Citi Prestige - 2nd Year Rollover

Love Cheap on 22/09/2023 - 14:54
Last edited 22/09/2023 - 14:55

I have a Citi Prestige CC, that I got during the promotion with annual fees of $350 and valid till next year March 2024. After that, I have to pay $700, if I want to keep that CC for another year. Like a good Oz Bargain user, I have been using Payall to my advantage and already setup monthly Payall payments till Citi system was letting me do it. So, I already got a lot more worth than $350.

Question - Is it worth, keeping this CC for another year and pay $700 or just cancel this one and churn another CC ? Given NAB has bought Citi and will make more changes by end of this year or early next year, not sure if NAB will keep using Payall like quite a few of us are doing :)

Any other thoughts or suggestions that anyone else is implementing or doing would be appreciated as well.

Thank you!!

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Comments

  • blocky27 on 22/09/2023 - 15:15
    +1

    The unlimited priority pass sealed it for me keeping for another year. I already saved the fee multiple times over using 4th night free and PayAll, it was justifiable even just from that. I also probably got about 5 pass entrances (plus guest) this year plus about $200 worth of free food and drinks with PP experiences.

    Better than AMEX platinum at half the price imo. Guess it comes down to how much you travel though really.

    • Bargainitis on 22/09/2023 - 15:36
      +1

      vs. Amex platinum? yes and no.

      I had prestige for years during the heydays and it was an amazing card - it was also $350 annual fee for me so an absolute no brainer. The unlimited PP is the only real benefit now. Back then we had:

      1) free night at top hotel a year - gone and now this 4th night free BS
      2) 2x airport transfer (Australasia) - now only 1x and its Australia only
      3) hotel status with a couple of chains - now gone
      4) Sydney Airport fasttrack pass

      Amex Platinum has its perks tho:

      1) $450 travel credit
      2) $400 dining credit
      3) PP (tho limited)
      4) hotel status
      5) Accor hotel free night once a year
      6) Free amazon membership

      The other bonuses are these random credits throughout the year that most people can use. I honestly reckon I get over $2000 worth of credit each year and the point conversion is much better too.

      YMMV of course.

      • blocky27 on 22/09/2023 - 15:44
        +2

        Sorry should've worded better, if AMEX plat was $700, arguably a better card for sure

        • Bargainitis on 22/09/2023 - 16:12
          +1

          well what i'm saying is I dont think prestige is worth $700 these days.

    • Love Cheap on 22/09/2023 - 17:08
      +1

      That is a good point, if someone is using PP then we can get CC worth. However, for a person, who don't travel much then I guess it is not much of a value.
      It also depends on Payall as well. People who have Prestige at the moment and setup their Payall for another 2 years or so, are not sure either if NAB will honor the 0% fees for any recurring payment setup before 31st October.

      • Anon257 on 10/06/2024 - 15:43

        Can you please explain what you mean by "setup their Payall for another 2 years"? Is there something you could do with PayAll before that you can no longer do?

        • Craze on 10/06/2024 - 21:52

          It's the PayAll surcharge that was introduced recently- will further dilute savings and make it less desirable for many.

    • Love Cheap on 22/09/2023 - 17:29

      In regards with PP, isn't that is valid till 31st December 2023 ?

    • Crowing on 13/02/2024 - 11:52

      @blocky27 - hey mate - hope you’re well. Wondering how does the PP membership get extended? I’m coming up to the 12 month anniversary for my card and looking to keep it. Does the expiry date for PP just get automatically renewed after payment of annual card fee? Thanks

      • blocky27 on 13/02/2024 - 22:37

        Yep automatically re-extended. Didn't have to do a single thing

        • Crowing on 14/02/2024 - 13:32

          Thanks mate for confirming!

  • mmd on 22/09/2023 - 15:15
    +1

    Following this as mine is valid until Feb 2024.
    I am thinking of signing up to the Premier card as well and setup payall until 2025.

