Did Citi Add New Anti Gaming Language To Citi Premier Card?
I finally hit 2 years since I last got a Citi ThankYou point welcome offer. That is a big milestone for miles and points collectors. It means I am once again eligible for a welcome offer for one of the Citi ThankYou cards since I have not open, or closed, a ThankYou card over the last 24 months. I have my sights set on the Citi Premier card and when I was scanning the application page I noticed some new verbiage that I have not seen before. And, I have only been able to find it on some of the applications and not others. I am not sure if it is an error or not. The verbiage is a bit strange but it does seem to lean towards anti gaming. Let’s take a look.
Citi Premier Application Language
At the bottom of the Citi Premier application page I noticed this language (bolding is mine).
60,000 Bonus Point Offer
Bonus ThankYou® Points are not available if you received a new cardmember bonus for Citi Premier® Card within the first 3 months of account opening. To receive bonus points, make $4,000 in purchases within 3 months of account opening. Balance transfers, cash advances, account fees, interest and items returned for credit are not purchases. Bonus ThankYou® Points will typically appear as a bonus on your Citi® ThankYou® Rewards account and may take up to 2 billing cycles after you have met the purchase requirements. Bonus ThankYou® Points are not available if you received a new cardmember bonus for Citi Rewards+℠, Citi ThankYou® Preferred, Citi ThankYou® Premier/Citi Premier® or Citi Prestige®, or if you have closed any of these accounts, in the past 24 months.
Why This Is Interesting
Most people will read this and think it is strange verbiage. Especially when the 24 months terms are at the bottom. It seems one would preclude the other. However, there are some applications where this does make sense. I don’t want to get into a ton of details about it in case this is actually just an error.
I saw the verbiage on this application page. I checked some other Citi Premier and even some Citi Prestige application pages and did not see it anywhere else. It is Friday afternoon, and my eyes are tired, so I could have missed it. If you notice it anywhere else then let us know in the comments.
Citi Adds New Anti Gaming Language – Final Thoughts
While this won’t change things for most people it may change application plans for others. What is written, and what actually happens, can often be two different things so I am sure someone will test it out.
I do find it interesting that the new terms are at the very beginning of the paragraph. That leads me to thinking that it is less likely that it is an error. Will these new terms roll out to other applications and cards? Only time will tell but I thought I would let you guys know.
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[…] what that meant until Mark Ostermann reminded me of his Miles to Memories post of late last year about this new terminology. In other words, this terminology isn’t new. I don’t believe this terminology was meant […]
Citi has always managed to draft language that is vague and ambiguous. They really should hire better legal talent. Many lawyers are excellent writers but that is not true of whomever is in the credit card department.
Assume this is referring to people who open and close cards within 30 days in order to avoid paying annual fee…that is after getting the bonus. Unless there is some secret gaming sauce here I am unaware of.
I had not considered that. Wasn’t sure if that was something people still did or not since the AA 100K days. I was thinking of something else though.
You may be on to something but that is still Weird/Terrible verbiage. Terms ought to be written so to be easily parsed by the applicant.
Not to mention that mistake of sending 900 MILLION to Revlon’s creditors and not so far being able to get almost any of it back!
That’s damn weird language. I cannot make heads or tails of it when you compare it to what is towards the bottom of the paragraph. Might be worth a call or chat for clarification. I’ve another 13 months to wait for a new TYP card so hopefully this is figured out well before then!
My only other thought was that they meant if you had received the bonus for that card before, but why not just say that?
With Citi having to cough up 400 million to Uncle Sam for lackluster attention or money laundering and sloppy bank keeping in general, I’ll be watching for more crackdowns from Citi, myself.
I have heard their approvals have become much harder as of late and that could be why.