Citibank upgrading fee free Gold to fee free Platinum

[sparoy]

Just received today in the mail a new fee free Citibank Platinum to replace my fee free Gold card .
Not sure why they sent it as I certainly didn’t ask for it, but hey I’m not complaining. It includes fee free supplementary Platinum as well.
I’m trying to see whether there’s any catch in the T&C, but so far I can’t find any.

Fee free Platinum card… thank you Citibank .

[oz_mark]

Maybe cause they get extra fees when you use a plat card compared to a gold card.

[edison]

What is your annual spend on Gold card? Also what is the additional benefits of Platinum card compared to the Gold Card?

[sparoy]

What is your annual spend on Gold card? Also what is the additional benefits of Platinum card compared to the Gold Card?

About 30K p.a.
Certainly not a large amount by Platinum card standard.

The new Platinum card comes with a chip, so may be it's another reason for the upgrade?

Here's a link to card comparison

https://www.citibank.com.au/global_d..._our_cards.htm

Additional benefit includes Free Personalised Rewards, Personal Concierge and Extended Warranty among others.

[gregff]

This sounds a good deal.
1. Are you sure it is not fee free for just a year (or is it fee-free for life)?
2. I recall with the gold fee free for life there were a number of fee-free supplementary cards available. Is this just limited to one?
3. Do the newly issued Plat or Gold cards as well as being chip-enabled, have the pay pass (contactless payment) option.

[Febs]

Girlfriend called me today: "I got a replacement Citibank card, and it looks different."
Me: "Is it a Platinum card?"
Gf: "I don't know, don't think so, it's silver. Oh wait, it says Platinum."

I got home and whaddya know...there's a Platinum card waiting for me too.

Funny part is, neither of us use the card much at all (it's my second card). I've put about $9k through it in the last 12 months, she's probably put about $3k on it. We do both pay our bills off in full each month though.

The accompanying letter says "As a highly valued customer, we have taken this opportunity to upgrade you to our exclusive Citibank Platinum Credit Card with no change to your annual fee, currently $0.00 per year*"
*The Annual fee you will pay on your new Platinum Card is the same as you paid on your Gold Card, currently $0.00 for the Primary Card and $0.00 for each additional card.

They've also offered a credit limit increase I don't want/need, and it seems you might have to accept both the card + limit increase together. Oh well, I'll ask to see if I can keep my old credit limit.

It's a new card with a new card number, and of course, the chip. The letter goes on to talk about all the Platinum benefits, and again confirms that I won't be paying anything for the card.

Thanks Citibank! Glad I didn't take up the $131/year offer a while ago. I suspect this will make renting a sportscar in Europe much easier next year too.

This sounds a good deal.
1. Are you sure it is not fee free for just a year (or is it fee-free for life)?
2. I recall with the gold fee free for life there were a number of fee-free supplementary cards available. Is this just limited to one?
3. Do the newly issued Plat or Gold cards as well as being chip-enabled, have the pay pass (contactless payment) option.

1-2 see above. 3 - No mention of it, but mine's a Visa (is Paypass Mastercard only?)

Cheers,
- Febs.

[StevePER]

Me too - Platinum card arrived today with the same information that Febs quoted. Mine's a Mastercard, but there was no mention of pay pass in the brochure so I assume it's not enabled.

[Febs]

Oh well, I'll ask to see if I can keep my old credit limit.

They were pushy, but let me keep the old credit limit.

[edison]

I wonder whether Citibank change everyone onto Platinum is because they can charge more fees from the retailers? That would make sense, since they are not getting annual fee from us anyway, may as well upgrade us to Platinum for:

- make us feel special and good and will increase loyalty (well it is probably working from response here)
- provide another reason to increase credit limit (there should be a higher minimum credit limit for Platinum than Gold)
- potentially get more income by higher charges on retailers, and maybe even higher international currency exchange rate for Plat card (can someone confirm or disprove this here)?

Who knows the percentage of costs for normal/Gold/Plat Visa/Mastercard charged to the retailer?

[oz_mark]

I am sure people paing $250 a year for a plat card would be less than amused to find out that Citi was hading them out for free!