Thread: Are Citi credit cards good?

I have two questions. Are Citibank credit cards good? I got a thing in the mail from them and it says I am pre-approved but I haven't had a credit card before and the only credit account I've had was charged off 5 years ago. Would you say its normal to pre-approve someone like me?

My other question is are Citibank and Citigroup the same?

I have a Citi Diamond Preferred Rewards. I'm not sure what I did to earn an 8.49% rate on it, but I've had that rate ever since I opened it over two years ago. Great rewards points. Never had a problem with it. First time I asked for a credit line increase, I was denied though. My introductory credit limit was $500. After a year they allowed me to increase it to $5000. The rate is still at 8.49%

Citi credit cards are good but I have been disappointed with their reward offerings over the past few years.

I don't care for the Citi card website. It seems slow to me and PDF statements aren't automatically formatted correctly for printing, which is a hassle I've not encountered with any other card site. Overall, the site seems poorly designed compared to Discover, Chase, Amex, etc.

Their customer service also is lacking IMO. Heavy reliance on overseas call centers, more than Chase from what I can tell. Communication through the website email is poor from my experience.

Their rewards program can be a bit more generous than others for cash back, but you have to juggle two or three of their cards to capture all of the spending categories and realize the benefit. Redemptions through the "Thank You" network are easy, but the products/gift cards, etc. offered aren't a particular bargain, so your rewards don't get a bump in value from a discount there, like they do with Discover, for instance.

Citi and Citgroup are the same company. I think Citi is the retail arm and Citigroup is the commercial banking/investment arm, but I could be wrong about that. Google it to be sure.

We have Amex Blue Cash, Chase Sapphire and Citi Dividend Platinum select. We use the Citi Dividend for almost everything. I think it's one of the best cash back cards out there.
1% cash back on everything, and up tp 5% on various categories that we always use. Just had the APR lowered to 9.99% for the next 6 months. Were told to call back after that. We also just received a letter from them to sign up for their 1.26% cash back offer for the next few months. Not much, but hey, still better than nothing.
Credit limit is 26k. I thinik Citi is pretty generous and we've never had any issues with them.

Mogul-
Which card do you think has the best cash back?

I did the math awhile ago between Blue and Citi Dividend and Dividend worked out better.
Am I missing something?

Citi Mastercard online interface and Customer Service are disappointing. You can not see your running balance, as you charge and pay, your Citi credit account - similiar to a checking account. I have another credit card where a running balance is shown next to each transaction. I called Citi about this, was transfered through 5 different agents, and was told by each that they don't have such a feature. They also use a foreign call center which more than happily transfers you somewhere else.

Have the citi forward card and love it, just got an offer in the mail to call them monday and get my first CLI. Started me out at 2k limit no clue what the 'your a responsible cardmember' CLI offer will be, but it is better than me asking them I suppose haha

I will report back monday and spill the beans on what they raised it to, currently 2k limit.

Card gives 5% back via thank you points for bookstores, amazon too, and all restaurants including fast food. Fast food is usually never included on reqrds and to think 5pts per dollar? Itunes is 5pts per dollar too... Giggity.