Too bad I pay off my card every month (I still make more than $1500 in purchases) and never get any interest charged.

They have, however, started delaying the posting of charges online by a few days, preventing me from seeing my most accurate balance. I like to pay it off once a week (they limit me to 4 payments per billing cycle).

I also received this letter as well. What a bunch of crap! All it boils down to is fee collection. I.e.: They built a bloated infrastructure that requires X number of dollars to operate and they don't want it change when the new credit laws take effect. If you keep the card, you will take the hit. If you opt to charge a certain amount per month, the vendors will take a hit in utilization fees.

What is even funnier to me is that you can just balance transfer what you have to another Citi card and get 0 percent and pay a fee. Depending on how large your balance is that you are working on, the fee tends to be less than the new horrid interest rate over time.

Ugh. Managing credit blows.

I was outraged. I called the customer rep and spoke to both the rep and the supervisor. Neither could do anything. their reason? They claim I was a part of a large group "selected." They said they were implementing the rate increases because the economic downturn made their business costs higher.

Duh! Whose incompetence and mismanagement CAUSED the economic downturn? And who got bailed out with billions of $ of taxpayer money?

After I got off the phone I immediately called my senators and congressman to ask them what they intend to do?

Then, I got to thinking... Screwing your best customers is the equivalent of eating your seed corn. If Citibank is allegedly "hurting" so much that they feel they have to screw their customers to this extent, then it is time to sell off their stock to hit them where it hurts.

I opened the Citibank account because of the cash rebate benefit on purchases, the terms of which were not set to expire nor were they temporary. After not quite two years, they used the "we can do anything we want" clause of the CC agreement to completely wipe out the benefits.

Then I carried a balance a couple of months and discovered "double cycle billing," a practice that while technically legal, feels like a fraud. Their eagerness to refund the extra interest tells me they don't quite think what they were doing was right (I didn't even have to escalate).

Finally, when I filed a complaint for a bogus merchant charge, they temporarily "refunded" the amount and three months later re-charged it, and sent me a letter telling me they could do nothing now and I should take it up with the merchant. Unfortunately, due to my job, I had already moved 2700 miles away and was up a creek and out the money.

When I called to close the account, they gave me an "account closing specialist" whose job it was to try and talk me into staying. He was an arrogant man who was very combative/defensive/offensive and would listen to none of the above complaints without trying to convince me they were completely invalid. I guess we just couldn't come to an understanding, and it was clear Citibank really did not want me.

What can I say? How about this...

CITIBANK - NEVER AGAIN IN MY LIFETIME!

* Charge $1200 or more in purchases
* Make your payment on time every month.

"Each month you do, you will receive a credit on your billing statement equal to 10% of your total interest charge on your purchase balance. This can help offset the increase in your purchase APR. Start earning interest back in December and January, and you will see the full credit on your statement no later than February 2010 and monthly after that.

If in any month you do not pay on time, you may not be eligible to continue to participate in this program."

I always pay my bill on time, have had the card for about five years, and generally run an average of $800-$1000 per month through the card.

This change is not going to kill me unless I have an emergency, but I still can't help but feel like Citi is trying to screw me when I did nothing wrong...

@Mr_Human: We're leaving the land of credit cards in favor of cash and debit card. Debt hasn't done anything good for us, and the credit card providers are making it clear that they'd rather screw us than woo us as customers.

@Ihatephonecompanies:
X2, they can jack my rate to 35% for all I care, since I always pay the statement balance each month, IE no finance charges ever. If they start an annual fee, I'd probably redeem my cashback and close.

I totally agree, this is good advice.

I also called on mine (9.99% jump to 14.99% with 1200 10% deal)

I used all the tricks in the book:

Been a customer for over 10 years
They are getting basically free money from the fed
Billions in Tarp money (this one got them mad actually)

They tried to tell me that their service and "perks" (aka my 1% cash back) were worth it. This is not the case.

Its my oldest and best (used to be) card. Regardless I have a 6k balance on it and they would not budge so I just opted out. I hope to have the balance paid off by the time it closes.

Credit union here i come. This is no way to treat your good-standing customers who have stuck with you through daily CC offers from other companies.

Fuck You, Citibank

If you have a year or more until expiration then take the opt out for sure.

By the time your card expires the interest rate "problem" may be solved and they will be begging you to stay.

Lessons learned;

Never have just one credit card and use them regularly even if ust to pay off every month.

you can split those recurring charges between them

netflix
cellphone
transit costs
etc

anyone having any luck calling to ask for a lower rate?

If the OP is quoting exactly, they're not cutting half off the hike.
20% interest - 10% of interest charged = 18%

Tricky trickey Citi. No cookie for you.

@pb5000: GAH.

I pay my bills in full every month too, and I have a fair amount of savings, but I can't be sure that would be enough.

@Saboth: You're quite welcome to close your account and not utilize their service if you dislike it so much.

Yes, more regulation is surely the answer.

