Good morning everyone, I hope you had a great Valentine’s Day. A quick thank you to everyone who entered my Valentine’s Day Swag Giveaway – winners will be announced soon. I have written about the Citi AT&T Access More Credit Card many times before (Convert any Citi Card to the Citi AT&T Access More Credit Card) and I currently hold 3 AT&T Access More Credit Cards (1 original and 2 converted). Recently, I noticed something strange regarding when the 10,000 bonus Citi Thank You Points post to your account (after you spend $10,000+ on the card) and when the $95 annual fee posts. For all of my other credit cards, the anniversary points or free night certificate usually post the same month the annual fee is billed, thus signalling the start of a new cardmember year. However, I noticed that the Citi AT&T Access More Credit Cards have a cardmember year (where the $95 annual fee posts at the beginning of a new cardmember year) and when the 10,000 bonus Citi Thank You Points post at the end of your “12 month spending year”. I’m sorry if this sounds super confusing, hopefully it makes sense by the end of this post.
I have 3 Citi AT&T Access More Credit Cards and here are when the 10,000 bonus Citi Thank You Points posted to my account:
- Card 1 (ending in 73) posted on February 6, 2019
- Card 2 (ending in 70) posted on January 4, 2019
- Card 3 (ending in 30) posted on June 6, 2018 (and previously on June 6, 2017)
Here are when these 3 Citi AT&T Access More Credit Cards post the $95 annual fee:
- Card 1 (ending in 73) annual fee posted on May 3, 2018
- Card 2 (ending in 70) annual fee posted on April 4, 2018
- Card 3 (ending in 30) annual fee posted on July 4, 2018
When I was speaking to the Citi rep (you need to find an experience rep, since most reps do not have much experience with the Citi AT&T Access More Credit Cards), I found out the start and end dates of my “12 month spending year”:
- Card 1 (ending in 73) “12 month spending year” goes from February 21, 2019 through Feb 21, 2020
- Card 2 (ending in 70) “12 month spending year” goes from January 9, 2019 through January 9, 2020
- Card 3 (ending in 30) “12 month spending year” goes from June 22, 2018 through June 22, 2019
Based on this information, the date the annual fee posts is irrelevant to the date when the 10,000 bonus Citi Thank You Points will post to your account. What you need to find out are the start and end dates of your “12 month spending year”. As you can tell from the image above, the 10,000 bonus Citi Thank You Points will post a few days/weeks before the start of a new “12 month spending year” or a few days/weeks before the end of your current “12 month spending year”. Are you confused yet?
If you have any questions, please leave a comment below. Have a great weekend everyone!
Hi Grant – Good article on a confusing element for a great card. My experience is consistent with yours. My Citi AT&T Access More was originally a Citi AA Platinum card, and I converted to ATTAM after 1 year. In 2018, I received the 10k TYP bonus on 9/14/18, and my annual fee posted on 12/13/18.
Here’s a more complete timeline of events:
* 8/13/16 – Approval for Citi AA Platinum card
* 9/30/17 – Converted AA Plat card to AT&T Access More card
* late 11/17 – Annual fee posted for ATTAM card
* 9/14/18 – 10k TYP bonus points post
* 12/13/18 – Annual fee posted for ATTAM card
I noticed the same thing as you, that the clock for the 10k bonus points was on a different calendar than my annual fee. My best educated guess was that my “anniversary year” for purposes of the spend bonus was keyed off of the date I was originally approved for the card. For the bonus, I was thinking that I’m on a clock that starts in mid-Sept after my Sept statement closes and runs through the closing of my Sept statement the next year – roughly Sept 14-15 of one year through Sept 13 of the next. But your post is telling me that my clock for the “12 month spending year” might actually be different, maybe even by as much as a month if it’s keyed to the approval date for the original card.
As for the annual fee – As is typical, it took Citi a few weeks to “complete” the product change. I remember knowing at the time of my conversion in Sept/Oct/Nov 2017 that there would be a date certain in November when the change would be deemed “complete” and there was no turning back. I don’t have that date in my records. And it was on or shortly after that date when my annual fee posted for the ATTAM card. This year, my annual fee posted on my statement closing date in December (12/13/18). The one-year anniversary of the “completion” of my product change would have fallen during that statement. So, I figured that this is how I got on a December-to-December clock for purposes of the annual fee.
I think this is consistent with your experience with Cards 1 and 2, which appear to be your “converted” cards. In my case and for your 2 converted cards, we’re getting the 10k bonus points 3 months before the annual fee posts.
For your “original” Card 3, it looks like you’re getting the 10k bonus points 1 month before your annual fee posts. i think that would still be consistent with the “12 month spending year” being keyed to the original approval date and Citi’s normal practice of having annual fees post at the close of the statement for the next period after the 1-year anniversary of the original approval date.
Is any of that helpful, or just more confusing? :)
~Craig
That makes perfect sense. I’m sure Card 3 is my original card since those dates seem the closest. Thanks for sharing your data points that line up with my data points. You can always call Citi and ask them for your start and end dates. They might have to hunt around their system to find the correct dates. Have a great weekend.