Strategy to get Citi Prestige

[spatone]

Hi all,

With the MasterCard ban now gone, I am thinking of getting my hands on Citi Prestige before the sun sets on Citi in India.

I already have a 4+ years old Citi Indian Oil Card but with a meagre limit of 1.2 lakhs. Did not use it for anything other than fuel and Citi offers so never bothered to get the limit enhanced.

I barely reach their 25LPA ITR criteria for last FY, but have a solid 800+ CIBIL and an employer that should be on their whitelist (if it exists).

So here are my questions:
1. Is it advisable to try my luck with Prestige?
2. Should I try to get my existing limit enhanced and then request an upgrade? Or,
3. Should I apply afresh with the documents?

Any insights would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[dhshankar]

Have you never got the LE offer after holding the CC and suvidha account for 10 years? Or have you taken the CC recently?

holding since 2017.. I don't remember getting LE offer (not sure if I had missed any)

 

[ChurningNoob]

They'll do it immediately.

I'm curious to know how do you guys manage to keep so many paid premium cards. I'm eligible for magnus and prestige too but 10k and 20k is expensive and difficult to hit limit to avail waiver.

Do you guys have some trick or do you get LTF?

 

[joshi.mohit86]

Don't they give before 6 months?

They don’t, they review the limit only after 6 months of previous enhancement.

 

[joshi.mohit86]

I'm curious to know how do you guys manage to keep so many paid premium cards. I'm eligible for magnus and prestige too but 10k and 20k is expensive and difficult to hit limit to avail waiver.

Do you guys have some trick or do you get LTF?

Afaik, Citi don’t offer LTF.
I’ve also recently taken Magnus. Even I don’t hit the waiver limit. But I feel value of such cards is not by direct rewards they offer, though I’m not the one utilising them to max.

Previously I held SBI’s elite, upgraded from gold and more card. It used to somewhat justify the annual fee by providing the free movie tickets until covid hit the country. They don’t really care about the customer, like in ‘21 I was short of 1 or 2 lakhs by hitting their annual fee waiver limit and had to raise ticket and escalate it till multiple levels for the waiver since there were very less avenues to spend (i was able to cross the limit in ‘20 though due to some medical emergency). After spending months on the ticket and 2/3 escalations, they finally provided rewards worth annual fee. And in ‘22 I called their customer support team if they can provide it as LTF else cancel it. And got it cancelled after wasting couple of hours in the call with their retention team since they don’t bother about the customer, their target is to sell another lower card if a customer is wanting to close their (so called) premium card. I was repeatedly telling him I already hold another simplyCLICK, but he was only giving me other options…. And after wasting more then one hour of my time, the call got disconnected and they didn’t bothered to call me again.
The next time I called them, the lady who attended the call from the retention team was a bit more sensible and since I told her not to do the regular thing they do of providing any other card as I’d already wasted lots of my time on that. She understood and went ahead with the closure.
Mentioned this little off the question reply, since it was a pain of holding (which I realised once the pandemic hit and they didn’t bother about the customer) the (so called) premium card from the second best player in the market.

 

[Sub]

If you have a long-standing relation with Citi, then call up the Prestige helpline directly. Else, ideally, move to Premier miles and then ask for an upgrade. Will be very helpful in case you accumulate a bunch of points on premier miles and then upgrade to Prestige so you can effectively double your miles. Citi is stingy with credit limit indeed, and they will not waive annual fees for Prestige... But the fees are pretty much paid back with the value you get.

 

[ChurningNoob]

True ... I don't even take CCs with 500 something annual fees 😂

No wonder we are not in the VIP lounge 🤣

 

[ChurningNoob]

We just have to play the game strategically

Tell me more about this strategy @souvikdey2002

I have AU Zenith and IDFC Wealth as LTF

 

[souvikdey2002]

Afaik, Citi don’t offer LTF.
I’ve also recently taken Magnus. Even I don’t hit the waiver limit. But I feel value of such cards is not by direct rewards they offer, though I’m not the one utilising them to max.