Here's the trick: They're going to keep seeking methods by which to be profitable. Any regulation that causes one of those methods to be illegal will simply force them to create a new method, and before long, you'll be calling for the government to simply nationalize the entire banking industry, because that's pretty much the only way to ensure that they never make very much profit.

@QADude: If you pay your bill every month, what does it matter what the interest rate is?

I've never paid a dime of credit card interest in my life. I literally have NO IDEA what my current APR is. They could raise it by 2000% and they would make just as much money off me as they currently do.

1) One or more credit card companies coming forth and offering to balance transfer balances from Citi customers to a lower fixed rate that they would guarantee for 1-2 years (I'd move mine immediately, I do have a balance on both cards)

2) The federal government suing them for screwing over their customer base by raising interest rates for no justifiable reason before new regulations go into effect.

ok, 3 - I sit back and laugh while a worthy company gets my CC business and I see Citi go down in flames.

@wbjugirl: I got the same letter but my terms were

Prime + 11.99% (14.99% at the moment)

plus

make $500 in purchases + pay on time to get 10% back.

Still trying to decide whether I want to cancel the card or not. Probably just pay it off and let it go inactive since its one of my oldest cards.

I got a nice letter giving me a 30% APR. I pay my bill every month. Well before it's due. Been a customer since 1989.

Time to look for a replacement...

My CR credit card has a fixed rate of 7.9%. Citi and the rest of them can eat it.

You should write back and say "fine, raise it to 100% for all I care. I'll continue to pay it off monthly, or stop using it altogether. 0 x 100% = 0, fools."

Sure, we wanted reform, and apparently we haven't had enough reform yet if they are pulling this crap. How is it legal to extort money from people, mandating they spend so much a month to maintain a rate? These companies have obviously gotten too big for their britches if they have to resort to underhanded tactics like this.

It is odd. I have a Citibank credit card. A "Fixed" (whatever that means anymore) 9.9% rate that I never carry a balance on. I am bombarded with balance transfer offers weekly. If I ahd a balance to transfer my assumption is they would chage the terms after it was moved to the citi account. I am waiting for the letter in the mail.

I got the Citi letter yesterday too.
I feel like one of the "lucky" ones after reading the comments: rate increase to 15.99% and the $500 "extra" per month. I didnt understand the interest, credit equation, too sleepy last night.

I've been their customer since 1988. I have a $25k credit limit. Looks like I will have to stop using the card except for a revolving charge each month (netflix) and occasional internet shopping to keep it active. I like what it does for my credit report so will keep it but not have it be my main card any longer.

Clearly Citi does not need their longterm goodstanding customers. They must be doing great then!

I don't keep a balance on any card, so a transfer is useless to me and I'm sure they know that. Unfortunately, as unemployment benefits temporarily run out for me right at the start of the holiday season... no one's going to find anything nice under my tree... actually, no tree either.

You all wanted credit card reform.

You've got it. Enjoy.

*something about the road to hell being paved with good intentions*

My broken record says: Join your local credit union.
They don't screw you like large corporations. Let's all stop using big banks and they'll go out of business and allow companies that don't want to screw you to thrive.

Citibank sent me a letter raising my interest rate to 29.99%. There was no such deal about tranferring balances or minimum monthly charges to lower it, but they did offer me an incredibly byzantine scheme whereby I designate certain charges as some sort of special 'loan' with an entirely different repayment schedule from the credit card and a lower interest rate - which would revert back to 30% if I missed or was late with a payment. I'm not sure what their game is with this. Anyone else get this offer?

@JohnQPublic: If you like your promotioal balance transfer rate, you can keep it ;)

If you're able to accept and offer and work out a budget to pay it off completely before it expires, you're probably in good hands. Even if the bank tries to follow in Chase's footsteps (getting people to pay 5% as their minimum payments), you're safe, since I haven't seen anything longer than a 12-month offer in a while.

Hopefully the card you're doing the balance transfer to doesn't have a balance.

I should probably look into CC terms at our credit union. We haven't carried a balance in years, but you never know what the future holds.

Problem is I'm not sure of the timing of doing so with the new CARD act and all of the last minute douchbaggery going on. Any protips on if I should balance tranfer now or wait?

But I agree that putting a bunch of frivolous crap on your card really isn't the best idea.

The tag should say, "Offers you can easily refuse."

I thought the same thing.

I mean, I would really have to go out of my way to charge $1200 each month (my requirement).

@Coelacanth: * 10% of the interest.

Last night was the last time I used my citibank card as my primary card. I will pay off my balance, leave the account open and not use again! I've been a customer of citibank CC's for over 18yrs, and this is the second time trying to do a money grab in the past year.

Congress really needs to push the start date of the Credit Fairness Act to this year!

@rickhamilton620: Age has nothing to do with it. It's about responsibility. I had a credit card at 16, and I never abused it. I'm looking at grad school, so it's especially important that I have a good credit history and a long credit history. If I hadn't started early, and kept everything well controlled, I probably wouldn't be able to get as low of an interest rate on my car or on any student loans I may need in the next year.

Just received my letter last night. Have to charge $1500/month in order to get 10% back. Really?

