Ecason
Level 2 Member
I have ignored Citibank for years now, but recently they up and closed my one account that I still had with them for inactivity and I lost the few hundred Thank You Points. Not sure why it upset me, but it did, so I sought out another card I could open with them that would be of some value to me. All their cards seem a little quirky, but I found one I had never heard of that I thought might be worth the trouble. Enter the AT&T Universal Savings and Rewards card.
A quick glance touted the following features:
10000 bonus Thank You Points after $500 in 3 months
1 pt per dollar on non AT&T purchases
Save up to 10% on AT&T purchases for the first 12 months then 5% thereafter
Our AT&T bill runs $250 a month so my quick math calculated $100 minimum for TYP and $300 savings with AT&T. When I received the card I realized I had missed something rather important.
It states:
Earn up to 10% back on each dollar you spend on eligible AT&T purchases and services that is matched by the amount you spend on other purchases for the first 12 months, and 5% thereafter – up to $350 per calendar year.
Of further concern the Guide to Benefits also states:
Your AT&T Universal Savings and Rewards Card Account will receive a savings based upon eligible transactions appearing on your current month’s billing statement. The savings will show on your Card Account as a statement credit as long as your Card Account is open and current.
The way I read this is I have to have non AT&T spend equal to my AT&T spend to get the 10% statement credit. The second part could mean that both “spends" have to be on the same billing cycle. This is a problem because the statement closed the day between my non AT&T spend and my AT&T spend.
Furthermore, the five times now that I have called to speak to a friendly and knowledgeable service agent, I find that they don’t really know anything about this card and I have to read them the terms from my paperwork and then they have to put me on hold and talk to a manager.
So far I have been told that:
"I would receive a 10% statement credit on ALL PURCHASES as long as I had an eligible AT&T charge. "(Obviously Wrong)
Twice I have been told that "my non AT&T spend on my first statement WOULD cover the AT&T spend on my second statement" (Remains to be seen)
When my second statement closed, still no statement credit, I was told "it can take 4 to 8 weeks to post." This is contrary to the sentence on the landing page that says “Savings post automatically on your billing statement each month, no waiting and no minimum redemption.”
And just yesterday: "my credits will show up on my next statement that closes Nov 12. He couldn’t tell me how much the credits would be."
We will see.
The timeline looks like this
9/3 $505.03 non AT&T
9/12 Statement Closes 10000 TYP post
9/13 213.89 AT&T
9/29 191.65 AT&T
10/12 Statement Closes
10/13-today 253.44 non AT&T
10/18 205.67 AT&T
So not only do I have to dilute my charges with spend I would put elsewhere, but I am not convinced I will see any statement credits and no one there is even knowledgeable about the product. That’s a lot of work for what ends up being 5% back on my phone bill.
A quick glance touted the following features:
10000 bonus Thank You Points after $500 in 3 months
1 pt per dollar on non AT&T purchases
Save up to 10% on AT&T purchases for the first 12 months then 5% thereafter
Our AT&T bill runs $250 a month so my quick math calculated $100 minimum for TYP and $300 savings with AT&T. When I received the card I realized I had missed something rather important.
It states:
Earn up to 10% back on each dollar you spend on eligible AT&T purchases and services that is matched by the amount you spend on other purchases for the first 12 months, and 5% thereafter – up to $350 per calendar year.
Of further concern the Guide to Benefits also states:
Your AT&T Universal Savings and Rewards Card Account will receive a savings based upon eligible transactions appearing on your current month’s billing statement. The savings will show on your Card Account as a statement credit as long as your Card Account is open and current.
The way I read this is I have to have non AT&T spend equal to my AT&T spend to get the 10% statement credit. The second part could mean that both “spends" have to be on the same billing cycle. This is a problem because the statement closed the day between my non AT&T spend and my AT&T spend.
Furthermore, the five times now that I have called to speak to a friendly and knowledgeable service agent, I find that they don’t really know anything about this card and I have to read them the terms from my paperwork and then they have to put me on hold and talk to a manager.
So far I have been told that:
"I would receive a 10% statement credit on ALL PURCHASES as long as I had an eligible AT&T charge. "(Obviously Wrong)
Twice I have been told that "my non AT&T spend on my first statement WOULD cover the AT&T spend on my second statement" (Remains to be seen)
When my second statement closed, still no statement credit, I was told "it can take 4 to 8 weeks to post." This is contrary to the sentence on the landing page that says “Savings post automatically on your billing statement each month, no waiting and no minimum redemption.”
And just yesterday: "my credits will show up on my next statement that closes Nov 12. He couldn’t tell me how much the credits would be."
We will see.
The timeline looks like this
9/3 $505.03 non AT&T
9/12 Statement Closes 10000 TYP post
9/13 213.89 AT&T
9/29 191.65 AT&T
10/12 Statement Closes
10/13-today 253.44 non AT&T
10/18 205.67 AT&T
So not only do I have to dilute my charges with spend I would put elsewhere, but I am not convinced I will see any statement credits and no one there is even knowledgeable about the product. That’s a lot of work for what ends up being 5% back on my phone bill.