Man, when it rains, it pours. I was trying to pump gas yesterday using my wife’s Citi Premier card when the card got declined. I then checked the Citi app and sure enough, “This account is closed.” I then immediately tried to go to the Thank You web site to transfer out my 850K pts and the site would just redirect me to the card site. I then tried to call in two times and both times, the reps told me my points had been forfeited. RIP 850K pts.
So what happened? Well my statement just closed 2 days ago with a 12K balance (my bad for not paying that down first.) Here’s a quick chart. Remember 18K CL:
- July $19.9K, $12.7K Close
- June $21.8K, $2.2K
- May $14.9K, $36
- April $17.7K, $5.4K
- March $27.8K, $5.2K
- Feb $1.3K, $1.3K
- Jan $1.6K, $127
On the payments side, I don’t blooze at all. I started making big payments back in mid March like $10K, $7K, $10K, $8K, $12K, $8K, $12K, and $9K.
Since the axe came so close after statement close, then it might have been the large statement balance that closed. I don’t think it was the MS or the payments side that did me in else they should have gotten me sooner? Or maybe I was already ‘on watch’ and the statement balance was the final straw?
The lesson learned here is – don’t leave large balances in your TYP. especially if you’re MS’ing on the cards. Looking back, I should have kept less than 100K or just transferred all the points every month. It’s still shocking to me that to this day, no one has sued Citi for forfeiting points like they did with Chase and now Chase gives you 30 days to transfer out. I mean, I used the card on Wednesday at noon. I found out Thursday at 5PM that I was axed and points were gone. I remember in the past there was a bit of lag where you could transfer your points out in time, but it seems they have shortened that window these days. I feel I need to small claims them to get my $8K worth of points.
Hit them with an arbitration — agreement says they need to pay for it and it’s their case to prove since they stole your $8.5k. I’d bet they settle to avoid a ruling they owe you the full points back at their wildly inflated valuation rates.
going over CL puts red flags on acc
is this your wife’s first shut down?
is there a chance for come back?
I got shut down by citi 4 years before. Applied and got denied 2 years back. Haven’t tried to apply back.
mine was 7 years ago. it looks like the Citi shutdowns are permenant, same as BOA.
Did you do ever cycle the credit limit in any month?
Did you also have a Citi checking account? Some think it’s a factor with Chase.
I’d definitely consider legal action to at least get your points back. The bank took assets valued at least $8,500 to cover a debt of $12,700. That would be understandable if they didn’t expect you to pay your card. They should at least apply the points as a statement value to your card.
I say “at least” a lot, don’t I?
At least twice 🙂
I definitely think some sort of legal action or filing with CFNB or whatever for the points. They can shut you down, yeah, that is in the agreement thing, but to swipe your points, that is not cool. I hope you can do something to resolve this faily so your points are not gone. Best of luck!
sorry to hear about loss, but you got to help us MS like you do. i wish i had more TYP.