Have A Citi Credit Card? You May Be Getting Some Money Back

Ted

FYI: Citi settled with the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection over failure to adjust cardholders’ interest rates.

Some Citi cardholders are about to have a payday.

The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection announced a settlement Friday with Citibank C, +0.06% , after it found Citi violated the Truth in Lending Act.

The cardholders of some 1.75 million Citi accounts will receive an average refund of $190 each under the terms of the agreement, Citi said in a statement. Citi will have to hand over a total of $335 million to customers.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/have-a-citi-credit-card-you-may-be-getting-some-money-back-2018-06-29/print

Crash

Another reason, yet again, NOT to do business with any of those big Robber Baron banks. Credit Unions here, all the way.

msf

This is an example of why we need a vigilant CFPB.

One list of best CU credit cards (2018):
https://www.valuepenguin.com/best-credit-union-credit-cards

Aside from the Alliant card that pays 2.5% cash rewards (but costs $59/year), it's hard to find anything that beats Citibank's Double Cash Back card. Its 2% total cash back (with no fee) is better than most and if you don't carry a balance you don't risk getting overcharged on interest - as Citibank did here.

Generally I agree with you about using TBTF banks, but one can beat them at their game with CCs. For example, if you use Chase's Freedom card to get 5% back on its rotating categories and nothing else, you win, they lose.

Remember that "The creditor and issuer of [Fidelity's 2% Visa card] is Elan Financial Services". Elan in turn is a subsidiary of US Bankcorp, the holding company of US Bank, the 7th largest American bank by assets.

davidrmoran

Yeah, you have written about certain BoA cards, which I have but almost never use. If one is willing to be flexible and purchase-alert, one can do pretty well --- in addition to Fido 2% for everything, I use Amex Blue for supermarkets @ 3% and Citi Costco for gas, restaurants, travel (3% or 4%; Costco shopping 2%). From my dim study they all sound similar for car rental and warranty augmentation and such; we have not traveled overseas in a while so cannot speak to their exchange rates and protections.

Crash

We still hold a Visa through a local Credit Union, because not everywhere accepts AMEX. Other than that, we now ALWAYS use Navy Fed. CU AMEX. 3% back on gas and supermarkets, 2% on restaurants. And 1% on all else. And no foreign transaction fee.

davidrmoran

fewer and fewer places, ime, don't accept amex anymore

BenWP

The banks are raising fees in the same way that the airline industry is. Just went to transfer some dough to my daughter from our BOA checking to find that there's now a $3 fee for a 1-3 day ACH transfer. Our Schwab brokerage accounts remain free for this service. Some weeks ago I mentioned getting a Schwab Investor Checking Account debit card for use overseas. Today, I noted a 6/24 withdrawal for 100 Euros that cost me $116.76. That was almost exactly what the dollar-euro rate was for that day. No commission, no ATM fee and one happy traveler. BOA debit card used last year in Europe was a rip-off; $7 foreign-bank ATM fee and a commission because a of disadvantageous exchange rate applied.

msf

It looks like I wasn't clear on what I was trying to say. In response to Crash's comment about using CU services, I opined that it was difficult to find CU credit cards that were comparable to what is available at (usually) TBTF banks.

The Alliant card (including its fees) is one of those rare superior flat rebate CU cards. If one is charging more than $12K/year, its extra 0.5% (2.5% rebate vs. 2% Citibank/Fidelity) makes up for the $59 fee and it comes out ahead. For lower utilization, there's an Alliant card with no fee that matches the TBTF 2% rebates. I don't see other flat rebate CU cards measuring up to the DoubleCash Card.

Of course if one is willing to mix and match, or has spending heavily skewed toward one type of expense, then there are alternatives. Like Navy Fed's 3% back on gas/supermarkets, or a combo of TBTF bank cards such as the ones that davidrmoran mentioned.

The best (almost) flat rebate card I knew of just got cancelled - Marukai Premium JCB - 3% (assuming you charged at least $5K/year so that bonuses and fees canceled out). Outside of that, yes, the highest flat rate with no fee I know of BofA's (another TBTF) travel card coupled with $100K combined Merrill Edge/Merrill Lynch/BofA balances, giving 2.625%. And with that same balance, BofA's Cash Rewards card pays 5.25% on gas and 3.5% on supermarkets and Costco (if you're doing mix and match).

