Citi Dividend Platinum Select: THE best credit card. PERIOD
Written: Jan 07 '05 (Updated Jul 07 '07)
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Pros: Unbeatable 5% cash back at grocery stores, drugstores and gasoline stations.
Cons: Online rewards balance is rather cryptic. $300 rewards limit/calendar year.
The Bottom Line: Unless you don't ever purchase gas and groceries (HAH!) this is the best rewards card out there today. Rewards flow in quick and checks mailed out even faster.
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| boden11's Full Review: Citi Dividend Platinum Select |
UPDATE 7/7/07: Note--Citi no longer offers this credit card, and current cardholders now receive a greatly reduced 2% off where 5% off was the norm. I no longer recommend this card and suggest you look elsewhere for a rewards card. I have left the original review intact for entertainment reading:
I realize in the past some of my reviews on credit cards and credit card tools haven't come to any great conclusion. I've talked about how the product might be good for some but would be pretty useless or even harmful for others. Well all that is coming to a stop with this review...
The Citi Dividend Platinum Select Card
After searching futilely for many months after Chase cancelled their Stockback card I finally stumbled across the Citi Dividend Platinum Select card. I had read some reviews about it before--mostly from fatwallet and was intrigued by the "5% Cashback" available at some locales. It was interesting, but to be honest I never really considered it until I was mailed an application from Citi.
I opened it up and read over all the terms:
5% Cash Back at:
*Gasoline stations, including purchases made inside
*Supermarkets, from small local one and two-chain shops to the big ones like Kroger, Vons, Ralphs and so on
*Drugstores
1% Cash Back at on all other purchases including even a 1% cash back for Balance Transfers and cash convenience checks.
Also the rate then was very generous--I received a 7.99% Fixed APR, I believe the rate now is still a fair 10.74% Variable. There is also no annual fee for this credit card and the minimum finance charge is $0.50. This card does only have a 20 day grace period which I'm not so enthusiastic about. The 5% Cash Back is accrued as you make purchases, not just at the end of each billing cycle. Whenever you have a balance of 50 or more dividend dollars you can request a check (either calling a 1-800# or visiting their website) and they will mail it to you by 10 business days.
There is unfortunately a maximum of 300 dividend dollars you can earn a year. This is calculated from January-December, so no matter when you signup, once the new year starts you have a fresh $300 limit to work with. However, citi also has what they call a "Citi Dividend merchant network" where you can earn additional %'ages (on top of the 1% for everyday) at selected online *AND* in-store merchants. While the instore offers aren't very helpful (most are Travel and Cruise places like Royal Carribean and Carnial Cruises) there is a big list of online shops. I'll list some of the big ones here to give you a taste:
Best Buy, Barnes and Noble, Buy.com, Compusa, Dell Home, Eddie Bauer, Expedia.com, Equifax, ok actually that's enough for now. The great thing about this dividend network is that you can earn the advertised cash back rates even if you've already hit your $300 dollar limit. There is also NO limit of how much you can earn from shopping at their network of stores. Some of them are gimmicky however, such as Cingular wireless. You don't actually earn extra money by paying your bill, but if you were to signup for a Cingular plan you could earn $30.
Well how well does it work?
Simply put: AWESOME! I've had this card for about 4 months and I've already received over $110 in checks from citi. I'm averaging about a 3% reward from all my purchases combined. Also, every time I've requested a check citi has then given me a bonus 1% for 90 days. I realize I will hit the cap of $300 a little early, but I could always try to signup for another one...
Also, citi has a very good webpage (even if it is a tad on the ugly side) which really puts the cardholder in control. You can link a bank account and schedule payments, ask for an increased credit line, request balance transfers and even pay other bills online! I currently use their online payment (to pay the credit card off) and it works really well. Any request made before 1PM EST on a business day will post THAT DAY, otherwise it will post the next business day. You can really put off paying your balance until virtually the last day possible (as long as you plan ahead).
Citi also has past statements available online WITHOUT having to enroll in an online statement only plan. They show you your current closing date, current statement balance, last statement, last statement date and last payment. Your total credit line is clearly visible along with your available credit (it is updated pretty quickly and factors in pending charges that have not yet been posted).
Even your citi dividend account balance and activity is available. This brings me to my ONE and only complaint about this program. The online site is VERY confusing and it is nearly impossible to tell what your current balance is. I'll copy and paste my account balance information to show you what I mean:
Dividend Dollars — Lifetime Activity
Previous Statement Div Dollar Total 18.42
Total Div Dollar Earned This Period 9.40
Total Div Dollar Redeemed 103.20
Total Div Dollar Available 15.86
Dividend Dollars — Unbilled Activity
Base Div Dollar Earned 0.00
Total Div Dollar Earned This Period 0.00
WOW!! Actually however it does seem to be fairly accurate as of today (yeah right). It is nearly impossible to figure out what anything means. For instance it shows I earned $9.40 "THIS PERIOD" but yet $0.00 "Total Div Dollar Earned THIS PERIOD." In fact, just the other day it showed I had a NEGATIVE $20 Div Dollar available after requesting a check, and now it has jumped to $15.86 after requesting one. And Base vs Total?? What does it MEAAAANNNN???
To be fair the breakdown that comes with your actual statement that gets mailed each month is rather simple. However the information shown on the webpage is laughable at best. My advice is to simply keep requesting a check on the webpage after you've spent a fair amount of money. The computer will let you know if you have at least $50 available to get a check (and will even show you your correct balance if you can get one). Otherwise if you haven't hit that $50 threshold it just spits back a long winded error message.
I can't actually count this against the card very much as it is basically the best rewards card available. You don't have to wait until the end of a billing cycle to receive any rewards, and the rewards are a-plenty. Combined with some coupon clipping and upromise.com linking you could save some serious coin by just doing what you always do...SHOP!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
boden11
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Location: California
Reviews written: 126
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About Me:
boden11 loves gambling...errr investing in the stock market and and doing his own taxes
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