Previously I held SBI’s elite, upgraded from gold and more card. It used to somewhat justify the annual fee by providing the free movie tickets until covid hit the country. They don’t really care about the customer, like in ‘21 I was short of 1 or 2 lakhs by hitting their annual fee waiver limit and had to raise ticket and escalate it till multiple levels for the waiver since there were very less avenues to spend (i was able to cross the limit in ‘20 though due to some medical emergency). After spending months on the ticket and 2/3 escalations, they finally provided rewards worth annual fee. And in ‘22 I called their customer support team if they can provide it as LTF else cancel it. And got it cancelled after wasting couple of hours in the call with their retention team since they don’t bother about the customer, their target is to sell another lower card if a customer is wanting to close their (so called) premium card. I was repeatedly telling him I already hold another simplyCLICK, but he was only giving me other options…. And after wasting more then one hour of my time, the call got disconnected and they didn’t bothered to call me again.
The next time I called them, the lady who attended the call from the retention team was a bit more sensible and since I told her not to do the regular thing they do of providing any other card as I’d already wasted lots of my time on that. She understood and went ahead with the closure.
Mentioned this little off the question reply, since it was a pain of holding (which I realised once the pandemic hit and they didn’t bother about the customer) the (so called) premium card from the second best player in the market.

Citi does offer but with Indian Oil only, I have it.

Exact same feeling with Axis even,
They don't want to give any Limit Enhancement, don't care about the Customer & doesn't give any LTF.
They even don't care if you want to close their cards.

But I guess, they way Indian Credit Card Market is booming now a days, very shortly SBI & Axis also have to come up with Good Limit Enhancement along with free Cards.

 

[souvikdey2002]

No wonder we are not in the VIP lounge 🤣

I fall in to your league only.
Don't pay anything so far for any card issuance.

 

[souvikdey2002]

Tell me more about this strategy @souvikdey2002

I have AU Zenith and IDFC Wealth as LTF

I'm a bit old now.
@anirbanm is going through the journey now, he will be able to share his experience.

 

[Gkcards]

Any idea by when will citi start issuing prestige on mastercard

 

[vortexape]

2 vs 12 year credit history

Hey Anirban, do you have any idea if LTF CITI prestige is being offered? Is that even possible?
I have good CL on my CITI Rewards card and the card is about 7 years old. Would not hurt speaking to the bank for an LTF upgrade I guess.
Any thoughts?

 

[Gkcards]

Hey Anirban, do you have any idea if LTF CITI prestige is being offered? Is that even possible?
I have good CL on my CITI Rewards card and the card is about 7 years old. Would not hurt speaking to the bank for an LTF upgrade I guess.
Any thoughts?

I dont think they will offer prestige LTF but you can try

 

[vortexape]

I dont think they will offer prestige LTF but you can try

I did try, they're not even offering it LTF to CitiGold customers, so we stand little chance. Haha!

 

[dhshankar]

I did try, they're not even offering it LTF to CitiGold customers, so we stand little chance. Haha!

Prestige card is complimentary for CitiGold Private customers with 7.5cr NRV

 

[vortexape]

Prestige card is complimentary for CitiGold Private customers with 7.5cr NRV

Appreciate your response, 7.5 Cr NRV is a dream too far fetched at the moment. Guess I'll take a pass.

 

[dhshankar]

Appreciate your response, 7.5 Cr NRV is a dream too far fetched at the moment. Guess I'll take a pass.

I requested Citi to issue Prestige LTF based on my relationship with Citi for 10+ years, but they rejected with this response.

Now, checking if they do for at least for PremierMiles card (as LTF)

 

[abc.xyz]

I requested Citi to issue Prestige LTF based on my relationship with Citi for 10+ years, but they rejected with this response.

Now, checking if they do for at least for PremierMiles card (as LTF)

You can request for upgrade if its CL is > 3L

 

[dhshankar]

You can request for upgrade if its CL is > 3L

Aware of minimum limit for upgrade , but I requested LTF condition

 

[abc.xyz]

Aware of minimum limit for upgrade , but I requested LTF condition

Does citi really give out LTF and that too for prestige? Let me know if you get it.