Question
Just got this in the mail. No annual fee. Also initial 0% on balance transfers and variable rate interest which I don't care about since I pay off the balance every month.
But, it also offers 1 point per dollar in their rewards program, without any explanation of what the program is, how many points it takes to redeem whatever.
Anyone have good or bad experience with this card, or able to supply details on the rewards program?
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Originally posted by siliconengineer:
But, it also offers 1 point per dollar in their rewards program, without any explanation of what the program is, how many points it takes to redeem whatever.
Anyone have good or bad experience with this card, or able to supply details on the rewards program?
Barf...35K points for a domestic R/T ticket:
http://www.citibank.com/us/cards/cardserv/diamond/reward.htm
IMHO, the best no-fee reward card is the Hilton Amex - but I'd still rather use the Delta Amex for Hilton points and pay the annual fee.
Unless you charge only a few hundred dollars a month, most of the time you're better off getting an affinity card with an annual fee - the earnings opportunities are a lot better than no-fee cards.
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If you must have a VI/MC, the Amtrak card earns you one point per dollar spent. They can be converted on a 1:1 basis to United, Continental, and Midwest. You can also convert them on a 1:2 basis to Hilton. There is no fee on this card.
In terms of AmEx, the Starwood card is by far the richest card in the business. $20K in charges will land you 25K FF miles in just about any airline. The card carries a $30 fee after the first year, but is well worth it.
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do NOT get Amtrak card. there is now a 25000 points transfer cap per year. Amtrak did it w/o any warning. there are many threads on this.
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Originally posted by bellwilliam:
do NOT get Amtrak card. there is now a 25000 points transfer cap per year. Amtrak did it w/o any warning. there are many threads on this.
This is a good point. I actually only use my Amtrak when AmEx is not accepted so I come in under the $25K cap. I also transfer every 5K just in case Amtrak decides to place additional limitations on the program without notice.
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Thanks for all the info. I'm going to pass on this MC.
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I am surprised none of you found the 0% APR on balance transfer until 3/1/04 appealing.
It's true that most of you don't carry a balance, me neither. But if you buy savings bonds on another mileage earning CC and transfer the balance out to this card, you earn some free miles essentially.
And since the "grace period" is this long, you can turn over those bonds almost 3 times before the 0% APR expires.
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Oops, actually I was referring to the pre-approved Citi Dividend Platinum Select MasterCard I receive in the mail. The offer is no fee 0% APR on balance transfer until 3/1/04. The card also offers full 1% rebate on purchase.
If you apply online at citicards.com without the aforementioned offer, the offer is for no fee 0% APR balance transfer for 12 months. The website doesn't mention the 1% rebate on purchase. You can call citibank to confirm...
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I agree with FT wannabe on this issue. I will also take advantage of 0% offers if they dont cost me anything. I use other cards that give me points and miles, then transfer over balances. You can ean interest on the float or even do the savings bonds thing... it works well.
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I had Diamond Preferred Citi card for a while and a good friend had Dividend Platinum card.
Giving 0% interest rate til 03/04 is pretty much what it gives out only. Diamond card doesn't have full 1% rebate or redemption rate. You can redeem for goods with high points than 1% xchange rate. I'm sure you can find other better cards than this offer except that 0%.
Dividend card gives you 1% rebate but they won't send you a check until the rebate reaches $100, which means small spenders like me don't get that $100 check at all until spending $10,000.
What I'd do is using another hotel/airline cards to rack up a lot of miles/points and then transfer the balances to either of those Citi cards.
Just my 2 cents....
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- I am a Freqnt Miles Maniac and a Ballroom Dance Miniac :-) -