A few days back I wrote about a Citi AA Retention Offer. Also, I recently called Citi about my American Airlines Executive Platinum card a few days before.
When the $450 fee posted to my account I was pretty sure that the Citi AA Executive card would be a goner and I’m totally OK with that.
First of all, I have three of these cards which is really not necessary. Second, I rarely use these cards anymore so I could certainly afford to get rid of one. The odds are overwhelmingly high that over the next few months the other two might also be closed.
When I called in, I was greeted by a very friendly Citi rep. I got down to business pretty quick, stating that I was looking to close my account.
As soon as I said this, the rep replied “My favorite card- Admirals Club, no foreign transaction fees etc…”
I mentioned the high annual fee and she said that she understood and “would get me an account specialist since we don’t want to see you go“.
So what could they do to keep me? My guess was not much. How could they possibly make up for a $450 annual fee…
After a brief hold I was greeted by the account specialist.
She mentioned how fees for this card aren’t really credited and that there were a couple of options if I wanted to keep the account open.
Here are the options:
- Pay the annual fee and earn 1,000 bonus miles per month for the 16 billing cycles each time I spend $1,000 or more. Ummm no thanks.
- Downgrade the card to a Citi Gold or Citi AAdvantage Platinum. Another underwhelming offer…
I went with the option to close out my account. Not so surprising, right?
I never like paying annual fees, who does? Unless it’s for a credit card with some totally useful & valuable perks (Club Carlson cards, IHG Rewards Club), then what’s the point? Unless you really love the Admiral’s Club lounges…
Joey- I’ve never asked to move a credit line with Citi and have never had much problem with getting approved for cards. Chase is another story though…
Chucks- Can’t say that I’ve ever thought much about switching cards to other products. I like my sign up bonuses too much!
Shannon- I agree. Unless you are visiting the lounge consistently, $450 is a lot of $$$ to spend to keep the card. I think I visited the lounges due to the Exec card 2-3 times.
I closed my Executive card out too. They said they couldn’t transfer my credit but I could open another card with a $95 fee and transfer the credit to that. I already have an AA Citi card with a $95 fee and am probably over extended on available credit at this point so I went ahead and closed it. Used it a few times for Admiral’s Club, but I won’t be flying that much this year so it’d be way easier to just buy access if I need it.
In the same boat as you. Have you considered a PC or cancelation of the exec to the Prestige. Admiral’s Club+ really good rewards on all travel when redeemed for AA flights +$250 airline reimbursement + only $350 AF floating around seems pretty decent.
Were you able to transfer the credit line to an existing Citi credit card that you already have? When I tried to do so, the agent told me they’d have to do a hard pull credit inquiry. All my friends have had the same experience yet I read a blogger or a post online where they were able to do it without a hard pull.