Old Thread discussion

This is far and away one of the goofiest programs I have seen but is definitely worth a look.

Background:

This is a mail offer only and linked to specific citi cards ie targeted. I have not missed any payments on my AOR stuff and my FAKO scores are 720-740 currently.

I just received the offer for a drivers edge card that has 0% on it until 9/2/08 and currently has a $9683 balance out of 10K line (AOR money, yeah I know its close to the limit but I don't care) I currently have 69K (70K cl) on a citi professional card and $7.3K (7.5KCL) on a business card at 0% that expires about the same time and another 12.5K in cl on other citi cards that I use for everyday or not at all. All 0% will be paid at the due date.

I have been making just the minimum payment on all of my AOR cards and have even double dipped at the 6 month mark (taking more bt money to get back the first 6 months of payment). This may have triggered this offer.

The offer states:

Pay over the minimum for the 4 months of the program and you will receive 10% in a statement credit for the amount paid over the minimum. Ex minimum for each of the 4 months is $100. You pay $1000 ($1000-$100)*4 = $3600*.1 = $360 Cash Back. Or, 100*3 +3700*1 will give you the same result. They put on the offer letter "Wouldn't you like to be rewarded for good credit habits?"

The catches:

1. You can't charge a single thing during the timeframe (big deal, I have not made one purchase on the card ever). If you do, rewards are forfieted but #2 still applies. They call this a temporary credit freeze. You may not be able to charge anything until the statement credit appears (1-2 billing cycles after the program ends)

2. Upon completion (either sucessful or unsucessful) they will decrease your cl by the overage of the minimum + the Cash Back. In the example above the cl would decrease by #3960. This could get sticky if you pay over the required $5500 above the mimimum to get the maximum Cash Back. IE I make the minimum payments until 0% up then I pay ~9400. I get the $550 back but the over the minimum payment was ~9300+$550, leaves me with a line of 10K-$9850 = $150.00

My plan:

                Current Balance    payment Due   Due Date    Payment Made			
June            9683               145           30-Jun      145
July            9538               143           30-Jul	     3954
Enroll in program by July 31
August          5584               84            30-Aug      5584

$5500 paid over the minimum +$550 back = projected cl decrease of $6050.

Yeah I know it cost me about $10 in interest for that extra $3811 early payment but I want to protect as much credit line as possible.

I read over all of the terms and conditions and nowhere does it say anything about carrying a balance to get the credit and others in the other thread did not have to. I would not do this if I did not already have ample other lines (around 90K) but the $550 is hard to pass up. Heck I did an AMEX app with an experian hard pull for a $250 GC only.

$6050 of CL for $550 tax free sounds like a good deal to me. Thoughts? And BTW Drivers edge has already forked out over $200 in mileage credit. This is the card that keeps giving.

Sounds like a good deal. Go for it!

this seems to be the weirdest credit card program ever!

even weirder than FNBO approving $15k lines, allowing BT to go through and then closing the account!

lines restored after complaining, but I am still going to take advantage of this deal

This is fascinating. They think you are on the verge of default and are essentially willing to buy you out of what they now consider an over-extension of credit. Will be very interested to see if this appears as a negotiated settlement or anything on your credit report. (Or whether you get a 1099 in the amount of the "forgiven" debt).

If none is true, I would GLADLY trade $6K in CL for that amount of cash. I'd max out the deal, in fact.

I would be all over this deal if I got one. In fact, I will be happy to close the whole card for $500 bonus.
Just wondering, is there any way to tip them off that I am a deadbeat ?
... Maybe transfer something close to max, then pay exact minimum for number of month ?
I have 0% 6 month offer sitting on one of my Citi card. Fee is 3%, $99 max.
I did not want to take it, since profit after tax is pretty marginal on 17K CL, but now, I think, I would try it just to trigger this offer.

VanceWade said:This is fascinating. They think you are on the verge of default and are essentially willing to buy you out of what they now consider an over-extension of credit. Will be very interested to see if this appears as a negotiated settlement or anything on your credit report. (Or whether you get a 1099 in the amount of the "forgiven" debt).

If none is true, I would GLADLY trade $6K in CL for that amount of cash. I'd max out the deal, in fact.

It's more of a credit "buy back" they are just reducing the lines. I am paying off the balance so there is no settlement. From what I have read it is a statement credit so it is a reward (no 1099). The other catch is the program has the $550 limit for the bonus. Figure it would work great for someone with one or two low limit citi cards if they pay back 2K on a 2K card, the payment is $200 and the card is closed. I think that Citi doesn't plan on having people like me with 90+K in lines.

Sounds like you won the lottery, Mr. dmlavigne1.

I say, go for it, and max out the benefit.

I did this last year. I can't believe they're doing it again. To me it was like a letter that reads, "Do you want $550 free?" and it wasn't from an African Prince. There are no catches, do it.

That translates into a month of lost interest on the ~17K I pay off prior to enrollment...annoying, but I think I'll live.

Why 17k? Seems like you should just pay off 5,500.