Citi Retention Offers 2018
On one hand I am a huge fan of retention offers, but on the other hand, I am not a huge fan of having to call banks. Thankfully over the years I have learned tricks to maximize my offers while minimizing my time on the phone. I recently used all of my ninja skills on a phone call with Citi retention and it came out quite nicely.
The Citi Retention Call
The reason for my call to Citi was to deal with the recently charged $95 annual fee on my Citi ThankYou Premier card. Truthfully I was agnostic as to whether to keep or get rid of the card, but I didn’t want to cancel it outright since I don’t want my 24 month clock to reset for Citi ThankYou cards.
As I suggest in my guide to Citi retention, I called up Citi and didn’t tell the automated system to cancel, but instead told the first agent that I wanted to cancel because of the annual fee. When you tell an agent this, one of two things will happen. First, they look at your account and if you have offers available they will transfer you to a retention agent. If you don’t have offers they’ll offer to close your account right away. Of course if they go to cancel it, you can always back out before its too late.
Related: Completed Guide to Citi Retention
Citi ThankYou Premier Retention Offer 2018
After getting transferred to a retention specialist, I was pleasantly surprised when she immediately offered me a solution for my annual fee.
Her offer was:
- $95 credit after $95 spend.
That is as close as you get to the annual fee being waived, so I jumped on the deal. Thankfully though she even added a kicker.
I could also choose from the following:
- 500 bonus points after $500 in spend each month for the next 16 months.
- 1,000 bonus points after $3K spend for 3 months.
The second offer was uncompetitive so I opted for the 500 point offer. I’m not sure if it will get me to use the card more, but I’m glad to have it and most importantly the annual fee is now taken care of.
Pivoting to Other Cards
I have called Citi retention many many times over the past few years and the success of my call largely depends on the friendliness and helpfulness of the agent on the other end. In this case the agent was very friendly, so when we finished with the offers on the ThankYou Premier, I asked if she could check “another card”.
Citi AT&T Access More Retention Offer 2018
I use my AT&T Access More card ALL OF THE TIME. In fact, I probably spent over $100K last year on it. Since I earn 3X ThankYou points for online purchases, my ThankYou points balance adds up quickly. In other words, this is a card they will have to pry out of my cold dead hands. But of course it still can’t hurt to see if any offers are available.
After taking a minute to check, the agent made my day with her offers and there were many:
- 10K ThankYou points after $3k spend in 3 months
- 7,500 ThankYou points after $1k spend each month for 3 months
- 500 points each month after $500 spend for 16 months (Same at TYP offer above)
- 5K ThankYou points after $1k spend
- Get an extra 2X ThankYou points on all purchases for 6 months up to 35K bonus points.
Yes! I already spend enough money naturally on this card to hit the spend requirements, so basically this is like a gift of 35K points. Until I hit the cap, I’ll be earning 3X on all normal purchases and 5X on online purchases. I do miss the days when a similar offer was given UNCAPPED, but I’ll take it.
Citi AAdvantage Amex Retention Offer 2018
With such great offers already, I figured I would push my luck and ask her to check two more cards. Again, this works best with a friendly agent and I lucked out with this one. She was happy to take a look.
After a brief hold, she came back with the following offers on my Citi AAdvantage card:
- Spend $95 and get a $95 credit
- Spend $3,000 and get 7,500 AAdvantage miles
On paper offer #2 looks better, but in reality I have a ton of AA miles, so I took the first offer. My annual fee isn’t due until October and this is like getting it credited in advance. Maybe I’ll even get another offer then! I have had this card for 5 years now and they have given me a credit every year. I used to keep it for Amex Offers, but that has seemingly died, but I’ll keep it anyway if I don’t have to pay.
Citi Prestige Retention Offer 2018
Finally I rounded the bases and headed for home with my Citi Prestige card. This is a card that I always consider canceling, but haven’t as of yet because of the marginal benefits I receive. Thankfully my annual fee is locked in at $350 and the $250 airfare credit offsets most of that. Add in some good offers over the years and it has just barely stayed in my wallet.
Here were today’s Citi Prestige retention offers:
- $200 credit after $4K spend each month for 3 months
- Extra 1X ThankYou point on dining and entertainment for 6 months with a 10K cap
- Extra 1X ThankYou point on travel for 6 months with a 10K cap
- 10K bonus points after $3K spend in 6 months
- Extra 1X on all purchases for 6 months capped at 50K bonus points
Citi Retention Offers 2018 Recap
So as a recap, I spent a total of about 25 minutes on the phone and walked away with the following offers spread across four of my Citi cards:
Citi ThankYou Premier Retention Offer:
- Earn 500 points after $500 spend each month for 16 months
- $95 credit after $95 spend in the next 6 months
Citi AT&T Access More Retention Offer:
- Extra 2X on all spend for the next 6 months with a 35K cap
Citi AAdvantage Amex Retention Offer:
- $95 credit after $95 spend in the next 6 months
Citi Prestige Retention Offer
- 10K bonus points after $3K spend within 6 months
Citi Retention Offer Analysis
In the end I will end up with $190 in credits plus 45K bonus points and possibly even more if I take advantage of the ThankYou Premier 500 point offer. Not only are these offers lucrative, but they certainly make it more likely I’ll be using my Citi cards in the near future.
Have you had a recent Citi retention offer experience? Please share any offers you received in the comments!
Related: Completed Guide to Citi Retention
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i have now called atleast 6 times on different days and have gotten no offer on my prestige. spent $25k+ in past year
Is this your first year or did you get a retention offer last year?
I had naively checked all the blogs and FT for typical retention offers for the prestige, since my 3rd AF was coming due. I put around 5-7k of spend on it each year, and it’s been especially active lately, so I had my preferred offer all “picked out.” Well, I called and asked to cancel and they said “okay.”
Soooo –no more Prestige card for me. I’m sure I’ll find a good use for that $450, but I really liked that card.
: (
So, if you don’t want to cancel, be careful how you word the request. (I’ve always felt it was borderline lying to say “I’m thinking of cancelling” when you just want a retention bonus and have no intention of cancelling, so after my bluff I felt honor bound not to say “oh, wait, I changed my mind. I do love you after all!” ; )
If that happens to me I say I want to think about it a little longer and then hang up. I doubt they care much either way.
Citi ThankYou. If you’re past the 2 years by a month. Why not apply for a new 50k card first then cancel the first one even if you paid the $95 to then get it refunded within 30 days?
On the Citi AA Executive, for the past couple of years I’ve gotten an offer of $50 credit each month you spend $1,500 in a month for the next 7 months. I’m usually able to meet this by putting daycare tuition on my card, so it essentially makes the annual fee $100 a year (which is worth it to me for the free bags, lounge access, etc.). I probably spend 10K on the card each year.
Just got off the phone with rep and got exactly the same offer for 5 years now.
I got 95 stmt credit offer for $3k/3mo spend for the premier card. Told them I had to think about it.
nice retention offers, shawn. i have a prestige; called in earlier this week, got an offer for a $50 stmt credit with a min $1.5k spend for 7 mos & accepted it; mine has a $450 af; so the offer does help offset it
I have to decide this month what to do – the Citi Executive AA card with a $450 fee. Not sure they would do the same for this card? Anyone have any experience with retention offers for this card??