Citi PayAll Program to Be Shut down

Just spoke with a Citibank representative about my PayAll payment.

The representative informed me that in the next month or two, Citi will be writing to all cardholders to inform them of the closure of the PayAll program. Apparently this is a business decision that will impact all cardholders in Australia who are using PayAll.

Just wanted to inform the community, as I am sure there are many Citi cardholders here who utilise the feature (especially those set up on a 0% fee payment) and get a lot of value out of it. Don't think there is any alternative. It was a good run while it lasted!

We want to let you know we will no longer offer Citi PayAll on Citi Credit Cards effective 20 January 2025.
As a result, Citi PayAll payments with a due date of 20 January 2025 and onwards will not be processed.

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Comments

  • Thanks for the heads up, that's interesting that they declined your payment when they haven't officially shut down yet.

    • +2

      To clarify, it was my fault that the payment got declined - I had a BPay issue and didn't address it in time…

    • Got the email today

      • Same, shutting down a lot quicker than I thought it would.

        • +1

          My annual fee get charged on 20/12,in time for me to cut my card

  • +9

    The golden goose had to end at some point

  • Thanks for the heads up OP. I'm late to the party myself only signed up 2 years ago, but I think it was only a matter of time before they discovered the scale of PayAll being milked. If I'm not wrong it dated back to 2012 when people discovered this "hack"?

    • +2

      Nah that might be when the PayAll program started. The fee free promotion was more recent in the last 3 years I think.

      Been getting the equivalent of $200 Coles voucher every month for 2 years and then $100 a month for the last year. Sad if it's really coming to an end, but surprised they let it go for this long.

      • Really? I have to look back previous threads but some comments seem to suggest it had been going on for a while now.

        I'm hoping they give plenty of notice when it does come through- and offer a pro-rata annual fee refund for those who's just renewed another year!

      • I was late to the party too only cottoning on to the lark around October 2021, but I went all-in when I did wake up and have been ripping $350 worth of Coles Flybuys points every month ever since. Not bad, but the value of it dipped recently with the change from 55 to 44 interest free days on the card.

    • 1 April 2021 it started being fee-free
      "For all Citi PayAll payments set up between 1 April 2021 to 31 October 2021 (the Period), the Citi PayAll fee will be reduced to 0%. Any recurring Citi PayAll payments set up during the Period will not incur the Citi PayAll fee for the duration in which those payments are scheduled to occur."

      • Thanks for clarifying! Maybe it was the fee-free for life that was another attractive feature?

        Internal audit must have picked up people are banking in loads of points, especially before the $20k cap kicked in.

        • Family & Friends fee free for life card offer started 1 Sep 2013, however there was an earlier version of "no annual fee EVER" Citibank Gold card offer that pre-dated, but was not called "Family & Friends" and did not include things like Visa Signature benefits such as Priority Pass lounge access etc. going back to September 2006.

    • +1

      I was also late to the party but something is better than nothing.

      If I'm not wrong it dated back to 2012 when people discovered this "hack"?

      PayAll wasn't of particular interest until it became fee free during a 2021 promo.

      Citibank Credit Cards: Free Citi Payall for All Payments Set up from 1st April 2021 to 31st October 2023 (Normally 2%) - 26 pages of comments.

      A number of people would have had access to this via the OG $0 Annual Fee for Life on Citi Platinum/Signature Credit Card + 6 Months 0% Balance Transfer from 2013.

      I think it was only a matter of time before they discovered the scale of PayAll being milked.

      I would hope not. Any bank should have predicted what could happen with this promo and monitored closely from the beginning (or simply run the promo under tighter T&Cs). If they couldn't do either of those things then they probably shouldn't be trusted to handle money.

      Having said that, perhaps it did take them a while to realise … or perhaps they just didn't care. Either way, they voluntarily extended the fee-free promo end date from Oct 2022 to Oct 2023.

  • +1

    Thanks OP. Damn, I've only got 11 months left of my fee-free setup. PayAll makes the annual fee absolutely worth it, I'll be very sad to let go of the card and Priority Pass.

  • Apparently this is a business decision

    Free lunches don't last forever.

    Plus NAB needs to make the acquisition work. Cost of funding has gone way up. Not low rate environment anymore. They'd be bleeding big time from this. Maximum was 2 years so most of our payment setups would expire by Oct 25?

