Here’s something important to take note of if you’re currently spending with Apple Pay and Citibank to earn 20X points (8 mpd).
Originally there were no excluded MCCs on the list, but the T&Cs have been quietly updated to exclude MCC 5944: Clock, jewelry, silverware and watch stores.
I guess this was totally foreseeable, but people must have been using this time to make all those luxury purchases they always dreamed about. If your high end watch boutique or jewelry store takes Apple Pay, why not earn 8 mpd while you’re at it? I know I was certainly asking every store about Apple Pay when picking out my wedding bands.
I would assume that any purchases made up to and including the date of the change (5 July 2018) are safe, but it doesn’t help that the change was made quietly. There are no doubt going to be quite a few worried people monitoring their Citi points balance over the next few days waiting to see what happened with their recent transactions.
It’s poor form when banks change the T&Cs of promotions, but there’s precious little we can do but to point it out when it happens.
>people must have been using this time to make all those luxury purchases
Or buy 1kg of gold bar with AP….
what can be done if they do not honor apple pay for purchases before july 5 for jewelry or watches?
This clearly reflects poorly on citi. They MUST use power given to them in agreement carefully ..ultimately if they have such behavior they will suffer in the long term. And yes Sam to your question hope at least they don’t do this with retrospective effect…They shall honor all the points before the change date i.e. July 6th…I am sure there will be so much huge and cry if they do
Join the discussion…
Bank basically came up with a promo with tons of loopholes in it and now LITERALLY doing the breach of trust to stop themselves bleeding.. Maybe good idea if consumers can unite and lodge the complaint to the watchdog. Please do not play with peoples hard earned money. Join the discussion…
Any idea what card I should use for buying a watch around SGD 12k?
Thinking of using krysflyer Amex for first 5K (30500miles) but what about the 7k left?
Amex Platinum Charge or Credit cards (co-brand ones cannot) at The Hour Glass and Watches of Switzerland (Amex 10X Rewards retailer) gets about 3.2 mpd
Thanks!
What do you mean co-brand cannot? The Krysflyer AMEX can be used there right ?
Cannot.. SQ KF Amex is a co-brand amex Card.. different perks/ benefits
Ahh I see, I am planning to use the Krysflyer cobrand to hit the signup bonus (30500 miles for 5k spend) and split the rest on different cards to get 4mpd on paywave
thanks for the info!
@Kevin,
Actually, maybe you should look into your planning/ purchasing a bit more.. If you want to maximize your KF Ascend sign up bonus, you’ll do so by spending $10k in first 3 months of card activation, you’ll be in a bit better standing than putting $5k on your KF Ascend and another $5k on a 4 mpd card on paywave (especially when you’re limited by having MUST use paywave, whereas for the KF Ascend, can be anywhere).
Do you math again, in case I’m wrong, but by my calculation, if you charge $10k onto you KF Ascend within the first 3 months, you’d be getting something like 4.6 mpd… and even more if your KF Ascend is your FIRST KF card (if you didn’t have the blue one before, you’ll get another 5,000 Miles first charge bonus.. else 4.6 mpd should be correct)
Do note tho.. make sure you hit the $10k, and within the time period.. else you’re going to get a rude shock.. of you clock in any amount above $5k but less than $10k, then you’ll lose 13,000 bonus miles, and that’s going to hurt..
Bottom line, crunch your numbers again properly.. make sure you dot your i’s and cross your t’s..
Good luck!
Thanks Ken!
I meant using the blue Krysflyer for 30500 miles on the first 5k$ (the acsend has a higher bonus, but as you said, it is on 10k$ and also needs to pay the card fee non waivable)
So in my calculation, I’d rather put 5k$ for 30500 (6mpd) then the rest on paywave or citirewards.
Thanks for checking for me,
Cheers
????
Has Citibank Sunk To A New Low..? Or Have I..?
So.. I didn’t have to do it yet, but I would’ve had to do so next month anyways.. so of course instead of waiting until next month it would make more sense to head down to Best Denki to buy the few things I need to, now, use Apply Pay and get my 8 mpd, and then arrange fo delivery for a later date, right..? Sigh… If only…..
In summary..
At cashier, my charge was DECLINED.. okay, maybe, just maybe, it was a little on the larger side, never mind.. try a slightly smaller amount, cos there were two separate invoices anyway.. DECLINED.. Okay.. a simple
Call to Citi should sort this out..
It started with, “Maybe it triggered a suspected fraud case”.. to “This merchant is no longer (BS cos I did buy something else at Best a coupla weeks earlier with no issue)..” then “your charge fell outside of business parameters”.. gave up talking to agent and asked for supervisor to call me back.. 2 hours later still nothing..
I managed to ‘squeeze out’ a smaller total amount than the first two, in two separate charges.. then got declined again.. used OCBC.. went thru.. walked away.. not happy.. thought about it a bit, went back and asked cashier if she would be so kind as to try Apple Pay again, this time with my wife’s card (also loaded on my phone), she was sweet enough to oblige.. the amount that was on OCBC went thru, in two charges (didn’t try the bigger amount).. then voided the OCBC charge..
Really? Citibank? With just 3 days to go..? But I didn’t allow you to get away with it! You will still give me my 8 mpd! Even if I had to do so with two cards and four different transactions!
Do… or do not… There is no pretend…
Just as a update to my adventures yesterday… Today, my Citi (or Sh***y) Apple Pay works again.. which kinda leads me to believe that maybe Sh.. u get the point.. presets a daily limit on how much a cardholder can zap on his/her Apple Pay..? To me, it’s still stinks, but at least it seems to clear up the mystery…
Anyone else had similar experiences? Cos I was lead to believe (until yesterday) that with Apply Pay, the limit that one could charge for any purchase would be one’s Available Credit, but didn’t seem to be the case (by a long shot) for me yesterday.. It would be nice if there are others out there who would share so that more people may benefit and not have to go through the same grief I did..
Citibank has been very sneaky in setting a limit at their back end, even though it advertised as no limit. Tried to charge 8k for electical appliances but declined. So had to try smaller amount. In the end only able to charge 3k. Called Citibank and they asked me to use physical card, but of course i didnt want to as i want to earn the 8mpd. Then they said there is a limot but they cant disclose the limit to me. That is unheard of. It just gives me more inconvenience in trying to figure whats the limit by just trying a few differnt amounts. Then i thought maybe it is a 3k daily limit so i went back next day to pay for the remaining balance. But i couldnt even charge anything. I called up citi and they say becausr i tied to charge too.many times and it was blocked automatically. So i verify my particulars and so on yet they couldnt unblock it as they say need approval from product team.
In my opinion Citi is just being misleading in trying to sell Apply pay but when tjey realised the cost was too high they try to cut back by limiting. Just being cheap!
So I guessed correctly.. I’m not the only one.. sigh.. sh***ybank is an accurate description..
PSA – Citibank transfer to miles is now in 25,000 increment. No longer in 5,000.
[…] it took a little more seriously, because on 6 July 2018, 70 days after the promotion started, Citibank quietly updated their T&Cs to exclude spending at MCC 5944 (Clock, jewelry, silverware and watch stores). Presumably, the […]