I have an 11.9% (fixed) Citi platinum with a perfect payment history and a 15k line. I've had the account for over two years. The balance is about $100. I pay it off each month. On this forum, I've read about people getting these accounts re-priced to prime+1.9%. I called Citi for the 411. They insisted that a lower interest rate is not available. I told them that this account has the highest interest rate of all of my credit products. No dice. Ordinarily, I'd play the "I'd like to close my account" card. Problem is, I'll be attempting mortgage qualification in a few months and I don't want to do *anything* that might have a negative impact on my score, including reducing my total available credit and/or lowering the average age of accounts. Am I stuck? RM
If you pay your entire balance off each month, the interest rate doesn't matter. YOU DON'T PAY ANY INTEREST AT ALL! Keep the card! AZMDX
>If you pay your entire balance off each month, the >interest rate doesn't matter. YOU DON'T PAY ANY >INTEREST AT ALL! If only it were that simple. All of my revolving is done on my 9.9% Amex Blue. If my Citi Plat were prime+1.9, I'd do my revolving there instead. Comprende? RM
I have a similar problem. My apr is prime +3.24 and they tell me there is nothing lower available. I asked for retention and was told my account did not qualify for retention. So I sent a letter via Planet Feedback last week. I haven't heard anything back yet.
I wrote also to citibank via pfb. They lowered my rate from prime +5.9 to prime + 2.9 I just received my statement today and the rate as of the statement is 10.4 and richard one question... Why don't you just request a balance transfer offer from citibank? They put a request for me and came back a couple of days later with a 6.9 apr for 6 months with no bt fees.
the other, Please do post if you do get a positive response from Citibank. I'm at prime + 3.24 and would like to go lower, as well. BTW, what *does* qualify a Citibank account for retention access? 6 months?
You have an internal score, they use to determine. I was at 4 months, with average monthly payment of $2600/month when i used "R" back to back to get prime+0.9%, I suppose when you are making large payments, and not carrying a balance, they might be more enticed to do business. The prime rate was much higher back then, as well, which may have something to do with it. I was just denied a $1000 line increase, btw , again with a hard inquiry. Thanks citi.
Thanks, Sam, for the helpful information. I haven't tried the "retention" route yet, so I'm not sure how well I would score. I make 4-5X my minimum payment, but the overall balance is still quite large... :-(
