Citi AAdvantage gives you the World of travel
Written: Apr 26 '03 (Updated May 15 '03)
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Pros: air mileage, quick replacement of lost card
Cons: none serious
The Bottom Line: Good travel reward card
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| Arthur.Rubin's Full Review: American Airlines AAdvantage (Citibank) |
I haven't had any problems with this card -- but, as in my last credit card review, let me first tell you about my usage of the card. I have a 5-figure credit limit on the card, (2/3 available for cash advances), which I've never pushed. I usually use run up about $1,500-4,000 each month, which I pay promptly. (BTW, in case you're wondering, much of this is medical bills, some of which are later reimbursed by insurance.) Almost all of my recurring monthly charges are also on this card, including ISP services, so I wouldn't consider using the card for balance transfers. On this card, I'm only familiar with normal (heavy) use, so I'm not familiar with their promotional rates or additional services.
Mileage awards
As usual, the card allocates one mile per dollar spent, up to an annual limit depending on your card level. I believe the minimum limit is 60,000 miles/year, and it's 85,000 for my Platinum card. (As you may recall, a single round trip within the continental US costs 25,000 miles.)
Late fees
According to my records, I've made one late payment since 1999 (actually, the check was lost in the mail). After about a week and a half, I called them to see if they'd received the payment. At their suggestion, I issued a stop payment and resent the check. The late fee was reversed, but not the interest.
Over-limit fees
They claim that, at this card level, the "credit limit" is only advisory, as long as the amount over the "credit limit" is paid the following month. I wouldn't know.
Merchant disputes
The only "merchant" disputes I've had on this card were on special offers made by the card, such as "Credentials", "Credit Protection", etc. Sometimes I don't remember to call within the 30 day "free trial" period. For those billed annually, I usually get the full credit within 2 billing periods. For those billed monthly, I sometimes have one month's charge remaining on my credit.
I can't say those are necessarily Citibank's fault. Think of it as another stupid tax.
Security
Citibank security rarely contacts us. On the other hand, they ask a lot of questions if you call in a lost card. On December 23, 2002, I lost my card at a restaurant in Florida. Fortunately my wife still had her card, or we wouldn't have been able to identify ourselves sufficiently to call in the lost card. That evening, we called Citibank with our information. We wanted the replacement cards sent to our hotel, because we were traveling in Florida. They took down some information, and then said we had to call back during business hours to arrange the card mailing. We did that, gave some more personal information, and the cards were FedEx'd shortly. We received them on the 26th.
BTW, although the statements we received made no distinction between charges on the old card and on the new card, the web site did, so we could tell that no charges were made on the old card after we lost it.
Web site
In additional to the usual statements (6 months worth) and transactions since the last statements, you can set various alerts which you can be informed of by E-mail, including:
-- minimum payment not yet received (about a week before the due date)
-- statement available
-- payment received
---- (the above alerts have no personal information; neither the dollar amount nor any identification of which credit card)
-- current balance is $XXXX (daily, weekly, or monthly)
-- outstanding credit exceeding $xxxx, available credit less than $xxx (Yes, these are available separately. I don't know why it's not a single checkbox with a secondary option.)
-- credit limit exceeded
Alerts which do not seem to be available include :
-- single transaction exceeding $xxx
-- merchant credits received
-- balance transfer posted
-- late fee or over limit fee applied (well, you can read it on the statement when it's available)
-- late fee or over limit fee rescinded
-- interest rescinded
-- payment check bounced (this happened to me twice, actually -- it was the other bank's fault)
Nominal interest rate: 14.65% for purchases, 11.65% for cash advances (yes, I know that's reversed from normal cards)
Promotional balance transfer interest rate: 2.9% (The promotional rate does not apply to new purchases)
Promotional rate term: Approximately 6 months
Balance transfer fee: Normally 3% (minimum $5, maximum $50). Waived for the most recent promotional offer.
Grace period (actual): 25 days. There is, of course, no actual grace period on cash advances.
Card Level: Well, the card is black in color, but it says Citi AAdvantage World MasterCard - platinum level.
My related reviews:
http://www.epinions.com/content_2580455556 on Credit Card Promotional Rates
http://www.epinions.com/content_59646971524 on MBNA
http://www.epinions.com/content_60183907972 on Discover Card
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Arthur.Rubin
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 in Personal Finance |
 in Personal Finance |
 - Top 500 |
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Member: Arthur Rubin
Location: Brea, CA, USA
Reviews written: 97
Trusted by: 109 members
About Me:
Expert in mathematics, computers, income tax, with a wide variety of interests.
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