If anyone's charging $1500/month and not able to pay that off in full every month, they're doing something terribly, terribly wrong.

I will be calling to reject the offer.

I also received this letter as well. What a bunch of crap! All it boils down to is fee collection. I.e.: They built a bloated infrastructure that requires X number of dollars to operate and they don't want it change when the new credit laws take effect. If you keep the card, you will take the hit. If you opt to charge a certain amount per month, the vendors will take a hit in utilization fees.

What is even funnier to me is that you can just balance transfer what you have to another Citi card and get 0 percent and pay a fee. Depending on how large your balance is that you are working on, the fee tends to be less than the new horrid interest rate over time.

Ugh. Managing credit blows.

And you CAN save up for something and then buy it with a CC. Thats what I do. Let the funds build up in the savings account, and once they are there, pay with the CC. And then pay it off entirely using the saved funds.

"If I do that, they will credit me back 10% of interest charged. A friend of mine got a similar offer, but only has to charge $500 a month."

The wording is tricky and Phil didn't help matters by saying the interest rate would be cut in half. I'm glad I don't have a single Citibank card. Now school loans on the other hand, I'm praying they don't start jacking up interest rates because they can.

There are reasons other than emergencies to use a CC.

Extended Warranties, Fraud protection, rewards points, insurance, etc etc.

Are these necessary? No. But they add good value at best times, and save a lot of ass in bad ones (CC stolen/ unauthorized charges).

A CC in the end is just a sharp tool, and its effectiveness for YOU is defined by how YOU use it.

That is like saying that no one should use a Chef's knife because they are big, sharp and can take out fingers - and that you can chop onions with smaller knives just fine. All true, but if you know how to use it (and practice with it safely) you can get pretty effing excellent results with it, without any accidents.

I put about $2500 a month on misc. credit cards. Most of these cards went from below 10% up to 13% and 14% over the past couple months. I don't carry a balance ever, so it doesn't really matter to me much.

However, if one of those cards told me to constantly keep my spending at $1000 a month and I could have a 10% interest rate, I'd happily start charging that amount to that card. There might be a time when I do have to carry a balance and I'd much rather pay 10% rather then 14%.

There are plenty of "What if" scenarios where this deal works out well and I have a feeling you'll see a lot more banks offering lower interest rates to those who use their cards more since they generate more income and will yield a higher interest payment if they need to carry a balance.

They are not knocking off half the interest if the OP charges $750 a month. They are knocking off 10% OF THE INTEREST, lowering his effective rate to 18%, assuming Citi actually issues the refund.

This story has been reported correctly on Consumerist before.

Go back to the whole minimum purchase issue with companies, the more you use the card the more money people make.

Idk, it's stories like this that make me think it's a good thing to not have a credit card at 20.

Then again, I know I have to establish a credit history that's more than just on time (or early) payments of my Verizon Wireless bill. And a card would be a good thing to have for emergencies..

Oh well. :)

I got the same letter, but my terms were 20.99% and must charge $1500 per month. They're my card that's been open the longest and has the most amount of credit available, so I'm hesitating to close.

@NeverLetMeDown: Precisely. I put everything on credit. I have precisely 25 cents in my purse, and I reap the benefits of bonus points.

On the other hand, I can opt out and continue to use the card as-is until it expires, at which time the account will be closed and I will have to continue to pay it off. I don't carry much - or any - balance on this card, so it wouldn't affect me too much either way.

I'll probably opt-out and let them close it in 18 months.

@speedwell, new and improved: I am with you on this. People didn't use to finance everything- TV, furniture, groceries. If you wanted a whole bedroom suite, you bought it as you could afford it.

What's so wrong with this?

@speedwell, new and improved:

It's only buying "on credit" if you carry a balance.

So they are effectively giving you an %18 rate. There has to be some law they are breaking by deceiving customers this way...

So the net effect here is I MUST keep a balance on my card in order for this deal to work out in my favor. And while that balance is there I have to spend $9000/year for the privilege of a 10% lower interest rate. So essentially unless I have a $90,000 balance already or plan on accruing that much debt in a year, it's smarter to decline the offer.

Am I missing something or is my math off by that much?

Bingo!

@Ihatephonecompanies: Or, you could save the money in advance you would otherwise have paid the credit card company, and buy what you need as you plan for it. (Come on, is EVERYTHING you buy on credit an emergency necessity? Didn't think so.)

I got the same letter yesterday: "To continue to provide our customers with access to credit, we have had to adjust our pricing." ...

My offer was APR to 23.99%, with 10% per month credit if I spend $1500 or more in purchases and make a payment on time.

No thank you. I opted out. The opt-out terms are that I may continue using my card until it expires, then they will cancel my account and I may continue to pay it under its current terms.

I'm thinking of getting another card with a lower rate for emergencies. Any ideas?

Prediction: eventually, they're going to start telling us that we're not ALLOWED to make timely, monthly payments on our credit cards. They'll call it "interest-dodging" if we do.

I think mine was even more....like $1250 or something.