    • mmd on 22/09/2023 - 18:23

      As signup my partner to the Premier card.
      I dont think u can own both the Prestige and Premier and claim 20k points per card for a total of 40k

    • Anon257 on 10/06/2024 - 15:44

      can you please exmplain what you mean by "setup payall"? I have a Premier card right now and am struggling to mean the spend criteria so would love to know

      • mmd on 11/06/2024 - 19:17

        Citibank didnt chrge a fee to setup Payall at one point in time.
        Some ppl setup their payall for a long time.
        That golden goose is gone if you havent done it by now.

  • Drakesy on 22/09/2023 - 16:56
    +1

    As a good churner i still have rule to not keep a card for a second year as it prevents the cooldown period.
    It also sounds like the free payall might be coming to an end.

    But hey if you think you get $700 value then keep it, i struggle to get that much out of a card personally and would rather spend 3-400 on an AMEX that has a free flight or holiday value attached.

    • Love Cheap on 22/09/2023 - 17:19

      I think most of us are or will hang on to this card because of 0% Payall fees.
      And lot of ifs and buts are going around on multiple forums regarding free Payall. And I guess this makes it bit confusing for people like me, If free Payall is continued for another 2 years then people who cancel it will regret.

  • prisonmike on 25/09/2023 - 10:10

    For folks here who are using Payall service, how do you make most out of this service to recoup the portion of the card fee? I am planning on keeping the card for another year and have used the 4th night free but wanted to check payall to cover the remaining fee.

    • Micky14 on 25/09/2023 - 10:21

      Put 20k into a high interest account or an offset account.

      • prisonmike on 25/09/2023 - 14:30

        I am assuming you can repeat this a few times without triggering the fraud team?

      • Anon257 on 10/06/2024 - 15:47

        So can I just setup a transfer from my Citi Premier card to my high interest savings account? (Reading the Citi terms it seems it only costs 0.95%? while interest on a savings account would be about 5%)? seems too good to be true?

        • Outrageous on 10/06/2024 - 16:33
          +1

          Remember that 5% is the annual rate. Divide by 12 to get monthly.

          • Anon257 on 10/06/2024 - 16:46

            @Outrageous: So if I used PayAll to transfer to my Offset account (mortgage at 6.1%, divide by 365 and mul by 55 (interest free period)) = 0.91%

            So I would not be able to make a profit using PayAll if I am correct? But I could use it to meet my minimum spend criteria without loosing too much money?

            Did PayAll have no fee last year?

            • Outrageous on 10/06/2024 - 18:49
              +1

              @Anon257: That's right, payall used to be completely free. And still is for those who had set up recurring payments before the fee kicked in.
              It's not such a good deal anymore with the 0.95% fee, though you might break even when you include the value of points you earn.

              • Anon257 on 12/06/2024 - 22:11

                @Outrageous: @BrunoBear do you have to do this right after a statement period to get the maximum 55 days interest free?

                • Outrageous on 12/06/2024 - 22:21

                  @Anon257: Sorry I missed your question, yes you can use payall to meet the minimum spend requirement. It's worth it for the sign up bonus points.
                  I think Prestige is 44 days interest free now.
                  Yes my statement begins close to the start of the month so that's when I schedule my payalls.
                  I got in late so I'm only able to do 20k/ month payall.

  • mrhugo on 02/11/2023 - 21:15

    Same boat as OP.

    I don't use the 4th night free, only use the PP for me and one guest x 4 times a year. Use the airport transfer. I also have, but never use the travel insurance which covers the family over 30 days trips.

    Got to figure out what to do with these points. Coles vouchers.

    I don't use PayAll to game the system, but if I keep the card I may have to.

    • Micky14 on 02/11/2023 - 21:36
      +1

      If you didn't set up before November then you wissed the boat. You'll nees to pay fee for payall, then it won't be worthy.

    • CodeXD on 02/11/2023 - 21:54

      Got to figure out what to do with these points. Coles vouchers.

      Exchanging them to flybuys is better value as it is 1:1 and you can still use them at Coles.

