Aug 16 2010

Opting Out of Citi Dividend World Mastercard Upgrade

Posted by Simon Zhen in Credit Cards
11 Comment

Two months ago, I received a letter from Citi saying that they were going to “upgrade’ my Citi Dividend Platinum Select card to a Citi Dividend World Mastercard.

My primary concern was that the new card would have no pre-set spending limit – meaning it would have a negative effect on my credit score.

Now, I admit I slipped up when I accidentally tossed out the notification letter. I was supposed to call up Citi to let them know that I refused to receive this unrewarding upgrade. Anyway, they’ve sent out another letter alerting cardholders that the new card would arrive within 14 days. Without hesitation, I was on the phone with a Citi customer representative.

The Buzz Around the Changes
From a little research around the web, many Citi cardholders were finding out that their cards are on the list of those being upgraded. Many have been unsuccessful in opting out of this upgrade. Many have had to get a little rowdy (with persistence) to opt out. And, many have had no problems getting just what they wanted. They believe that it all depends on your luck in connecting to the right customer representative.

But, one thing is for sure:

You can opt out – no matter what they say.

If you didn’t receive prior notice of the upgrade and received the new card in the mail, you can ask them to reinstate your old card along with the old terms and conditions. Several card users were put in this position and were able to get their old cards back (even after activation of the new card).

My Opt-Out Call
For those who are in the same situation I was, I hope this will help you when you make your call:

I dialed 1(866)775-0556 and asked for customer representative (had to fight the automated answering system a little).
First, I had to verify my identity with the answer to a security question.
When asked “How can I help you today?”, my answer was “I received a letter in the mail saying that my card was be upgraded. I’d like to opt out of this upgrade because I like my card as it is.”
The customer rep. tells me they’ll process my request. It took around 30 seconds.
After I asked for proof of confirmation, the rep. offered her employee ID.
Of course, I declined the usual “special offer” pitch for a balance transfer at low rate.
Finally, I thanked her and went on my way.

The entire call took only 5 minutes.

I expected at least some resistance but it was nice to not have to escalate my voice past my typically amiable tone. One point for Citi on this one!

(Photo credit: hoyasmeg)

Get Shareaholic

Related Posts

If you liked this post, please leave a comment, share it, or subscribe to my RSS feed.

11 Comments on this post

Trackbacks

Opting Out of Credit Card Upgrades May Only Be Temporary | Realm of Prosperity wrote:

[...] week, Simon wrote about how Citi tried to automatically “upgrade” him to a World MasterCard – a credit card that has no pre-set spending limit. I actually have the Citi Dividend [...]

August 25th, 2010 at 8:31 am

Nick said:

I was in the same situation as yourself and followed your instructions to complete success: I still have my Dividend Platinum Select Card (without the pre-set spending limit drawback)!

However, the cash-back rewards program has been changed; although I am unsure if it is equivalent to what was in place originally (I assume the worst, though).

Cheers,
Nick

August 16th, 2010 at 10:03 pm
Simon Zhen said:

Great job, Nick! I’m glad my experience helped someone out.

Many people around the web are saying that the primary goal for Citi to upgrade everyone is to implement the new rewards system (which, as you predicted, is worse).

I don’t mind the reduced rewards – just don’t mess with my credit!

August 16th, 2010 at 10:11 pm
Simon Zhen said:

UPDATE: Citi has also sent me a written letter confirmation of the opt-out request. They are also sending me a new card with the same original card number.

August 18th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
Jay Patel said:

Thanks for this. I read here and a couple of other forum/blog posts about the change and what it meant. I’m very glad that I looked it up, for I too was confused of why my credit card was changing without my permission. Customer service is on top of it; as soon as I said Citi World card, the CSrep said “ok, no problem, we can do that for you”.

August 24th, 2010 at 10:46 pm
Simon Zhen said:

Happy to hear everything went smoothly for you! Nice to see my post helped you out.

August 24th, 2010 at 10:50 pm
Julie said:

I’m pretty bummed that it didn’t work for me. I was really upset and asked to speak to a manager and even then they said it was impossible. I said that I heard other people were able to opt out so why can’t i, and they just said it wasn’t possible and they are discontinuing the card entirely.

September 15th, 2010 at 4:21 pm
Simon Zhen said:

@Julie: Try and call them again. You’ll get a different CSR and repeat the request. Whatever they are telling you is absolute crap. Keep trying until you get a rep who’ll process this for you.

September 15th, 2010 at 5:37 pm
Spock1234 said:

I too got this ‘upgrade’ and called Citi to refuse it. The first customer service agent I spoke to told me that the upgrade had already been done and that it could not be reversed. I insisted and asked how they could change my account without my explicit approval. He finally transferred me to an Account Specialist who immediately agreed to cancel the upgrade. Whew!

I’d advice anyone trying to cancel this ‘upgrade’ to immediately ask for a ‘Account Specialist’ instead of wasting time with a customer service agent.

September 18th, 2010 at 10:36 pm
Simon Zhen said:

Thanks sharing your experience! Again, the upgrade CAN be reversed despite saying the upgrade has been initiated!

September 18th, 2010 at 10:41 pm
Lukas said:

I also received this “upgrade” about a month ago and had no clue what it meant, but I forgot about it and didn’t look it up and find your blog until today. Boy am I glad I did! I was able to get it changed back to the old one today with no hassle, which I did not expect. Thanks so much for the information!

September 23rd, 2010 at 12:57 pm