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There are two things regarding Citibank in the news lately that I thought I’d share.  You might already be affected, or it may serve more as a cautionary tale for the future.citibank

Funding shutdown

First off comes the news that Citibank is no longer allowing you to fund checking accounts with a credit card.  I had written about this a few months ago during a Citigold promotion that offered 50,000 Thankyou Points or 50,000 American AAdvantage miles for opening up a Citigold checking account and meeting a few minimal criteria

(SEE ALSO: The ongoing drama trying to fund my Citigold checking account)

One of the added perks to opening up the Citigold checking account was that ADDITIONALLY, you could make the initial funding of the account with a credit card.  That is what I did, and after combining the credit limits of my Bank of America Alaska cards, I funded it with a $39,000 “purchase”.  Although I got a comment on Twitter that doing so was unethical or dishonest in some way, I am not sure I agree with that.

In any case, Miles to Memories is reporting that Citibank has stopped this ability to fund checking accounts with a credit card.  There is also discussion about this on Reddit, Flyertalk, Frequent Miler and in the comments on this Doctor of Credit post.  I am not surprised that Citibank has made this change.  There IS a current Citigold 50K bonus going on, which is still probably worth doing, but just note that you’ll “only” get 50,000 points.

Citibank credit card account closures

The other Citibank related news is that they selectively closed several people’s credit card accounts

ban-hammer

I first saw the news reported on Doctor of Credit, and there is also discussion on Flyertalk as well.  The general consensus now has been that most (but not all) of the shutdowns have been to people who have done a fairly high amount of spending

As we’ve discussed on this blog before, the rules are getting tighter. From the Chase 5/24 rule to Serve and Bluebird accounts getting shutdown, it’s always a smart idea to diversify your miles and points generating!

Readers: Have any of you been affected by either the Citibank account shutdowns or the removal of the ability to fund checking accounts with a credit card?


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