If you ended up applying for the Citigold checking account promotion offering 50,000 American Airlines miles or 50,000 Thank You points you've probably already got wind of the bad news. There is a lot of discussion going on whether or not Citi is awarding customers the welcome bonus.
When it comes down to it, the Citigold promotion terms stated that the offer was targeted to those cardmembers who receive communication of the offer. However, in the past there were many reports of Citi AAdvantage cardmembers being allowed to earn the bonus, and for awhile all was good and well.
Now it turns out that Citi is denying the bonus miles/points to many customers who signed up using the promo code and do not have proof of receiving the targeted offer. I've even read reports of Citi denying the bonus to people who received the targeted offer. There are also many reports of people being denied the bonus after the fact that Citi confirmed in writing that their account has the promotion applied to it and a date when the bonus miles should post.
There is no doubt that 50,000 miles was a great offer for simply opening a checking account and going through some hoops (initiating bill pays, paying ~$90 in monthly fees, $1,000 spending on card, etc). I ended up applying for the promotion in February 2016, which means that I am right in the middle of this fiasco and like many are trying to pry the points from Citi.
Given the mixed reports out there I decided to call Citi and chat with a representative. I was able to get some information that may be helpful to some and at the very least offer a strategy to avoid money lost from paying the monthly maintenance fees if you end up waiting fighting this one out.
From my conversation with a Citi representative here are some tips and a strategy on what to do if you applied for the Citigold account and are still waiting for your bonus to post:
It appears that Citi is doing everything they can to not honor the bonus to anyone who signed up for the Cigigold 50,000 mile/points bonus offer. If Citi ultimately did not want to offer this promotion to the thousands of customers who used this promo code, then they should have denied account opening from the start.
Since 50,000 American Airlines miles is a sizable bonus I'll at least downgrade to the Basic Banking account and wait until the date that my bonus is supposed to post.
Did you apply for the Citigold 50k promo? Update us with your experience below!