Darn it, Citibank...

[netmouse]

Dear Citibank;

There is a reason why I have been using my Citibank Dividend card as my primary credit card for years, and that was the definition of the Dividend program, which offered 1% cash back on most purchases and 2% (originally 3%) on gas or groceries. I tried having a Discover card, but having to sign up and keep track of promotional programs on a quarterly basis was really annoying and I clearly earned the cash back at a much slower rate than with my Citibank card, and they would only send cash back checks in particularly valued chunks, so I quit using the Discover card. I also have a Bank of America Worldperks card, which has a points system, but I have never liked those either. In fact, just two days ago I was on the phone with a Bank of America rep to activate a new card after changing to my married name and was asked what card I primarily use and why. The reason I gave was your Dividend program. Two days ago I was your loyal customer.

Today I got a letter from you explaining how that's about to change. Apparently you're believing Discover's claims of having the highest customer loyalty. I can only guess that because you're trashing your dividend program and adopting a program more like theirs. I'm sure if I bother to enroll in your special promotions on a regular basis and shop through your website I will earn even more cash back than I once did with your former dividend program. However, I'm not going to do that. I already had the opportunity to be the hamster pushing on that reward bar and it sucked.

I'm not going to throw away my Citibank card. But I am going to learn more about this Worldperks program. I already know it has better travel coverage and purchase assurance. It may well switch to being my primary card.

It think it's really sad that you're changing the Citibank Dividend card to being a Discover card wanna-be. Really, really sad. I'm disappointed in you.

--Anne

PS I also noted that when I registered for their online account management website, citicards doe not give you the option to opt out of promotional advertising email. Doubleplusgood, citibank.

Comments

[nicegeek.livejournal.com]

This is a bit too vague to respond to in a meaningful way...every corporation wants profits. It's possible (actually, it's pretty much proven) that some banks have padded their profits through unethical practices, but that doesn't mean that all banks are guilty, nor that they can't still be "squeezed" by new regulations.

[netmouse.livejournal.com]

Citigroup reported a first-quarter profit of $4.4 billion this year (http://money.cnn.com/2010/04/19/news/companies/citigroup_results/).

According to the Wall Street journal, Citicards provides 40% of citigroup's profits.

[nicegeek.livejournal.com]

That alone doesn't allow one to draw any meaningful conclusions though, for several reasons:

First, a single quarter's results are not indicative of whether a company is profitable over any longer period. In this case, it's Citigroup's first profitable quarter in two years.

Second, while "$4.4 Billion" sounds like a lot of money, any big company is going to measure its profits (and losses) in the billions; the absolute size of their profits doesn't give any indication of whether they're "outrageous"; it just means that they're a big company. What's more significant is their profit margin (as a percentage).

Even then, before one could call their profits "outrageous", one would need to examine why their profits are what they are, and apply some kind of standard to determine whether they were reasonable or not.

I'm not saying that a company can't have outrageous profits; if a company is using unfair economic, political, or technological leverage to pad its margins, that could qualify, and companies have certainly done that. But it's not as simple as just pointing at a number with a lot of zeros on it.