      • Meovel on 02/11/2023 - 22:31

        And flybuys to velocity at anytime

        • mrhugo on 06/12/2023 - 17:25

          I don't have FB, but it appears 2,000 FB points = $10

          104,200 = $500 Amazon AU/Hammerbarn/Coles/All of them.

          I crap house at maths, but does that mean $500 FB = 100,000 points, which is better value, but a whisker?

          • CodeXD on 06/12/2023 - 17:28

            @mrhugo: you lost me at whisker

            • mrhugo on 06/12/2023 - 18:41

              @CodeXD: Should say "by a whisker", i.e, 100K/$500 points is better value than 104.2K/$500 cash equivalent, well about $21 better (4.2k points x 0.005c a point), I guess over half a mil points that $100, two cases of Australia's finest. IDK maybe worth it. Don't have FB so no idea if there are any "conditions" when using using FB as a payment.

              Might just send it all to Bezos at least that way I will use it and not have to keep tabs on whats remaining.

  • faze on 23/11/2023 - 14:05
    +4

    Just a PSA - called Citi for my 2nd year rollover and they offered a 50% discount to stay - so I'm keeping it.

    • CodeXD on 23/11/2023 - 14:20
      +1

      How long before the annual fee due date did you call? I'll set a reminder for myself to do the same.

      • mrhugo on 06/12/2023 - 17:07

        I was told the 2nd year annual fee needed to first be charged before they can seek approval to for a once off 50% off discount.

    • Weasel on 23/11/2023 - 15:09
      +1

      Good to know - what did you say specifically to trigger their discounted offer?

    • PoRKroLL on 07/12/2023 - 15:35

      @faze I plan to do the same. What exactly did you say for them to offer 50% off annual fee?

      Also, did you call when the 2nd year was already charged or before?

      • faze on 07/12/2023 - 15:58
        +2

        Sorry didn’t get a notification til now - but I called after I had been charged and basically said I was planning to cancel unless they could drop the annual fee, which they then did!

        • GoodToKnow on 08/12/2023 - 07:56

          Wouldn’t you be on the hook for the full fee if they didn’t offer a reduction after it’s charged?

    • SnoozeAndLose on 23/12/2023 - 11:14

      I called today and ask for the fee to be waived.

      the Operator said that for Prestige card, nothing can be done, either you close it and get approval to reverse the fee or nothing.

      I will keep calling until some fee being waived

      • runamuck on 29/01/2024 - 11:36

        Any luck? I was also told they cannot reduced mine. Tried 2 different operators and they said the same thing.

        • SnoozeAndLose on 29/01/2024 - 13:35

          I tried 4 and no one care to retain me

          • runamuck on 29/01/2024 - 14:18

            @SnoozeAndLose: I see. Did you end up cancelling it then or do U think it's worth keeping?

            • SnoozeAndLose on 29/01/2024 - 15:27

              @runamuck: i have 20K payAll set up until 2024 so i am keeping it. Not worth to keep it next year

              • Fancydancer on 22/02/2024 - 06:59

                @SnoozeAndLose: Mine payall setup for 2024 was just randomly cancelled overnight by Citi and they sent me a message that if still required I would need to set up again - cancelling card now.

                • VQLD on 26/02/2024 - 09:32

                  @Fancydancer: did that happen before 2nd year annual fee was charged or after?

                  • Fancydancer on 26/02/2024 - 13:52

                    @VQLD: Yes, about a week before due so it was a race to close ;)

  • MrGarciaA on 07/12/2023 - 10:03

    I got an offer for Citi Quick Cash last month (November) for 0% interest and a small establishment fee with the offer of receiving a $200 JB hifi gift card if I converted at least $2,500 into Quick Cash. I accepted the offer and converted $2,501 into Quick Cash and paid the establishment fee. Now just waiting for my JB Hifi gift card. However, this month (December) I got literally the same offer from Citi. Just wondering if anyone else has had this happen to them? Is it possible for these offers to stack i.e. convert $2,500 x 2 = $5,000 to Quick Cash and get 2x $200 JB Hifi Gift Cards??

