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A few weeks ago my brother was approved for a Citi Premier® Card. He was away when the card came in the mail and it took him a couple of weeks to finally activate the card. He'll meet his minimum spend requirement without issue, but today he received an email from Citi reminding him about his bonus and timeline to meet the spend requirement to receive that bonus.
Considering all the rules for credit card applications, Chase's 5/24 rule, Bank of America's 2/3/4 policy, and Amex's new Bonus Eligibility Tool, which appear to be put in place to limit bonuses and their abuse (we can't blame the banks on this), its a pleasant surprise to see one of the banks being proactive about making sure their new customer will be a happy one.
Our Take
This is a small and seemingly subtle/innocuous move by Citi, but one that'll stick with my family and me. Being proactive, reminding my brother about his card account, and letting him know what he needs to do by when is a great way to establish a rapport with a customer.
Taking things a step further, I'd love to see Citi educate their customers on the benefits of the card that aren't discussed all that much, including how to leverage the value of ThankYou Rewards. But, if they don't, we'll continue to do it here.
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cool feature
don’t need reminders – need better categories
Nice they do this as they make more profit if you don’t make the spending goal
Nice touch. I always assumed that part of the business model for these types of offers was a certain percentage of new card holders not following thru and not collecting the bonus. But it makes more sense that they would want those card holders actually using in the card.
@Owen:
You definitely have a good point
I haven’t seen the bonus email yet. But I mostly use my Chase cards.
A good move so CC holders don’t miss out on points
Citi bonuses always post without any issues. Even though I’m an avid point collector, sometimes I forget about a bonus and feel like it’s Christmas when they post.
It’s great to remind. I wonder if they’ll put on it how much left we’d have to go? It’d save me time to tell me that. I would think that most wouldn’t need a reminder to use the card. Most probably people sign up for it to get the bonus but to remind them that they are only so far away from meeting the bonus dollar amount would be awesome.
THat’s a nice thing for citi to do. All credit card companies should invest in this…
Nice of a company to be consumer friendly and want to see successful rewarding of the bonus offer. Wish they all would send updates via email at least.
That’s actually really cool, even though I don’t personally need reminders.
I would appreciate this! I have two cards that I am trying to complete the minimum spend. I make it more difficult by trying to use the cards in the spending categories where I get multiple points (with a big purchase towards the end of the period if I can’t complete the minimum spend with bonus points categories) I do the calculations myself, but a email from the company reminding me of my progress would be great.
great work. keep them coming.
At first I was surprised that they’re doing this since presumably they save money when they don’t have to give out the sign up bonus.
But it makes a little more sense when you look at it in a different light: they want to get customers in the habit of using the card frequently. If the card never gets used then they don’t make any money from that customer.
More offers please come my way please 🙂
Good job Citi!
Larger spending requirements is becoming the norm., so having a reminder seems to benefit Citi as well.
I didn’t get any of these offers.
Is everyone supposed to get one?
The trend towards larger spend requirements for bonuses make it tougher for people to take advantage of these bonuses as well.
A trend towards higher spend requirements? I’d be interested to see the data which suggests that. Any sources you could point me to?
I need this card so that my Prestige isn’t devalued next year
This is a great move by Citi. Take note Chase!
Agree – wish Chase would do something like this – I have two of their cards, also…..
Wish Citi would send me some offers for more miles; I have two of their cards!
A small but good facility used by this company.
Likely 95% or more of Award Wallet users are avid point collectors who don’t need bonus reminders. So this post is of no interest. Citi: give me better benefits, not reminders of those already available.
Hah, I wish 95% were avid point collectors.
The benefits I have received from my Citi Prestige Card have far surpassed what I paid for the annual fee
The post may very well be of no interest… to you. But, you have to remember that all avid point collectors start as newbies, right? So, in fact, there will always be value to such a post, for all newcomers.