There is Where the Points God Giveth
Citi Hilton HHonors — Record 75000 Points Offer!
New Citi HHonors Visa Signature 75,000-Point Credit Card Offer
Of course, I shouldn’t call the Citi Hilton HHonors Signature Card a new product, technically, but this is historically the highest offer Citi has ever had for this card. Don’t listen to naysayers who can’t deal with all Hilton devaluations. Sure it costs a zillion points to stay someplace nice, but on the other hand, there are or at least were zillions ways to earn HHonors points without spending money on paid stays.
Let’s be fair—if you do play your cards right—you should have hundreds of thousands of Hilton points at any given moment. This card is just the latest in your armory—there are plenty of others.
- AMEX Hilton HHonors Card—currently 60,000 points
- AMEX Hilton HHonors Surpass Card—currently 85,000 points
- Citi Hilton Reserve—two free weekend nights at Hilton anywhere
- Barclaycard Hawaiian Card—35,000 miles transferable at 1:1.5
- Barclaycard Hawaiian Business Card—35,000 miles transferable at 1:1.5
- BofA Virgin Atlantic Card—up to 75,000 miles transferable at 1:1.5
OK, maybe AMEX Hilton is not churnable anymore, and neither is the Surpass, and neither is this card (presumably). And the Barclaycard Hawaiian card is a gray area, and it has an annual fee, and the BofA Virgin card, albeit churnabe, has a cuckoo spending threshold. True, it is not 2011. Still, what’s the alternative? Paying cash?
Maybe, because despite my upbeat introduction, it is likely that you are not qualified because…
This Offer is Perfect for Newbies but Useless for Almost Everyone Else!
Here is where the Points God Taketh Away
The Hilton HHonors 75,000 Bonus Points offer is not available if you opened or closed a Citi Hilton HHonors Visa Signature Card account in the past 18 months.
Pay attention: opened or closed. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have the card open by the time of your application. It means that if you do have a card for longer than 18 months, you shouldn’t close it as it will reset the clock. Close it only after applying for a new Citi HHonors card.
Citi appears to count from events, such as the card opening event or the card closing event, whichever was most recent.
Which is why cards (that are subject to “18 month” language on new apps) should be closed only around the same time a new card is opened. Only then will the 18 months from the last close be about the same as the 18 months from the last open.
Since this Citi HH card has no annual fee, if you’ve not gotten one lately, you should there keep any current one(s) open until it’s time when you can apply for a new one.
Many of us churn Citi Hilton cards every 3-4 months or so, and thus ineligible for this offer. And so I have only one thing to tell those of you who have never applied for a Citi Hilton HHonors Visa Signature card, or who haven’t opened or closed it in the last 18 months.
Grab It Now!
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I have 2 and was thinking of closing them but now I won’t. Any idea as to the odds of getting another for 75k? If denied instant approval, what reason could you give for needing a 3rd?
Just hope that you will be approved by a machine. There are people with 6-8 these cards, and my personal record at one point was 4. The trick is to lower your other Citi credit lines so that the computer didn’t panic. 🙂
how much do you lower on the other cards? I already have 8 cards open with citi. I lowered most cards to 5k. I think the no AF cards can be lowered further. I’m keeping those alive to get a retention like FM’s 5x everywhere on TYP
I actually lowered to 5K each. Think it’s sufficient, considering my average Citi line is around 20K.
Crap… they just closed one of my accounts due to inactivity! I had two
No warning?