This is not about the $10 or $15 rebate checks we all know about. I did a search and found these two earlier posts by davelanton and truhavocand thought this could be a good strategy.

Credit Protector benefits are available in quite a few events. Some of these are predictable events which if planned earlier can be taken advantage of.

For example if your planning to get married/ move to a new house/ purchase a new home/ start college/ become a parent/ hospitalized for some scheduled surgery and will stay in the hospital for 1 night/ even if you know you are going to lose your job.

Details of Credit Protector

1. Before any of these events occur, you should enroll in credit protector (and also recieve the $15 gas rebate check).

2.Use your enrolled card to the maximum.

3.When you recieve your statement call them to activate the benefits-they will pay the bills minimum balance and waive all finance charges and credit protector fees.

4. Pay the remaining balance before the due date to avoid any interest charges next month.

5. Cancel Credit protector the next month.

For example- Say I have a $1000 balance. I will call Credit Protector on the billing date of the statement and furnish proof of life event.
Minimum payment due- $50 will be paid by credit protector in the next one week.
I pay the balance of $950 before the due date and still carry a zero balance.

Things to watch for-
1. Once credit protector is active make sure you pay of your bill (except the one you want waived) before the statement date or you will be charged the fee.
2. You can use more than one card for each event. However, you can use each card only once each 12 months. This way you can take advantage of this more than once each year.

Any more suggestions or things to watch for?

Minimum payment on most citi cards is 2%,$20 minimum, not 5%.

I was seriously thinking of doing a 15K 0% BT when I moved, to take advantage of the offer, but chickened out as was not sure whether it will work or not and was afraid of getting struck with a 1% fee. But found out worked flawlessly for my free 20 bucks. Will see if I can take advantage of it when I move again.

disreguard what i said above.

"Otherwise, for each month’s protection you'll only pay 85¢ per $100 of the New Balance shown on your billing statement for the previous billing period, which will be billed automatically on your statement.
"

must of had it confused with some othewr programs

Called in to cancel and they lowered rate to 49 cents per $100 (also gave $50 in rebates)

invisible said:For example- Say I have a $1000 balance. I will call credit protector on the billing date of the statement and furnish proof of life event.

OP / others, what exactly do you furnish as proff of life event ?

It depends, which life event are you planning to use?

Who gave red to this post? I just earned $208.33 from citi's credit protector benefit.

Here's how it worked.

3/17, applied a Citi CC with a promotion of 0% APR on BT.
4/15, requested a BT of $10,000. (<70% of limit, did not max it)
4/28, enrolled in the credit protector program. (I knew I would relocation on 5/1.)
4/30, called credit protector to activate benefit. Because the minimum payment was over $200, they required document.
5/12, faxed the new lease to citi.
5/13, got credit of $208.33.
5/15, cancelled the credit protector.

im bumping this as this is a great way to make EZ money if youre moving.


I just signed up for CP on all citi cards, also on all other cards as well that PAY when moving.


This is going to be $500+ in free money for just moving!

Is Credit Protector not available on AT&T-branded cards? I've got CP on my Citi Dividend Platinum Select card, which I use for groceries without carrying a balance, but I'd LOVE to have it on my AT&T Universal card, which I've got a $20,000 balance on (at 1.99% for life...I used it to buy a car).

Of course, I wouldn't want to have CP on that balance for any more than the 30-day free trial period, but the thing is, I'm getting married in less than 2 months. If I had CP on that card, I'd be eligible for a free minimum payment...$435!

Anyone done this?

--Chris

PS-- I'm on hold with CP now. I'll let you know how it turns out.

An interesting note, and a question:

The interesting note: Before, I said that the advertising link on the AT&T "account home" page for Credit Protector was not working (and it was difficult to bring up, at that!)...it gave me a 404 error. Recently, I paid off enough to drop below 80% usage on the card (my balance is $19,895 on a credit limite of $25,000. Lo and behold, now the Credit Protector link appears easily and works just fine! I suspect the two are related, but have no proof...

The question: The wording in the terms and conditions is a bit odd...I'm getting married in eight days (woot!) and I plan on invoking CP's "life events" clause to get myself a $414 payment. But the wording in the T&C is as follows: """Life Event: We will cancel your purchase or cash advance minimum due, as shown on your billing statement, for 1 month. " "Cancel"? Why does it say cancel instead of credit?

The promotional wording is a little more positive...it states: "Credit Protector will also credit to your account payments in the event of:" ... "Life events like marriage and child birth—credit your account 1 minimum monthly payment.*" ... "*minimum monthly payment does not include past due or over limit amounts"

--Chris

If you need to cancel Credit Protector (e.g. to avoid fees when you start using the card, or if you got 0% BT offer on it) and do not want to waste your time while they are trying to convince you to keep it, just tell them you lost your job