    • +5

      I am set up till 2033 fee free

      • 5 Oct 2034 here

        • Aug 2025 here. How did you guys manage to get in until that far ahead?

          • +1

            @leiiv: You could put your Payall start dates into the future.

  • +10

    5 business class SQ flights between AU and Europe… has been a great ride, thanks Citi!

    • Could have been 5 business class around the world for not that much extra points.

  • +4

    The end of an era

  • -1

    If they are writing to us in the next month or two, I imagine it may have several months left. I doubt they cancel it immediately, or am I wrong? Maybe it will go into March or April or a bit later.

    Oh well. Next to see if we can cancel and get a pro-rate fee back.

    • +1

      Wow… I was wrong!! Sudden cut!

    • We want to let you know we will no longer offer Citi PayAll on Citi Credit Cards effective 20 January 2025

  • +3

    just got the official emailed today, payall will be ending in January 2025:

    "We want to let you know we will no longer offer Citi PayAll on Citi Credit Cards effective 20 January 2025.

    As a result, Citi PayAll payments with a due date of 20 January 2025 and onwards will not be processed.

    Outlined below are key dates to help you understand how this change may impact you.

    Key Dates

    Activity

    Date

    Last day to set up a new Citi PayAll payment
    (7 business days prior to due date 19 January 2025)

    9 January 2025

    Last day that Citi PayAll payments will be processed

    19 January 2025

    Any existing PayAll scheduled payments will be cancelled

    20 January 2025

    Effective date for applicable changes to Terms and Conditions

    20 January 2025

    As we will no longer offer Citi PayAll from 20 January 2025, all references to Citi PayAll in your Terms and Conditions will be removed.

    These changes will be effective from 20 January 2025. The variation notice provides full details of these changes, as they apply to your:

    • Credit Card Terms and Conditions and other Important Information (Terms and Conditions)

    • Citi Rewards and Citi Qantas Rewards Program Terms and Conditions - Citi Rewards Credit Card, Citibank Gold Credit Card and Citibank Rewards Credit Card - Classic

    • Financial Table

    These changes form part of, and must be read in conjunction with, the existing Terms and Conditions that govern your account, which can be found at www.citibank.com.au/credit-cards/terms.

    What you need to do

    If you don't have a Citi PayAll payment scheduled:

    You don’t need to do anything as this change does not impact you.

    If you want to set up a new Citi PayAll payment:

    The last day that a new Citi PayAll payment may be set up and processed is 9 January 2025. The payment due date for your scheduled Citi PayAll payment must be no later than 19 January 2025. Any Citi PayAll payments with a due date of 20 January 2025 and onwards will be cancelled.

    The Citi PayAll fee is currently 0.95% as outlined in the Financial Table and is set at the point of scheduling your Citi PayAll payment.1

    If you have an existing Citi PayAll payment:

    If you have set up a Citi PayAll payment with a payment due date on or before 19 January 2025, we will process the payment. Any Citi PayAll payments with a due date of 20 January 2025 and onwards will be cancelled.

    You can cancel any current Citi PayAll scheduled payments by following the below instructions:


    Citi Mobile® App:

    Citi PayAll > Manage Citi PayAll > Click on your active PayAll enrolment and select “Cancel Payment” or

    • Call us on 13 24 84 or +61 28225 0615 if calling from overseas

    As Citi PayAll will no longer be available from 20 January 2025, you may wish to consider using alternative payment methods to manage your payments including:

    a. BPay

    b. Direct Debit to set up recurring payments

    For more information on alternative payment methods, please visit citibank.com.au/help-and-support/payments-and-transfers.

    If you have previously converted a Citi PayAll payment into an Instalment Plan:

    You don’t need to do anything. These changes will not impact any instalment plans that you have already set up with us.

    For more information regarding these changes, please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) by visiting citibank.com.au/payall.

    Find out more

    If you have any questions regarding this change that has not been explained in this notice, contact us at citibank.com.au/contactus.

    Yours sincerely,

    The Customer Service Team"

    • Damn, I guess I’ll be closing my Prestige sooner than I thought then.