The question is: how much in rewards/benefits is one willing to give up to avoid going with a TBTF bank? Note, even if the bank is not TBTF, its cards may be issued by a TBTF bank (such as Fidelity's card). Navy Fed CU issues its own card.

msf

BenWP said:

The banks are raising fees in the same way that the airline industry is. Just went to transfer some dough to my daughter from our BOA checking to find that there's now a $3 fee for a 1-3 day ACH transfer. Our Schwab brokerage accounts remain free for this service. Some weeks ago I mentioned getting a Schwab Investor Checking Account debit card for use overseas. Today, I noted a 6/24 withdrawal for 100 Euros that cost me $116.76. That was almost exactly what the dollar-euro rate was for that day. No commission, no ATM fee and one happy traveler. BOA debit card used last year in Europe was a rip-off; $7 foreign-bank ATM fee and a commission because a of disadvantageous exchange rate applied.

Until a few months ago, I had a BofA eChecking account (only to get a bonus on my credit card rebates). That was a very restricted account (e.g. pay to use a real teller), and it had a fee for outgoing ACH transfers. It's possible that this latter fee was carried over to the "regular" checking accounts as part of phasing out other types of checking accounts.

When I wanted to get money out of that account, I had BofA mail me a personal check. Silly since it costs them postage and additional processing, but at least it was (and is) free.

We didn't need to use our Schwab ATM card when we were recently in Europe, but we made extensive use of our BofA credit card and got similar exchange rates - ours was $1.17something, but the dollar's been climbing in the past couple of weeks.

FWIW, Fidelity's debit card says it has a 1% foreign transaction fee for purchases. It is silent on whether that fee applies to ATM withdrawals. A Fidelity rep claimed that it does not (so that it should match the Schwab card when getting cash), but I haven't tried it.

Note also: the VISA network was down across Europe for one day in June. This is why it pays to carry a second card on a different network.

davidrmoran

@msf
>> the highest flat rate with no fee I know of BofA's (another TBTF) travel card coupled with $100K combined Merrill Edge/Merrill Lynch/BofA balances, giving 2.625%. And with that same balance, BofA's Cash Rewards card pays 5.25% on gas and 3.5% on supermarkets and Costco (if you're doing mix and match).

You have mentioned these before, I think, and I delved then and could not find these deals, but this is going to make me look again, more carefully.

@BenWP, did you try and use zelle, and have you been offered zelle? I myself have never seen (though that means little) such a fee for ACH w/ BoA.

msf

If you have $20K+ in combined balances, you qualify for some level of BofA Preferred Rewards. You do have to enroll. (I suspect you've done this, since you've written about having gotten a low rate on a mortgage or HELOC - that comes with Preferred Rewards.) At the $100K level, you get a 75% reward bonus on credit card rewards.
https://www.bankofamerica.com/preferred-rewards/details/

The Cash Rewards card base reward schedule is: 2% on supermarkets and wholesale clubs (including Costco), and 3% on gas (up to a combined supermarket/wholesale/gas purchase of $2500/quarter). With the 75% bonus, that comes to 3.5% and 5.25% respectively. The only other condition here is that you must deposit the reward into a BofA account.

(With Preferred Rewards you get 4 free checking accounts and 4 free savings accounts. Though you might have to pay to ACH that money out of BofA )

The Travel Rewards card pays a flat 1.5% reward. With the 75% bonus, that comes out to 2.625%. Unlimited rewards. The catch is that you have to apply that reward against travel expenses that you've charged. That's not hard to do if you travel at all. (Even reloading your Charlie Card counts.) If one charges $50K/year, that's a reward of $1,312.50. These days, the price of a couple of airline tickets.

Or you can step up to the Premium Rewards card, for $95/year. That buys you $100 worth of airline incidentals (checked bags, onboard meals, etc.), plus an increased reward of 2% (instead of 1.5%) on travel and restaurant charges. That comes out to 3.5% after the 75% bonus, and 2.625% on everything else. Unlike the Travel Rewards card, you can get this cash value with no strings.

davidrmoran

This is thorough and helpful, so I owe you a Charlie card, at least.

