Adios to Citi Dividend Platinum Select?
It appears that Citibank took the links to apply for the Citi Dividend Platinum Select card off their site. If you follow an old link and try to apply you get a message that they are making changes to the card. Unfortunately “improvements” is probably not the right term. Several months ago I discussed about Chase no longer accepting new applications for their gas/grocery/pharmacy 5% back cards and the possibility of the end of 5% rewards cards. I was hoping that I was overreacting but I guess I wasn’t.
Also of note, it seems Citibank has also removed other cashback cards such as that version of the Simplicity card. They probably lose less money with the thank you network than straight cash back.
The rumors are that the Citi Dividend Platinum Select will only give 2% back on the everyday purchases and the “improvement” will be they also include utility and cable bills.
I just finished paying off a 0% balance transfer offer and was just starting to use this card a lot so these changes are extremely disapointing to me. If true I don’t think I will use it anymore as I can get 2% back elsewhere. I can use the Chase card for everyday purchases until they decide to end the program for current card holders. I’m guessing that will happen within the next year.
September 16th, 2006 at 12:38 am
The recent changes to the cash back rewards of the Citi Dividend MasterCard prompted me to do some personal analysis to find the best mix of cash back cards for my spending patterns.
That personal analysis inspired me to build a general-purpose tool to help anyone determine the single best card or mix of N cards that will maximize their cash back rewards. You just plug in how much you spend each month (broken out by categories for best results) and you’re presented with a list of recommended cards sorted from best to worst by your expected annual reward. If having more than one card and using each card to its strengths could yield a greater total reward, then each combination of the Best N cards is presented as well.
You can see the tool at http://www.creditcardtuneup.com/ .