  • +4

    Just received an email and program is shutting from 20 Jan 2025. It was good run while it lasted

    We want to let you know we will no longer offer Citi PayAll on Citi Credit Cards effective 20 January 2025.

    As a result, Citi PayAll payments with a due date of 20 January 2025 and onwards will not be processed.

  • +2

    Gravy train is over, do Citi offer pro rata refunds of the annual fee?

    • I think you already NO the answer to that one

      • They absolutely do. I got $135.76 back from my $199 af for my Citibank Velocity 80k cc recently.

  • +1

    Note the choice of the calendar date. Far too many people had the 20th and 25th as the preferred payall dates. Not happy cant milk it for another month. All good things come to an end.

    • +1

      Yeah I have mine on 27th.

      Will close it off in Jan as my renewal is up in Feb.

    • +1

      Yep, mine are 21 + 24 of each month, so for me effectively I get one more for Christmas, and then that gravy train pulls into the station for the last time.

    • Yeah, mine is scheduled for the 20th as well. However, every month it's processed/paid earlier. This month it was charged on 18/11 and paid on 19/11. Given they've done it this way for months, I'm hoping they continue it for Jan so I can get the points.

      • man last month, paid my balance off via bpay on the friday payment due the following wednesday. on the monday the funds cleared but also i got a message saying the payment 2 days in the future had failed.

  • Will cancel card. Do I get pro-rata card fee refund?

    • -4

      Not a chance in hell

      • +1

        Churnedthe premier card last month. Declined a prorata annual fee on chat but did offer one if I transferred to different card.

        Transferred to simplicity ($0 AF), got 5/6 back

  • renewal is due in the next couple days - with renewal in the next week or so. Is it worth holding for 2 months of PayAll estimating 23,000 points.

    • 23,000 points is worth $115. What's your annual fee?

      • Good call out. Currently $250. Debating if I should sign up to the Luxury Escape and just cancel.

  • +1

    RIP - cancelling this card… not worth the fee anymore.

    NAB has killed this card.

    • +4

      NAB kills everything they touch. The end was inevitable as soon as it was revealed NAB were to be the buyer for Citibank.

  • Assuming the card annual will not be pro-rata refunded, those who will get charged the fees after December 2024 (Premier card) or this month (Prestige card) may want to consider cancel their cards as the last month or two may not be worth it for them.

    • will not be worth it for them.

      corrected that for you

  • +11

    For all those asking about pro-rated annual fee refunds, you have zero chance of this occuring.

    What I will be doing is making a complaint before 20 January 2025 stating that for an exorbitant fee of $700 annually (with no bonus points as this was my second year with the card) a core benefit has been unilaterally removed instead of allowing the function to cease once the 12 months with the card/annual fee expires. I will request in the complaint for a pro-rate refund and request them to close the account. They will reject this request.

    I will then lodge a complaint with AFCA ("Disclosures that were incorrect, insufficient or misleading information about costs or fees, or about the product provided to you.")

    I suspect mediation will result in a pro-rated annual fee refund.

    https://www.afca.org.au/make-a-complaint/credit-finance-and-…

    • I just been charged $700 fee on 14 November. Which I had to pay off the statement immediately as my payall schedule is on 20 November.

      Do you think if I request cancellation in the next few days they will refund the full $700 given that it was only charge to my card few days ago?

      • Possibly, at least while you still have the opportunity to speak to actual Citibank staff rather than NAB ones. The Citibank staff may well take pity on you and waive the charge in return for cancellation, as it's no skin off their nose and they probably hate NAB just as much as you do, but if you leave it until the Citibank call centre is closed and you're talking to NAB staff, then no chance.

    • The af is quite reasonable compared to what Amex charges for their Platinum card.

      • In the same way as a firing squad execution is quite reasonable, compared to being fed feet first slowly into a running wood-chipper.

