Review: Citi Dividend Platinum Select Card for College Students

The Citi Dividend Platinum Select Visa Card for College Students is my first credit card that I receive almost 2 years ago during my junior year in college. My experience with this card has been above expectations (compared to the stories I’ve heard about credit cards in general). Without a doubt, it has been a great card to begin building my credit history along with providing my desired perk of getting cashback.

As of 12/1/09, the terms of the Citi Dividend Platinum Select Card for College Students are:

• 5% cashback on purchases at supermarkets, drugstores, gas stations and utilities for the first 6 months, 2% thereafter
• 1% cashback on all other purchases
• Introductory APR of 0% for the first 6 months
• No annual fee
• Does not require proof of income or a co-signer

These terms have not changed ever since I got my card.

I’m afraid that this review would be one-sided because I honestly have no complaints and nothing but praises for this card. This cashback card performed its duties as I intended for it to do without any problems while giving me a flawless customer experience. Short of handing out a higher cashback percentage, these are some of the features that I found to be worth highlighting:

1) Simple Online Web Interface
The CitiCards online account management website is very user friendly. What I like is that everything about your credit card account is laid out in front of you (e.g. balance, APR, available credit, credit limit, and cashback balance). I can just log on, see the status of my account and log off.

2) Someone Is Watching My Card Activity
This is not a compliment to the credit and identity monitoring program (with a fee) that they push onto their customers. I did not sign up for that program and was glad to know that Citibank cared enough to give me a call when I made a purchase for my sister. The $800 order for a keyboard certainly would seem suspicious even to me and knowing that someone is watching my account in case I lose my wallet or card.

3) Is That My Photo On The Card?
Yes, it is. The Citi Platinum Select cards have the option of being a photocard, which asks me to send in a photo of myself that they put on the card. And, they also put your signature on the front side of the card (which I blurred for security reasons). This is a great way to safeguard my identity in the event that my credit card is stolen. It will hopefully alert a cashier that the card doesn’t belong to the person using it. Nice to know that the thief will fear hearing “Hey, this isn’t your signature!” or “Hey, you don’t look Asian!”. I’m surprised that this feature isn’t a standard on all cards – credit and debit.

4) My Citi Card Says “I Will Only Pay You Once”
It is a wonderful feeling to know that when you pay for stuff online, you are sure that the online merchant doesn’t have the liberty of charging you more than once. CitiCards have a nifty tool available to cardholders called a “Virtual Account Number”. It generates a random card number that is linked to your account but it will work with only one merchant at a time and it expires at the end of the month that it is used.

5) Higher Limits and Lower Interest Rates – Yum!
With my goal of building a good credit history, this card has helped me increase my revolving credit limit substantially. Upon first receiving the card, I was offered a credit limit of $3,000 but it has been increasing consistently in $1,000 increments every 6 months. Also, my post-introductory rate has been steadily reduced to 11.249% (at the time this article was written) which is competitive those cards that don’t even offer cashback (as of 12/1/09, the post-introductory rate is stated to be as low as 16.24% at CitiCards).

I am not suggesting that every college student get this card because everyone has different financial habits and responsibilities. It is always smart to take precautions when signing up for a student credit card. Certainly, if one cannot handle a credit card, even the best cards out there pose a danger to one’s financial health – especially that of a college student.

As I hope for this Citi Dividend Platinum Select card to stick with me for a long time to come, I will be updating my experiences with the card whenever possible. If Citibank decides to hike my interest rate after the publishing of this post, I’ll be sure to trash this positive review!

*I am a non-endorsed consumer of this financial product. I am not receiving any form of compensation for providing this review. This review represents my honest opinion based on my own personal experience.

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