    • Meovel on 07/12/2023 - 11:15

      Yes they stack, you most likely won't be able to combine with PayAll since payment over the required repayment will auto contribute to quick cash and close them.

      • MrGarciaA on 14/12/2023 - 11:10

        Thanks! I have a $30k limit so Quick Cash wont affect my PayAll. So if I take out another $2,501 Quick Cash, I'll have $25,002 outstanding balance in total ($20,000 PayAll + $2,501 1st Quick Cash + $2,501 2nd Quick Cash) and I'll receive $400 (2 x $200) in JB Hifi Gift cards?

  • mmd on 26/02/2024 - 21:13

    anyone had any luck with getting the fee discounted?

  • muzzheng on 18/03/2024 - 20:47

    Bumping this also ask if anyone has successfully gotten the annual fee discount? More specifically if they finally succeeded in getting a discount after failed couple of attempts to other agents initially.

    I've had two calls so far, and it sounds like their system automatically flags whether an account is eligible for any "offers" upon renewal - the customer support agents can't do any decision making themselves…

    In saying that the first agent offered to try and give me 50,000 citi reward points to sweeten the deal of forking over $700.

    • CodeXD on 18/03/2024 - 21:09

      When you call, make sure you get to the retention team, it is one of the prompt to discuss fees

      • muzzheng on 18/03/2024 - 21:27

        Hey code, so you ended up getting your renewal discounted?

        I think I end up with the correct team? It's the option that comes right after the card cancellation option on the hotline prompts. Will try to ask directly for that team on my next call though.

        • CodeXD on 18/03/2024 - 21:37
          +1

          Yep I originally called twice when I got charged the annual fee and got rejected. Then tried again the next day and listened through all the prompt to make sure I get to the right area.

          I started with something like "I was just charged the $700 annual fee for my prestige card for second year rollover and I’m considering the various credit cards I currently hold. Before I make a decision to cancel this card, could you let me know if you can offer any incentives to keep it? Something like reduced annual fee"

          • muzzheng on 18/03/2024 - 23:05

            @CodeXD: Nice!

            That gives me hope that it indeed is possible with Citi. Was it a local or international call centre that handled the successful attempt?

            • CodeXD on 18/03/2024 - 23:06

              @muzzheng: every call I've ever made for citi bank has been international lol

              • muzzheng on 03/04/2024 - 21:29
                +3

                @CodeXD: An update on this - I actually succeeded in getting the halved annual fee. It took me 5 phone calls in total, which is a fair bit of effort.

                It's pretty much luck of the draw depending on which agent you get. I was saying the same script everytime and the first four agents flatout refused, as well as their managers.

                The 5th person took twice as long speaking to their manager, and then came back with something along the lines of "since you've been a good customer, making repayments on time etc we'll do an exception for you".

                So it really is possible - despite the first 4 out of 5 agents saying they had zero ability to do make it happen, it's impossible etc etc.

                Cheers Code!

                • Craze on 03/04/2024 - 22:12
                  +1

                  @muzzheng: Good job on perservering on- glad to hear it's paid off! Did you ring up to query after incurring the 2nd year annual fee or before?

                  • CodeXD on 03/04/2024 - 22:22

                    @Craze: Has to be after you've been charged

  • DanielTr on 04/04/2024 - 18:11

    Got 50% off after 4 phone calls. Will keep for another year.

  • ldcan on 13/05/2024 - 13:35
    +1

    got 50% off as well after multiple calls (more than 5) over two business days. they always say nothing can be done but after asking for a once off waiver, the rep checked with his manager and approved a 50% waiver

  • Craze on 18/05/2024 - 13:58

    No dice today (first call) for fee reduction- will try again later and Monday when it's a business day.

  • Sir Mittens on 19/05/2024 - 19:25

    I’ve called 4 times so far and they always say that my account has no offers available at this time for a reduction of the annual fee. Very sad…

    • Craze on 22/05/2024 - 13:27

      On my third call today I was only offered a $100 reduction in AF. I've politely declined for now but fear they won't be offering any more as CS guy said he was going to put a note on my account.