    • +2

      Before you waste too much time on this, as someone who is currently going through 'mediation' with AFCA on an 8 month old case, I can unfortunately disappoint you with the news that AFCA are so overwhelmed with cases, and have such a lack of staff to deal with them, that they've completely binned the whole mediation stage in its entirety now. They don't do mediation anymore at all and they have no powers to compel the disputing parties into mediation either. I know, it came as a bit of shock to me too, since like you, my ace card was going to be face-to-face mediation. All you'll get from AFCA now is a preliminary assessment, which is done by a junior WFH staffer and is done purely on written evidence only. They don't speak to any of the disputing parties, it's all purely written evidence only and done at arm's length. This preliminary assessment will go against you because AFCA are funded by the bank you're complaining about and AFCA do not bite the hand that feeds them. You will then need to appeal this prelim assessment and only then does it get kicked up to a senior staffer who actually behaves like something approximating a human being rather than an AI robot. This person then makes an adjudication which is final, binding and cannot be appealed. From there, if you still haven't won, you're in court. There is no civilised mediation phase anymore unfortunately. There used to be, but there isn't anymore. Oh and BTW, strap yourself in, because 8 months is the minimum amount of time it will take to get to the human being adjudicator stage.

      • AFCA is an interesting one. I had an insurance claim - hail damage repair failing within warranty period (car ). Insurance got a "specialist" to do an assessment and put it down as normal aging. So I tracked down the "specialist" mobile and called him. He said has never done what is claimed and we are both hitting them up for fraud. Time line is also wrong. The specialist report is dated before I even went in!
        Absolute slam dunk/ free hit. Haven't heard anything from AFCA since submitting.
        Had another house claim. Borderline…was approved in my favor within a week of submitting.

        As for PayAll..all that stress over getting it long as you can..well, well…here we are. I only got it to 2025…did the job.

        • Which insurance company?

    • Keep us updated , love this!

  • Next to go will be Priority Pass on the Citi Prestige. Thanks NAB.

    • +1

      That won't go.

      The removal of Payall shouldn't come as a surprise it was free points. I am surprised at long it lasted

  • +2

    I just paid my $300 annual fee last statement! This has changed the product that I was paying the fee for. Looks like I'll be getting AFCA involved as well if they don't prorate my refund.

    • -2

      I dunno how painful or destructive to one's dignity having a prorate refund done is, but it doesn't sound pleasant.

      • +1

        Cmon it's Ozbargain…there's no dignity to be had here.

  • +4

    For those wanting to use their points before cancelling, note the Velocity transfer promo of 10% more. Transfer this month and next month.

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/874304

    Oh, and on the positive side: cancelling this card and freeing up potentially 10K or 20K+ in credit can mean churning other cards and being approved more easily.

  • +1

    Damn, it was good while it lasted.

    • +2

      Useful help post thanks, but by and large, all these Citibank offers are either vapourware or far more trouble and hassle than they're worth.

      Luxury Escapes offer is a very specific deal for a very specific customer looking for a very specific offering that in truth, 99.99% of card holders will not even look past the headline at considering. Vapourware for sounding great, but being almost impossible to extract any real value from.

      10% bonus Velocity points is a joke. Velocity either devalue their points scheme or make the points impossible to redeem for what you want to use them for far quicker than the 10% will make any noticeable difference. Vapourware for the same reason as above.

      Special Gift Cards are 'special' only in that apart from Bunnings, Dan Murphys and Woolworths, you can only redeem them at the most esoteric and fly-by-night retailers you've never heard of. That, and the discount rebate you're supposed to get is extremely unreliable by all reports and you're likely signing up for a months long fight with whatever retailer you choose to buy from to prove and justify your 10% rebate. Citibank will not help and the retailer involved will more than likely have gone out of business and disappeared or else make themselves utterly impossible to be contacted, when you go looking for your missing 10% rebate.

      Cathay Pacific $200 off. Yeah right. You'll get your $200 off the $200 inflated price they pumped it up by when you booked. Nett gain = nil

      $100 off Uber Premier. If you're using Uber Premier, $100 is nothing to you anyway, so do you really care?

      • +3

        Agree with @Legoman. All that Citi "offer stuff" is just BS and fluff. The real deal was accumulating points for free and getting monthly interest from savings accounts.
        A lot of us were all set for another 10 years of Payall, but I don't think any of us were kidding ourselves it would last that long.
        If you are paying for this card, there is no incentive to do so any more.
        Some of us are lucky to have the old fee-free version, but even that is likely to be snatched away by greedy NAB

      • +1

        Special gift card offer is great. I always buy a Woolies one for 10% back. Then use that to buy either a 10% off or 20x ER gift card in Woolies (eg TCN or Apple). Double dipping at its finest

      • +1

        And $100 uber can be used for any Uber trip not just premier. You can also top up the charge by tip to get it over $100. I will use it before 31 Dec on an airport trip

      • The offers have gotten progressively worse.

