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Citicard travel & consumer protection gets worse today

7/28/2018

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Effective July 29, 2018, Citi has updated the travel and consumer protection benefits provided by its credit cards, and they get worse!  The last time Citi revamped the protection benefits was in May 2016 and it was a major enhancement.  We think it was a little too generous and undoubtedly represented industry-leading benefits, and this time around Citi has reduced certain benefits to get closer to the rest in the market.  The following summary is for Citi Prestige ($450 annual fee) which offers the best level of protection among Citicards; other cards may not have all these benefits, but if they do the changes will be the similar.  However, at this point, we are not sure if Citi AA Executive WEMC which used to share all the same protection benefits as Citi Prestige will be affected, though we highly suspect Citi will exempt one card from what seems like a system wide change.
  • Car Rental Insurance: You may be reimbursed up to a maximum of $75,000, reduced from $100,000. In addition, coverage won't apply to charges or expenses for the loss of use of the rental car, rental agency fees, or taxes any more.  Note that cheaper cards continue to have a maximum of $50,000.
  • Trip Cancellation & Interruption: You may be reimbursed up to a maximum of $5,000 per trip - this maximum used to be per person per trip.  Note that some cheaper cards reduce the maximum accordingly, for example, from $3,000 per trip to $1,500 per trip.  In addition, coverage will be limited to you and your family members - it used to also cover traveling companions.  Citi used to be the only issuer that cover traveling companions and it makes sense for them to reduce it to meet competitions.
  • Trip Delay Protection & Baggage Delay Protection: Coverage will be limited to you and your family members - again it used to cover traveling companions. In addition, coverage will only apply to delays of 6 hours or more, down from 3 hours or more.  Citi used to be the only issuer that cover delays of 3 hours or more, for certain cards (Citi Prestige and Citi AA Executive), which was very generous and beneficial in practice.  Some other cards such as Citi ThankYou Premier continue to cover delays of 6 hours or more.
  • Lost Baggage Protection and Travel & Emergency Assistance: Coverage will be limited to you and your family members - again traveling companions won't be covered any more.
  • Citi Price Rewind: You may be reimbursed up to a maximum of $200 per item and $1,000 per calendar year - the maximum was down from $500 per item & $2,500 per year.  In addition, coverage won't include consumables, tires, watches, firearms, or ammunition any more.  You also won't be reimbursed if the lower priced item is found at a warehouse club where the merchant requires a membership fee.
  • Damage & Theft Purchase Protection: You may be covered for up to $10,000 per incident for 90 days from the date of purchase or delivery of the item purchased with your card - it used to be 120 days from the date of purchase or delivery.  In addition, coverage won't include lost items, firearms, ammunition, jewelry, watches, tires or items that are under the care and control of a third party including, but not limited to, the U.S. Postal Service, airlines, or delivery services.  Also note that coverage will be secondary (meaning if you have another insurance policy, this benefit will cover only the amount your other policies do not). 
  • Return Protection: You may be reimbursed up to a maximum of $1,500 per calendar year, down from $2,500 per year.  Coverage won't include firearms, ammunition, tires, jewelry, furniture or appliances any more.

In general, we are sad to see Citi reduces these benefits, especially the loss of traveling companion coverage, Trip & Baggage Delay coverage minimum changing from 3-hour to 6-hour, reduced maximum for a few benefits, as well as loss of consumer coverage for items like lost items, firearms, jewelry, tires, furniture, etc.  However, they are still considered reasonable adjustments.  Note that Citi's travel protection is still considered the best in industry, probably on par with Chase's, as it covers cardholders plus family members as well as awards tickets; also Citi's Extended Warranty is still industry leading (now on par with Amex, see below) because it covers two additional years.

In comparison, you need to be aware of the fact that effective August 26, 2018, Chase will be eliminating two consumer protection benefits: Price Protection (for all Chase cards) and Return Protection (for Sapphire Preferred, Freedom, Freedom Unlimited, Ink Preferred, United Explorer).  So we should actually give credits to Citi for at least not taking some benefit items away completely like Chase does.

Interestingly, when Citi and Chase scale back on the protection benefits, Amex has decided to improves some of its.  Effective August 1, 2018, Amex will increase Extended Warranty from one additional year to two and will extend Purchase Protection from 90 days (from date of purchase or delivery) to 120 days.
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Citi AA Executive WEMC 75K offer is back

7/28/2018

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Citi has brought back the 75K-miles signup bonus for American Airlines AAdvantage Executive WEMC, which carries a $450 annual fee but offers full Admirals Club membership for the primary cardholder and access to 40+ domestic/international AA lounges for the authorized users plus two guests.  Our value for the signup bonus after considering the first year annual fee is $750.  For details see our review.
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Citi ThankYou Premier 60K (best historical offer)

7/24/2018

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This offer could die at any moment!  One of our Top 10 lister Citi ThankYou Premier is offering 60K points signup bonus after $4K spending.  See details in our review.
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Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select WEMC now a Top 10 Best Credit Card

7/22/2018

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The new benefits of Citi American Airlines AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite MasterCard (what a long name) kick in today for existing cardmembers: gas & dining as 2x bonus categories and an annual $100 flight discount after $20K spending; the annual fee is increased from $95 to $99, still waived for the first year.  The expanded bonus categories give this card a boost in scores which enables the card to land on our Top 10 Best Credit Card list as #8 and bumps Chase United Airlines Club Visa Signature off the list.  BTW, the Top 10 List will be going through major changes in the coming month considering the revamp of SPG and Marriott affiliated credit card products and the reduction of Citi's travel and consumer protection.  Stay tuned.

The card offers either a 60K-mile bonus or a 50K-mile +$200 credit bonus.  The 10% rebate for awards bookings, up to 10K miles per year, along with other travel perks such as free first bags, priority boarding, 25% onboard discount, have made the card a keeper after the first year.  Now with the newly added 2x bonus categories and Amex SPG's reduced points earning starting August, this card becomes a must-have if collecting American miles is your primary goal concerning credit cards.  For details see our updated review.
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Chase introduces Southwest RR Priority Visa

7/21/2018

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We haven't written many posts in the recent year or so, and the reason was explained in the previous few posts.  However, now we would like to change things up again, based on feedback from readers.  We will have more short, Twitter like posts, for new or updated reviews as well as credit card and poitns/miles related news.

Chase has introduced Southwest Rapid Rewards (RR) Priority Visa, with a up-to-65K points signup bonus.  The 7.5K anniversary points and the $75 annual Southwest credit combined more than offset the $149 annual fee, and you will enjoy upgrades to Business Select (who will mind A1-A15?) four times a year, 20% onboard discount, potential Tier Qualifying Points earning, etc. for free. A great card to keep after 1st year.  For details see our updated Southwest Visa Review.

The recent highlights on the site include the rebranded U.S. Bank Radisson Rewards Visa, the new Chase World of Hyatt Visa, the new Chase Ink Unlimited Business Visa, the revived Barclays Arrival Plus WEMC.
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