  • Crowing on 04/06/2024 - 10:04

    No luck calling first time today, flat out said no, then offered $50 and then increased it to $100. Told them I’ll think about it. Will try few more times to see if can get 50% off…

    • runamuck on 04/06/2024 - 10:06

      How many times will you try before giving up?

      • Crowing on 04/06/2024 - 10:35

        I received a call back from a manager from the customer rep team at Citi shortly after the first call and they offered me $200 credit. Said I’d only held the account for 12 months and that’s the best they could do. Decided to accept the offer. He said the longer I’m a customer the more discount that could be applied… which is contrary to those who have successfully received 50% off..

        So annual fee is $500, will make that amount back within few moths thanks to interest savings from $20k PA sitting in my offset account. Great value card!

        • runamuck on 04/06/2024 - 10:48
          +1

          Niceeeee. It's not 50% off but it's better than nothing.

        • Craze on 04/06/2024 - 17:49

          They might have caught on the increased number of such requests and therefore limiting the amount given… I was only offered $100 which I eventually accepted but may cancel if a better CC offer presents itself in coming months (I think they will refund the annual fee pro-rated)

          • SnoozeAndLose on 06/06/2024 - 14:45

            @Craze: can i ask if i cancel say 2 months after paying for the annual fee, will they refund the annual fee prorate?

            • Craze on 06/06/2024 - 15:19

              @SnoozeAndLose: Not sure I'm guessing yes but best to call and confirm.

  • Kzzzzz on 06/06/2024 - 14:31

    No luck, tried two times today. The 2nd rep discussed with his supervisor for a long time but still no offer. Ended up with closing the card.

    • Craze on 06/06/2024 - 15:20

      Sorry to hear- I think at full fee not worth keeping.

      • CodeXD on 06/06/2024 - 15:41
        +2

        It is still worth it at full annual fee if you were able to schedule payall at 0% fee for the duration of the year - when it first started people were able to do them 10 years ahead.

        Just the payall part is worth ~$1200 when converted to flybuys, not to mention the priority pass, 4th night free, and as a mastercard, 6 months free uber one etc.

        • Crowing on 08/06/2024 - 08:15

          Plus the interest savings with $20k sitting in offset account or high interest savings account would be an additional ~$1k a year. This more than pays for the annual fee already. Great card!

  • Weasel on 07/06/2024 - 08:24

    Called first time and the rep said nothing could be done. Asked to speak to retention team/supervisor to get annual fee reduced as I originally paid $350 annual fee (promo). Supervisor said they have put a request through and should hear back in 4 business days. Fingers crossed.

    • Craze on 08/06/2024 - 00:00

      Good luck- keep us posted how you go!

      • Weasel on 14/06/2024 - 19:01
        +1

        Received a call back today and was offered $250 credit back on the card.

        I accepted the offer as I didnt want to push for the full $350 originally requested back.

        • Craze on 15/06/2024 - 11:52

          Thanks for the update- I only had $100 after 3-4 calls and accepted it, sounds like the offer differs depending on supervisor/manager that you get.

  • pjwellsey on 14/06/2024 - 15:34

    So just called up for this , the initial caller said No fee reduction , I asked nicely to speak to a Manager , who explained the Annual fee was for all the benefits , blah bah blah

    The he said gesture of good will , 150$ Refund

    Not 50% however I'd already worn the 700$ fee so this was better that nothing

    Also if any of you use this for business expenses , its Tax Deducatble https://community.ato.gov.au/s/question/a0J9s000000NJIh/p001…

  • xfeier53 on 23/08/2024 - 14:46

    just wanna ask if anyone has successfully got the discount recently?

  • hiaaron on 23/08/2024 - 15:21

    More than 3 months ago but I got offered half of the fee waiver

  • longsighted on 15/11/2024 - 16:53

    Got 50% offer annual fee in 11/2023. Today tried calling for my 11/2024 annual fee rebate, they are not offering any discount. Said based on their records they already gave me discount last year, not going to give it anymore this year. Not sure if anyone has same experience.

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