I bet I have missed the 75% bonus in my delving, as we are (I think) Platinum Honors / Preferred blah blah, or so I believe; they do not make it easy for the indolent.

I like ACH as a verb.

We do not travel enough, yet, I believe, although after some more new joints, maybe.
We sure as hell do charge a lot, $55k-60k / yr, half our friggin burn rate. So if I can muster my OCD about this subject (there are so many other worthy objects), I should delve further to calc the BoA advantage over my current combo system; tyvm.

BenWP

@davidmoran. My daughter uses Venmo, which seems to offer what zelle does. I suppose I could sign up, too. She just paid a sub-lease with it. One cool banking improvement is taking a picture of a check in order to deposit it.

davidrmoran

Unless you are a BoA customer with like $302 in checking and $11 in savings, the kind banks love to gouge, you sure as hell should not be paying a cent to xfer moneys. Sez me.
You yourself should have or be able to get zelle for free, no charge, no hassle, no fees, no nothin', online, smartphone or pc.

davidrmoran

@msf,

Presumably you heard this:

Your Bank of America® Cash Rewards card is getting more rewarding.

DAVID MORAN
Account ending in ____

Beginning the week of January 14,1 you'll be able to choose the category where you want to earn 3% cash back in the Mobile Banking app or Online Banking. You'll also have more flexible redemption options.

Now, fineprint in footnotes tends to the complex, so not sure what this exactly means, and I also am leery of the sub-parsing of purchase categories ... however, we do so much online shopping that once I saw it was its own category, I decided to pay attention and consider shifting from Fido Visa.
And I thought you should know if you do not.

msf

Thanks! I didn't get a notice on this, but after reading your post I found more info at:
https://thepointsguy.com/news/bofa-cash-rewards-pick-bonus-category/

Helps me somewhat (I do have a Cash Rewards card as a legacy of the Schwab Visa card), but I also use BofA's Premium Rewards card, that pays 2% on travel and dining. So I'd be inclined to pick one of the other categories for the 3% choice.

I can certainly do without the gas category - I get very little cash back on my one fill-up/quarter. For me the main benefit of the card has been the 2% base rate (plus bonus, of course) on groceries and Costco. (Though Discover's 5% rebate came in handy when I recently purchased a new laptop, online, on sale, at Costco.)

While I tend to agree with you about online shopping being a good choice, one can sometimes schedule larger purchases around rotating 5% categories.

From experience with the Premium card I can say that BofA defines travel pretty broadly, as it includes buses, zoos, amusement parks, and a variety of other oddball attractions. Here's what BofA includes in travel and dining categories, at least for its Premium card (see p.2, pdf p.3):

https://www.managerewardsonline.bankofamerica.com/cms/published/root/duo/sharedContent/pdf/premium/Premium047461May2018-0346_O_v012_ADA.pdf

msf

FWIW, my Cash Rewards (legacy Schwab Visa card) just went live with 3% category selection. My rewards page now gives examples of types of merchants in each category. Travel is as I described above. Home Improvements & Furnishings includes Bed, Bath, and Beyond, electrical contractors, office furniture, and so on.

They also credited me with a one time bonus on my cash awaiting redemption. (This is the Premium Rewards bonus that would otherwise have been applied only when I actually redeemed the cash into a BofA account - that form of redemption is no longer necessary to get the bonus.)

Derf

@msf: What type of motor transportation do you rely on ? "I can certainly do without the gas category - I get very little cash back on my one fill-up/quarter"
Derf

msf

Bus/rail/walking (I guess that's "self"-motoring). Looking into bikeshare (there's talk of adding motorized bikes). Supermarkets a quarter mile away, do work from home, not a big need for driving. Save on gas, help the environment, get exercise from walking.

It's a three mile scenic walk to Fidelity, on the rare occasions I stop in. Schwab's a quarter mile away if I want something closer. My neighborhood bank is virtually next to Schwab. Walkscore of 98.