Citi Diamond Preferred Rewards Card

[JoyJoy]

Need some information about this card please.

Does anyone have this card and was it a pre-approved offer when you got it? Was your beginning credit limit $500.00 or more? Your opinion about the card would be appreciated also.

[Russell]

I just got it this month, its my first rewards card. Out of all the ones listed on their site for me this seemed a better card. I got 5000 rewards points for signing up, good for a $50 gift card. You get 5 points for ever dollar spent at the supermarkets and gas stations. 1 point per dollar on other purchases (not sure if online or phone purchases qualify).

Seems decent - the credit limit will be different for everyone based upon your credit score. I've also had a regular Citi card since '94 so my credit limit is pretty high with them - I need to lower it since I don't like too high a limit on my cards.

[JoyJoy]

Thanks Russell! I understand Amex and Citi are going to be merging some of their cards and this Citi Diamond Preferred Rewards Card is supposed to be an excellent rewards card. This card requires excellent credit, according to card ratings. Nice 0% BT too until 3/01/07.

[sweeps]

The 10,000 points (good for a $100 gift card) for signing up is nice. But in the long run, the Citibank Dividend Platinum Select card is better because you get your rewards in cash.

[Russell]

Interesting I didn't see the 10k points offer when I signed up. So I only got 5k points

[kichu]

I got one of this with 10000 points for signing up, although I have to wait 1-2 billing cycle before claiming the gift card. I used a promotional code from local newspaper to get the bonus points. It looks like their rewards are better than many other reward cards (just personnel opinion).

[BTC]

I have a Citibank Diamond Preferred card, but I don't think it's of the Rewards variety. It came with 15 months of 0% interest on balance transfers and no associated transaction fees, which was nice.

[mccartygirl]

We have the Diamond Preferred rewards card and we love it! We're currently remodelling and I had saved up my points, got $100 gift card to Best Buy, with that and my other gift certs to B Buy - got our expensive stove for $100 out of our pocket. Going to use my next $100 gift card to Home Depot. They also have it so that you can use points to lower interest rates or pay on your balance. We really like the card.

[sweeps]

mccartygirl, this may be too late for your remodeling project, but you can get 3% rewards on all home improvement purchases with the Chase Home Improvement Rewards card. This includes purchases at home supply warehouse stores; lumber/building supply stores; glass/paint/wallpaper stores; or hardware stores.

[flash]

Originally Posted by Sweepsplayer

The 10,000 points (good for a $100 gift card) for signing up is nice. But in the long run, the Citibank Dividend Platinum Select card is better because you get your rewards in cash.

Absolutely agree, the dividend card is better IMHO. 5% cash back on gas, groceries, and pharmacy. Not as great as AMEX, with no caps and an annual rewards check automatically issued, but the AMEX has it's own issues.

Rewards cards indicate you will earn rewards faster, but you have to want the rewards. Some offer cruises, travel, which defeat the purpose to me. I'd rather plan my own vacation and find my own deals, and have the cash. g/c's too, it's almost impossible to spend exactly the $ amount, so you either spend extra money (maybe that you wouldn't have otherwise), or you leave money on the table.

I'd take the cash, and get my own rewards.

BTW, if you have the rewards card, you can call and they will switch it right over to the dividends. Not to say you should, just that you can.

[JoyJoy]

The dividend card does seem like a better card to have in that I have the Amex Gold Reward Card. Cash is better I agree!!

Thanks everyone for the information!!

[DivaJen]

Re: the Citibank Dividend Platinum Select card - is there a cap to how much money you can get back in a year? We're getting ready to dump our rewards card and switch to a cash back card.

[sweeps]

Jen, yes, there is a $300/year limit on rewards. However you can also get the Chase Cash Plus card which is essentially the same card and same limit. Once I hit the max on the Citibank, I switch over to the Chase.

[DivaJen]

Originally Posted by Sweepsplayer

Jen, yes, there is a $300/year limit on rewards. However you can also get the Chase Cash Plus card which is essentially the same card and same limit. Once I hit the max on the Citibank, I switch over to the Chase.

Thanks for the feedback and alternate card suggestion. We use our cc for just about everything, and it would be nice to maximize the rewards.

[JBinKC]

I use the Citibank dividend card for my gas/food and drugstore purchases for a 5% rebate and my Chase PerfectCard for my 1% purchases. The Citibank card needs $50 accumulated before redemption and Chase pays the reward immediately back on the next statement. Over the last few years I have realized many hundreds in savings from exclusively using the cards and paying them on autopay. As I get the rewards pay no postage and get the maximum amount of interest out of my money.

[DivaJen]

Originally Posted by JBinKC

I use the Citibank dividend card for my gas/food and drugstore purchases for a 5% rebate and my Chase PerfectCard for my 1% purchases. The Citibank card needs $50 accumulated before redemption and Chase pays the reward immediately back on the next statement. Over the last few years I have realized many hundreds in savings from exclusively using the cards and paying them on autopay. As I get the rewards pay no postage and get the maximum amount of interest out of my money.

Thanks for the feedback

[sweeps]

Originally Posted by JBinKC

I use the Citibank dividend card for my gas/food and drugstore purchases for a 5% rebate and my Chase PerfectCard for my 1% purchases. The Citibank card needs $50 accumulated before redemption and Chase pays the reward immediately back on the next statement.

I'm not sure I understand the logic of that approach. You're right, you have to accumulate $50 before getting a check sent to you, but for that reason you should throw everything you can at it to get over that amount (including the 1% purchases).

Now if your secondary card paid more than 1% on the other purchases, your approach would make sense to me. For example, the Fidelity/MBNA cards pay 1.5% to a general investment account or 2% to a 529 account.

[sweeps]

One more comment on the advantage of cash rewards over non-cash rewards. When requesting a non-cash reward (gift card, airline voucher, etc.), the CC company disclaims any liability if the item gets lost in delivery. If you want guaranteed delivery, you usually have to pay a FedEx delivery charge which is $10 - $20 or more. Cash rewards come as a check. No extra charge. If the check gets lost in the mail, they simply stop pay and issue another one.

[Russell]

OK so I think I'll close my diamond preferred rewards card and get the dividend card instead (I don't like to have too many CCs...and the rewards card was recently opened so I don't think closing it would affect my credit).

However, I don't see any sign-up bonus points for the dividend card, anyone has a promo code for it ?

[JoyJoy]

Originally Posted by Russell

OK so I think I'll close my diamond preferred rewards card and get the dividend card instead (I don't like to have too many CCs...and the rewards card was recently opened so I don't think closing it would affect my credit).

However, I don't see any sign-up bonus points for the dividend card, anyone has a promo code for it ?

Can Citi switch your cards without you closing it?