        Just checked and an Uber Premier ride to the airport is $115 for me, so I'd be out of pocket $15. Until 31 July 2024, we were able to book transfers via Hughes which I found to be quite seamless and my trips to the airport were fully covered by the benefit.

    • +5

      ..and cancel the LuX auto renewal subscription straight away. It will stay on for 12 months.

    • I'll add to the list, with the status match offer before cancelling: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/835469

  • +1

    Dam!

    Just paid the $700 annual fee in October.

    I do 2x payments of 10K/month, so I get 6 payments in before they shut it down, or 60,000 points, which is worth about $287 in amazon gift cards.

    So i'm a solid $400 behind in recouping my annual fee.

    I will be monitoring this thread closely to see who is able to get pro rata refunds etc.

    • I paid the $700 annual fee 2 weeks ago :-/

    • -1

      Today is the 20th, so in saying 6 payments, you're either counting the ones for November which have already occurred before the shutdown was announced, or you're counting them as future ones still to happen this month after 20th. If the former, then they don't really count, do they, because they happened before the shutdown notice, in which case you have 4 payments to go, namely those in Dec and Jan. If the later, then you still only have 4 payments to go before the shut down because NAB have said they're going to cancel all PayAll payments set up for post 19 January 2025, which means your January payments aren't going to happen, ergo, you only have the Nov + Dec left = 4 payments. Either way I cut it without knowing your exact payment schedules, you only have a maximum of 4 payments left, either Nov+Dec or Dec+Jan. You do not have Nov+Dec+Jan.

      4 payments = 40,000 points = $200 in Flybuys cash value (the best redemption value you can get) = you're actually $500 underwater from your $700 annual fee.

      Forget with the pro-rata annual fee refund fantasy. No-one is gonna get that. It's extreme wishful thinking with nothing fact-based behind it.

      • These are the payments I counted, from the date of my annual fee onwards. I think its reasonable to count all of the payments since the annual fee when trying to calculate my payall benefit that arises from the annual fee year.

        18th October 2024
        3rd November 2024
        18th November 2024
        3rd December 2024
        18th December 2024
        3rd January 2025

        • Better to count the amount rather than the dates. I can schedule 5 x $4000 payall a month or 1 x $20,000 a month and still the same amount of points.

      • Although thankyou for the tip that Flybuys cash is the best redemption value. Although I wish i'd picked up on this a few years ago :)

  • Sad. Just got email. I’m not surprised though. I and many others have rinsed this I’ve the last few years!

  • Just got prestige 2 months ago, devastated. Was hoping to churn for points.

    • +3

      You didn’t miss anything I think. The fee-free ship has sailed long ago.

      • For me it was more of the payall being able to count towards the 10k spend requirement

        • +1

          You can still do 1 x 10k payment before the payall end date.

          Last day to set up a new Citi PayAll payment (7 business days prior to due date 19 January 2025) 9 January 2025

          Last day that Citi PayAll payments will be processed 19 January 2025

          • -1

            @CodeXD: But with fees

            • +2

              @yht: They got it 2 months ago, they've always had fees lol

  • Hopefully someone can get partial refund for annual fee

  • +1

    Damn shame - was loving accumulating all those points and the interest from savings.
    I still have the fee free Premium card (from the old Signature card days).
    Guess it is only a matter of time until NAB kill that off as well

    • +1

      The bank interest from savings was largely killed off when NAB converted it from a 55 day to a 44 day card. The first of the NAB underhandedness they're famous for. The interest you could make from the money in a bank account was basically cut in half instantly they did that. The points were worth more. Now the points are being cut off too, the card is largely worthless. Mine will go in the drawer and basically never be used in favour of the still 55 day, still fee-free and still points earning HSBC Premier instead.

  • Back to churning it is

  • +1

    My pay all comes out 28th. Guess I will miss the Jan one :(

  • +5

    I called up and they said they would do a pro-rata refund and cancel my card. I just paid my annual fee early November.

    • +1

      Why wouldn't you wait until 20 Jan ?

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