Citibank Singapore credit card cancellation offer - spend and get

I was recently reviewing my credit cards, as I have realised I have started to sign up and accumulate too many credit cards. 

As you can only really spend so much time managing and ensuring you make payments on time for your credit cards to a certain point. Every month is different, some months I have more time to review the details, other months not so much so. So it's a manner of looking at the key credit cards that I like to use and which ones to keep.

So through my personal review of my credit cards, it happened to be the Citibank Rewards SMRT Platinum Visa Credit Card it card that I owned that I was looking to cancel.

As most Singaporeans, this means calling the bank and walking through the cancellation process. 

The Citibank Singapore cancellation process gave me a surprise, mainly as they have established a well set up cancellation process for their credit card customers like myself. In that, they offer a 50 SGD cashback after spending 100 SGD in the following month. 

Essentially the key messaging/ questions from them was:

• Why do you want to cancel? If I recall correct, they had preset categories: 1) Leaving country?, 2) Change in job/ no job?, 3) Visa changed?, 4) Others (please share)
• "We respect your decision to cancel, but..." 


• Retention offer - offer a 50 SGD cashback after spending 100 SGD in the following month. 

When I was on the call with the Citibank Singapore cancellations department, the customer representative explained this retention offer briefly, and then sent me to a pre-recording message with the offer details, and then I was sent back to the customer rep. It was a fast recording which also included a link with more details, but was explained really fast. Overall, it sounded reasonable so I signed up for it, thinking I had nothing to lose (as I was paying no annual fees for the first two years of my credit card). Though I was expecting a follow up email or sms about it to confirm the offer, especially since it seems like a well thought out and structured retention process. But I didn't, at least at first.

I waited a week or so, and you might call me fussy, but I felt insecure about receiving no confirmed details. So I called the bank again and decided to cancel my Citibank Singapore credit card. This was regardless of the new Citibank customer representative explaining this same retention offer. 

I recently received this sms from Citibank Singapore though, which finally has the link that I have been looking for, but much too late I'd say. 

So I am sharing the details here in case someone else is like me and missed the very fast mention of this Citibank credit card stay a customer offer from the bank. They are calling it "Citi Credit Card Retention - Spend and Get Promotion offer.

Citi Credit Card Retention - Spend and Get Promotion offer

Citi Credit Card Retention - Spend and Get Promotion and your qualifying spend period starts from 01 JUL 2019 and ends on 31 JUL 2019. T&C apply www.citibank.com.sg/r50

I would pay attention to this particular section:

So you'll need to take note and be prepared to factor in that you'll need to keep the credit card active for 3 months more.

My timeline:

• June 2019 - called Citi to cancel and received offer
• July 2019 - offer would have been active, if I fulfilled requirements
• August 2019 - wait
• September 2019 - wait for the last day of the month - 30 Sep 2019 for the offer to be registered on my account

This link www.citibank.com.sg/r50 redirects you to this link (which is current as of this time of writing on July 2019)

http://www.citibank.com.sg/global_docs/pdf/Retention-Spend-and-Get-Promotion-TandC.pdf

Citi Credit Card – Retention Spend and Get Promotion (“Promotion”) Terms and Conditions

1. Definitions:
1.1 “Citi” or “Citibank" refers to Citibank Singapore Limited.

1.2 “Eligible Cardmember” refers to an individual who:
- is an existing main Citibank Credit Card Cardmember of an Eligible Card; AND
- directly receives an invitation from Citibank to participate in this Promotion.

1.3 “Eligible Card” refers to Citibank Clear Visa Card, Citibank Silver Visa, Citibank Gold Visa/MasterCard, Citibank Platinum Visa, Citibank Clear Platinum Card, Citi PremierMiles Visa, Citi Prestige Card, Citi Cashback Visa, Citi Cashback World MasterCard, Citi Rewards Visa, Citi Rewards World MasterCard, , Citi SMRT Platinum Visa Card, Citibank M1 Visa Card, Citibank M1 Gold Visa Card, Citi M1 Platinum Visa Card and Citibank Ready Credit only.

1.4 “Qualifying Spend” refers to any retail transactions (including internet purchases) charged to the Eligible Card (including supplementary card(s) linked to the Eligible Card, if any which do not arise from: - - any Equal Payment Plan (EPP) purchases;
- refunded/disputed/unauthorised/fraudulent retail purchases;
- Quick Cash Program or other similar monthly instalment programs/loans drawn down on the available credit line of the Eligible Card;
- Paywise, cash advance, quasi-cash transactions, balance transfers, annual card membership fees, interest, goods and services taxes;
- recurring bill payments;
- bill payments made via Citibank Online/CitiMobile or other third party payment vendor(s);
- late payment fees; or
- any other form of service/miscellaneous fees.

2. “Gift” refers to the S$50 cash back to be given to the Eligible Cardholder who meets a Minimum Spend of S$100 in the following month after he agrees to participate in the Promotion. (for e.g. if an Eligible Cardholder is invited and subsequently agreed to participate in the Promotion on 1 June 2018, the Qualifying Spend period will be from 1-31 July 2018).

3. By participating in this Promotion, the Eligible Cardmember authorizes Citibank to send Short Message Service (“SMS”) notifications pertaining to the Promotion to him/her, till the end of the fulfillment period.

4. Each Eligible Cardholder is only entitled to one Gift per calendar year, regardless of the number of Eligible Cards that meet the Minimum Spend.

5. Eligible Cardholders who meet the Minimum Spend of S$100 during the Promotion Period will qualify to earn the Gift.

6. The Gift will be credited to the Eligible Card account with the highest spend accumulated by Transaction Deadline or such other Eligible Card account as determined by Citibank. The Gift will be credited within two (2) months from the end of the Qualifying Spend Period. (eg: If the qualifying spend period is from 1-31 July 2018, the gift will be credited by 30 September 2018).

7. The Gift credited to the Eligible Card account (a) cannot be used to offset against any minimum payment due and (b) cannot be converted into cash. The Eligible Card account must be open and in good standing at the time the Gift is credited. An Eligible Cardholder whose Eligible Card(s) is/are
closed/terminated/cancelled and/or suspended (whether by the cardholder or Citibank or for any reason whatsoever) before the fulfilment of the Gift will not be entitled to receive any Gift on or after the date on which the Eligible Card is closed/terminated/cancelled/suspended.

8. Whether a Qualifying Spend has been effected during the Qualifying Spend Period will be determined with reference to the transaction date based on Singapore time (UTC+08:00). Citibank bears no liability for any late submission or transaction posting of any purchase by any merchant that might affect the Eligible Cardholder’s eligibility for the Promotion.

9. Citibank reserves the right, at its reasonable discretion to terminate this Promotion at any time, and/or vary the terms and conditions governing this Promotion from time to time.

10. Citibank’s decision on all matters relating to this Promotion will be at its reasonable discretion and will be final and binding on all customers.

11. This promotion is not valid with other promotions unless otherwise expressly stated.

12. In the event of any inconsistency between these terms and conditions and any advertising, promotional, publicity and other materials relating to or in connection with the Promotion, these terms and conditions shall prevail.

Source: http://www.citibank.com.sg/global_docs/pdf/Retention-Spend-and-Get-Promotion-TandC.pdf