Sine June, Citi has been sending out emails to customers regarding the huge protection benefit change kicking in as of September 22, 2019. Curiously I personally haven't received any email from Citi regarding this topic for any of my Citi cards - Prestige, DoubleCash, and ThankYou Preferred. Maybe it was a glitch (for quite a few of us). For whoever that haven't received email notifications, when you log into your Citi online account and go to the "Card Benefits" page, you will receive a pop up window with the exact same message as what is supposed to be in the email. However, after you have viewed the message once, you won't see it again if you log back in. Talking about being sneaky!
For example, on my Citi Prestige, I received the following message: "Effective September 22, 2019, Worldwide Car Rental Insurance, Trip Cancellation & Interruption Protection, Worldwide Travel Accident Insurance, Trip Delay Protection, Baggage Delay Protection, Lost Baggage Protection, Medical Evacuation, Citi® Price Rewind, 90 Day Return Protection, and Missed Event Ticket Protection will be discontinued and will no longer be provided for purchases made on or after that date. Coverage for purchases made before that date will continue to be available, and you may continue to file for benefits in accordance with the current benefit terms. Roadside Assistance Dispatch Service and Travel & Emergency Assistance will be discontinued and will not be available on or after September 22, 2019. We are making these changes so that we can continue providing the key benefits that our customers use and value most at no additional cost. This change requires no action on your part. See FAQs under Card Benefits for answers to Frequently Asked Questions regarding these changes."
This is absolutely the worst devaluation of benefit/protection we have seen in the history of not only Citi cards but all credit cards. Different card products may show different messages. It appears that after the devaluation, only a few protection benefits are left:
We used to praise Citi cards for the extraordinary protection benefits, especially on the premium products. Citi Prestige and Citi AA Executive are tied as #1 card for protection, and Citi Premier and Citi AA Platinum are tied as #4. This surely will change after September 22, 2019. In fact, ironically, Citi is going from the very top to the very bottom with regards to protection! Stay tuned for the new Top 10 lists.
What can you do now? If you think about cancelling your Citi card(s), I won't blame you. As always, I will recommend keeping the card if it is one of your oldest cards to preserve your credit history. It will also be good to keep non-fee cards such as Double Cash or Citi Costco Visa, if you enjoy their rewards. If you have some purchases to make in the near future anyway, you probably want to make the purchases before September 22, 2019 to at least enjoy the protection such as Price Rewind, Return Protection, Extended Warranty, etc. If you have a premium card you are paying annual fees on, you really need to sit down and reevaluate your situation.
For example, on my Citi Prestige, I received the following message: "Effective September 22, 2019, Worldwide Car Rental Insurance, Trip Cancellation & Interruption Protection, Worldwide Travel Accident Insurance, Trip Delay Protection, Baggage Delay Protection, Lost Baggage Protection, Medical Evacuation, Citi® Price Rewind, 90 Day Return Protection, and Missed Event Ticket Protection will be discontinued and will no longer be provided for purchases made on or after that date. Coverage for purchases made before that date will continue to be available, and you may continue to file for benefits in accordance with the current benefit terms. Roadside Assistance Dispatch Service and Travel & Emergency Assistance will be discontinued and will not be available on or after September 22, 2019. We are making these changes so that we can continue providing the key benefits that our customers use and value most at no additional cost. This change requires no action on your part. See FAQs under Card Benefits for answers to Frequently Asked Questions regarding these changes."
This is absolutely the worst devaluation of benefit/protection we have seen in the history of not only Citi cards but all credit cards. Different card products may show different messages. It appears that after the devaluation, only a few protection benefits are left:
- Purchase Protection, Extended Warranty, FICO Score, Identity Theft Solution for Citi Prestige, Citi Premier, Citi ThankYou Preferred, Citi AA Executive, Citi AA Platinum, Citi AA Gold, Citi AA MileUp, etc.
- FICO score and Identify Theft Solution for Citi DoubleCash, Citi Costco, Citi Diamond Preferred, etc.
- Cellphone Protection will be available on World MasterCards and World Elite MasterCards.
We used to praise Citi cards for the extraordinary protection benefits, especially on the premium products. Citi Prestige and Citi AA Executive are tied as #1 card for protection, and Citi Premier and Citi AA Platinum are tied as #4. This surely will change after September 22, 2019. In fact, ironically, Citi is going from the very top to the very bottom with regards to protection! Stay tuned for the new Top 10 lists.
What can you do now? If you think about cancelling your Citi card(s), I won't blame you. As always, I will recommend keeping the card if it is one of your oldest cards to preserve your credit history. It will also be good to keep non-fee cards such as Double Cash or Citi Costco Visa, if you enjoy their rewards. If you have some purchases to make in the near future anyway, you probably want to make the purchases before September 22, 2019 to at least enjoy the protection such as Price Rewind, Return Protection, Extended Warranty, etc. If you have a premium card you are paying annual fees on, you really need to sit down and reevaluate your situation.
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