The only card I'll ever need
Written: Aug 02 '08 (Updated Aug 05 '08)
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Pros: Customer Service.
% and %+ cash back on regular purchases.
Cons: If you carry a balance, the fees can get quite large.
The Bottom Line: I would recommend this card to anyone who intends to use it as a credit substitute for cash or checks. Used in that way, it's a fantastic experience.
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| random_distill's Full Review: Citibank |
I've had many credit cards over the years, but this one has always given me the best service and options. I got it right out of college and it's been nothing but a smooth ride for twenty years. I carry other cards at the moment, but this is the only one that I use, and I use it for as much as I can. If I could use it to pay for everything, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Customer service is quick to help you with whatever you need and has been great about explaining different options available for the cards over the years.
I remember making the transition from Citibank Visa to Citibank MasterCard several years ago, for example, and it was virtually seamless. Same thing with the cash back rewards card account. They even let me keep my old number so I didn't have to change it with my automatic payments.
I especially like their website. You can do everything you need to for free, including viewing past statements and current unbilled activity, which helps me with month to month budgeting. I do all my banking online, and setting up an automatic electronic payment from my bank is fairly painless. I also have paperless statements, which makes sense for me. I get an email every time a statement is generated instead of having to wait for it in the mail. There is also a nice feature on the website where you can set up a "virtual account number" for your account. You set up a temporary card number and use it just like you would you own account number except that it has a limited lifetime and you use it for one specific merchant. This is so that your regular card number can't be stolen and used for something else. This is such a neat feature and it's completely free.
There is no membership fee for this particular card. The grace period for paying off the balance is 20 days from the date of the statement. I pay my balance off completely every month, and I have never taken cash advances, so any account fees for late or partial payments don't apply to me and I can't speak to how these are calculated. This may color my view of them, so keep that in mind. My current rate is about 17%, but that doesn't mean much to me, though it sounds like a lot, and I looked it up specifically for this review. In addition to the revolving credit percentages, there is also a late fee The cash back bonuses have been cut back a bit the last couple of years, but it's still very competitive. This is being written in mid-2008 during a banking crisis. I am sure Citibank is huge enough to make it through, but the fact that they had to get offshore investment to help prop them up does not give me a good feeling.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
random_distill
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Reviews written: 6
Trusted by: 0 members
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