AT&T Access More Application Experience
The AT&T Access More card has added tremendous value to my overall miles & points life. It earns 3X ThankYou points for most online purchases. I can then use those points to book travel including American Airlines flights at 1.6 cents each because of my Prestige. I also have the option to transfer points to partners such as Singapore Airlines.
The first AT&T Access More card in my household is my wife’s with me as an authorized user. Last week I decided to apply for one in my own name.
Here are the reasons why:
- It is better to diversify spending over two cards.
- It gives us two different card numbers. This helps when shopping online from certain websites. My wife and I can both order and use a different card number.
- My wife’s card only has an $8K limit which we normally cycle at least twice (usually more) each month.
- The AT&T Access More free phone bonus is valuable. If I re-sell the phone it means at least $500 or so.
- The card gives 10,000 bonus points annually after $10K spend. I see that as a complete offset of the annual fee.
For all of those reasons I felt compelled to make my next Citi application one for this card. I do have quite a few Citi cards already, so I wasn’t sure how it would go.
Related: Which Merchants Earn 3X ThankYou Points with the AT&T Access More Card: Complete Guide & Resource
The Offer
Before describing the application process, I just want to cover the offer on this card for those who are interested. The bonus offer is:
- Spend $2,000 in purchases with your AT&T Access More Card within 3 months of account opening.
- Use your card, now or later, to buy a new phone from AT&T, at full price and with no annual contract.
- Citi will then credit your AT&T Access More Card account for the cost of the phone up to $650 (exclusive of taxes, shipping, fees & wireless service).
Application Process
I applied for the AT&T Access More card along with four others as part of a small application round. The other cards I applied for were: Chase United 75K, BofA Alaska 30K + $100, BofA Travel Rewards $200 & Barclaycard Arrival Plus. I’ll have more information on those applications in another post, but I submitted all of the apps within a short time.
As has been the case with every Citi application of mine over the past couple of years, I received a message that further processing was required. I could have called in immediately, but had other things to do so I went about my day. The next day I received a call from a Citi rep who wanted to process the application.
Working Towards Approval
The representative explained that he could only approve me for $1,000 in new credit since I have so much credit with Citi already. He then explained that he could shift credit from up to two other Citi cards to get my card approved. Since I expected this, I had all of my Citi accounts up on my computer screen and proactively told him which ones I wanted to transfer credit from.
I had hoped to shift much more credit over, but within his limits, the agent was only able to shift $4K from one card and $5K from another. That gives me a $10K credit limit which should help tremendously. Now between my wife’s card and mine we have $18K in total credit on the AT&T cards. Certainly not as much as I would like but good enough.
Citi Application Strategy Going Forward
My Citi strategy for quite awhile has been to get cards and then convert them to no annual fee products in order to keep the accounts open to lengthen my average age of accounts. This has unfortunately left me with a lot of open cards with small limits and is preventing me from getting larger limits on cards like the AT&T Access More. I need to decide if it is worth keeping these accounts open or if it is time to let them go to free up open credit with Citi.
Conclusion
I am really happy to have yet another AT&T Access More card in my household. The bonus is strong, the earnings are fantastic and with the 10,000 annual bonus points, the annual fee is basically nothing. Given the fact that Citi has removed this card from their website I am not sure how much longer it will be around, but I’m glad I have mine now and will continue to enjoy this 3X bonanza while it lasts.
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Different Question: I received the phone but not the credit to my account yet. Customer service said it would be a statement cycle or two before that appears. In the meantime the annual fee is due. Does Citi ever pro rate the annual fee if I close the card after receiving the bonus?
Hi Shawn,
Do you know if my wife gets the card, can we buy the phone and use it under my at&t account for 15 days and then remove it and still get the full credit?
any help is appreciated. thanks.
When my wife was approved for the new Citi card she was able to move about $24k in limit over to it giving it a total CL of $27k. This has been a huge boon for reselling.
On mine I just got approved with a $10k CL without the option to add more.
I only got a $1K limit as well but my agent said she couldn’t transfer any limits from any other cards 🙁
Well that is going to make things tough.
No joke! I have to keep buying things, paying it off, etc. I tried to get a CLI but they denied me saying it had to be open for 6 months
Shawn, Since you are spending $8K+ a month which websites do you most frequently use your ATT Access More card for purchases that deliver a “guaranteed 3X points” return (e.g. Costco.com gift cards=yes vs. Rasie.com=No). The list of “yes and no” websites posted on Flyertalk appear time sensitive and YMMV at best. As always I appreciate your insight. Many thanks!
I see in the terms that it says you have to have a plan for 15 days. If I don’t want to do that what’s the way around it?
I have covered this before and should have mentioned it in the post. I am with AT&T now, but if you are not then you must open an account which is another hard inquiry. That is definitely a consideration when getting this card.
If I get this card for my wife who’s on a 2nd line in my AT&T family plan, can she get the $650 credit for the upgrade of a no commitment phone too?
I believe so based on what others have said, however all of the app links seem to have died.