basically ALL my purchases.

Then, one day, Citi sent me a letter informing me that they were slashing the Citi Forward cards benefits.  Finally, some time later, they sent another letter saying that it was being converted to the ThankYou Preferred card, which just was not worth using at all.  So, after over 10 years of use, I stopped using my Citi card completely.

A few days ago, I logged into the Citi website.  WHAT HAPPENED?  It's a shell of what it was years ago.  Many options have been removed, it's not as intuitive as it used to be, etc.  They even removed the ability to email them a question!  Instead, they replaced it with a chat feature.  After spending several minutes on the chat, I was informed that they couldn't help me and I had to call in with my issue.

I looked at the Citi website to see if I could product change to a better card.  WHAT HAPPENED?  The card selection (rewards programs, etc) are just NOT competitive anymore.  Citi used to be among the best in the business in this regard.  So, I decided to just ago ahead and cancel my Citi card after 15 years.  It's one of my oldest cards, but I no longer felt like I would ever do business with Citi again given the terrible decline it's credit card business has clearly suffered during the past 15 years.  (Fortunately, I still have other cards I opened from back then, including my AMEX & Discover cards.)

Has anyone else had this experience with Citi?  What in the world happened?  They used to be fantastic by almost every measure.... now I feel like they are nearly a sub-prime non-competitive credit card business that doesn't even try.

[Anonymous]

I can’t speak about Citi as I have never had a relationship with them, however, the card that you closed you could have called and asked for the Dividend. They still have it, it’s a PC only option. 

https://www.citi.com/credit-cards/credit-cards-citi/citi.action?ID=dividend-quarterly-offer

If that’s a card that interests you, it may be worth a chat with customer service to see if they’ll reinstate your card and PC it. That’s an awful lot of history to cut short with a company you were otherwise happy with outside of rewards changes and website changes as far as I can tell. 

[wasCB14]

As far as their AF travel cards, I think their weak travel partnerships hurt them. They lost their share of the Hilton cards to Amex and have to share AA with Barclays. TYs couldn't transfer to AA, either. They turned the Prestige into a card that only unprofitable credit enthusiasts could find useful, so that's who they kept as customers.

I actually like the no-AF Costco and DC cards, but really just for price/warranty protection and gas.

[Anonymous]

After the fianacial crisis banks were forced to learn some fiscal responsibility. They dropped some there less  unprofitable  products instead of juggling loses. Citi did not turn into subprime card proprietor. They are actually a stronger bank than they were 15 years ago.

The landscape has changed. Some banks are saving their best products for customers with multiproduct relationship. 

[Anonymous]

lot of things changed in 15 years. and frankly I would be surprised a website in 2003 is somehow better than website today... lol

Citi is a large bank, a ginormous credit card issuer, I don't think it feels the urgency to "grow substantially" of its market share at this point. Same with Chase, who is actively thinking about cutting benefits instead of offering more.

[pinkandgrey]

Hmmm. Personally I love my DC and Citi seems great in my opinion. Sorry you haven’t been satisfied with them lately! 

[UpperNwGuy]

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@pinkandgrey wrote:

Hmmm. Personally I love my DC and Citi seems great in my opinion. Sorry you haven’t been satisfied with them lately! 

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You just broke the code!  Double Cash.  Citi has been putting all of its energies into promoting and growing the Double Cash card since they introduced it in 2015.  I think they consider the $95 American Airlines card as their second most important card.  For all their other cards they're just going through the motions.

[Gmood1]

No major issue with their cards here, besides the crappy phone app login performance(recently upgraded in the last week). On the other hand, the banking account website service is horrid! Absolutely the worst I've experienced! I've never been locked out of an account so many times in my life! 

As soon as I can get the funds transfered, I'll never have another one of their bank accounts. lol

[Anonymous]

OP,

I felt compelled to participate in this thread because I feel the same way. I am about 5-6 years older than you. When I was a kid I went with my aunt to get new tires for her car. We went to a tire place called Jim Paris. Their logo was the Eiffel Tower. Anyway, my aunt paid with her Citibank card (that was when they still called themselves Citibank and they had the cool star logo). Anyway, I decided that Citi was how the French spelled city...this because of the Eiffel Tower, Jim Paris etc). But that's how I, a kid from Colorado, knew about Citibank. When I became of age I knew I wanted my very own Citibank card. They were my halo card; my goal card. I applied for their Driver's Edge card which was awesome, but they gave me their student Visa instead. I loved them. I loved them so much I eventually ended up with three Citibank cards, including the Dividend (which really was awesome back in the day). 

Much like you I feel they have deteriorated; but it has been a long progression rather than all at once. The first problem was when they merged with Travelers. Citicorp, now Citigroup, began to almost step away from banking to focus on other business lines. Ever notice how Citibank is one of the 4 Big Banks but they have virtually no branches? Its because they focus on the most wealthy clients in the most wealthy cities (LA, San Fran, Chicago, NYC and Southeast Florida). Citigroup discontinued their car loan business; spun off CitiFinancial (personal finance arm now OneMain Financial) and have given up many private label lines that they acquired from The Associates back in the late 90s. What kind of major bank doesn't offer car loans? 

Anyway, I find it funny that you talk about their website because I was just thinking the exact same thing yesterday when I logged in to check on my accounts. And you are right, every time I have used the chat feature they tell me to call in. Their telephone customer service is awful; so much so that years ago I decided the only way I would contact them is through social media. Their social media customer service is actually really good-but a customer shouldn't have to go that route for basic issues.

Citi is more focused on wealthy private bank clients as well as emerging markets in Asia, and do not really seem to care much about increasing rewards to compete with Chase and Amex. Don't get me wrong, Citicards is a definite cash cow for them, but not important enough to make more competitive. That said, the Double Cash is still a good card and a good option for those seeking a basic rewards card. 

My love affair with Citibank ended a long, long time ago.

[Revelate]

That is a good point Morpho; I don’t know Jack about Citi really as it wasn’t an institution I ever wanted to do much business with (closed Costco card not withstanding).

That said I know what moves Chase made in terms of relationship accounts, and in casually pursuing the BOFA business section yesterday saw they did the exact same thing in terms of money on deposit leading to loan rate discounts, and in BOFA’s case interestingly, better credit card rewards.

2.625% VISA with no FTF and no AF? I wrapped my arms around Chase but I appear to have capped out the relationship front there unless I get some amount above my FY money mark, which is to say I will have walked away from my career to do something else with my life by then anyway so I will never hit it; leaving money in a Merril Edge account seems like it may be smart.

Citi I believe had some higher tier relationship levels (Gold checking or something?) and yeah it probably will go that way too.

Thing is Citi can turn around their credit card lending quickly if they wanted to, just doesn’t appear that they thought it was worth competing on the mass market side.