If you’re considering applying for a Citi credit card, here are the nine things you need to know about bonuses, applying, application limits and more.
In this article…
Application velocity limits: One personal card every 8 days, and 2 cards every rolling 60 days
Citi has unpublished application velocity limits that prevent you from being approved for a large number of cards within a small timeframe. Here’s what you need to know.
One personal card every 8 days. If you apply for multiple personal Citi credit cards within 8 days of each other, at least one will be denied. If you want to get multiple personal Citi credit cards, your applications must be at least 8 days apart.
One business card approval every 90 days. Once you’ve been approved for a Citi Business credit card, you must wait 90 days before applying for another card. Applications submitted within 90 days will be declined.
You can be approved for at most two Citi cards (including personal and business cards) every rolling 60 days. This rule is in addition to the two rules above. For example, if you are approved for a business and personal card on the same day, you would need to wait 60 days before applying for any Citi credit card. If you applied for two Citi personal cards, with 10 days between approvals, you would need to wait 60 days from your first approval before applying for another Citi personal card to avoid denials.
Getting the sign-up bonus more than once: Generally 48 months since you received a bonus
You can get a bonus on a Citi card that you’ve had before, even if you currently have the card open. The language in the terms and conditions generally does not prohibit you receiving a new cardmember bonus if you currently have a card open—the only prohibition is based on how long it’s been since you got a bonus on that particular card.
Most cards, including Citi ThankYou® Points cards and AAdvantage® cards allow you to get a bonus on the same card every 48 months.
Keep in mind that Citi’s terms and conditions state that you are not eligible for the bonus if you’ve received a bonus within a given number of months. If you, for example, applied for a new Citi Strata Premier card 50 months ago, but earned the welcome bonus in your third month (47 months ago), you would not be eligible to receive a bonus on the same card.
Product changes and sign-up bonuses: The 48 month rule applies to the new card type
When you do a product change, your ability to earn a bonus on the product type you are changing to will be impacted.
For example, if you received a bonus on a Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® 24 months ago and product change that card to a Citi Custom Cash®, you would be ineligible to receive a bonus on the Citi Custom Cash for another 24 months. This applies even if you’ve never received a bonus on the Citi Custom Cash.
Prequalified offers: You can check for Citi prequalified offers online
Citi allows you to check for prequalified offers through through the following link: https://online.citi.com/US/ag/cards/pre-screen
Citi prequalified offers are based on a soft pull of your credit report and will not impact your credit score.
No limits on numbers of accounts: Accounts still limited by total credit
Citi does not appear to have a limit on the number of accounts you can have with the bank. However, the number of credit cards the bank will issue to you will be limited by the total amount of credit Citi is willing to extend to you and the minimum credit limits for each account type.
Practically, there’s little reason to hold more than one of each of Citi’s credit cards, with the exception of Custom Cash cards.
You can get multiple cards: But no approvals on a second Custom Cash
Citi does not have an explicit policy about
The exception to this is the Citi Custom Cash® Card. The terms and conditions explicitly say that Citi will only issue one Custom Cash account per person, but you can get multiple Custom Cash cards through product conversions.
Application status: You can check your application status online
Citi allows you to check your application status online. You just need your application ID and ZIP Code, or your phone number, ZIP Code, and your date of birth.
You can check your Citi application status online through this link: https://online.citi.com/US/ag/cards/app-status
You can also check your application status by calling 1-866-606-2787. Citi says that that number is available Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM, and Saturday from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM. (All times US-Eastern time.)
Reconsideration line: No official published number, but we have links
Readers have reported success getting approved for Citi cards after their initial denial by calling a Citi reconsideration phone number.
It’s generally a good policy to avoid contacting a bank through a phone number published on a non-bank website and it’s our policy to not publish bank phone numbers that we can’t independently verify. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to verify any reconsideration phone numbers for Citi. You might try calling the application status line at 1-866-606-2787. (The link goes to the Citi website where we were able to verify this number.)
That said, here are a few links to other blogs that we know and trust and that publish reconsideration phone numbers. Use the numbers on these sites at your own risk.
Bonus matching: Citi may match bonuses. It doesn’t hurt to ask
Reports are mixed, but it appears that Citi has matched personalized offers in the past. If you applied for a card and see a higher bonus, consider calling the number on the back of your card and asking for the offer to be matched.
