All of the major credit card issuers have different rules when it comes to being approved for their cards and earning welcome bonuses on cards. While Amex has a “once in a lifetime” rule on earning welcome bonuses, Citi has a 48-month rule, and I wanted to go over the details of that in this post.
I think this is especially worthwhile in light of the Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard® (review) offering a massive welcome bonus at the moment, making it an ideal time to apply..
In this post:
Basic Citi credit card application rules
Citi doesn’t have a strict limit on how many credit cards you can have with the bank. The major restriction with Citi is regarding how many cards you can be approved for for in a given timeframe:
- You can get approved for one Citi card every eight days
- You can get approved for no more than two Citi cards every 65 days
There’s not a firm limit on how many cards you can have, though at some point you may find that you’re maxed out in terms of the credit that Citi will extend you. That number varies from person to person, presumably based on your income, credit score, etc.
Details of the Citi 48-month bonus rule
When it comes to Citi’s policy for being eligible for the welcome bonus on a card (rather than just being eligible for approval of a card), most Citi cards have what’s known as the 48-month rule.
With these cards, you’re not eligible for the bonus if you’ve received a bonus on that specific card in the past 48 months. The good news is that eligibility for each card is considered independently. Furthermore, when you close a particular card doesn’t factor into whether you’re eligible for a bonus or not, but rather just if you’ve received a welcome bonus on a particular card in that timeframe.
You’ll find this policy on most of Citi’s popular travel credit cards, including co-branded AAdvantage cards, as well as cards earning Citi ThankYou points. This includes products like the Citi Premier® Card (review), Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® (review), Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard® (review), etc.
As you can see, this means you can earn the welcome bonus on a Citi card more than once, you just have to wait at least four years between qualifying for these offers.
Back in the day, Citi also had the 24-month rule, whereby you weren’t eligible for the bonus on a card if you had opened or closed a card in that “family” of cards in the past 24 months. However, that policy no longer applies to major Citi cards.
How do you determine when you closed a Citi card?
Understandably, many people may be wondering when they last closed a particular Citi card, to determine whether they’re eligible for the bonus. What’s the easiest way to figure this out? Well, you could call up Citi, and if you provide your social security number or other personal details, a representative should be able to give you details on cards you’ve had in the past.
Next, in my experience, Citi sends an email to confirm that you closed n account, assuming you request to receive email communications. So if you search your inbox for the card’s name and “Confirmation of account closure,” then you should hopefully find when you closed your card (which doesn’t tell you when you opened it, but at least you know when it was closed).
Lastly, if you have a fair number of credit cards, I always recommend keeping a spreadsheet with the basics of your cards, including when you opened them, when you earned a bonus, when you closed them, etc., as that can always come in handy (including in situations like this!).
Bottom line
Citi has pretty straightforward rules when it comes to getting approved for its cards and earning bonuses.
The most common restriction that you’ll find is the 48-month rule, which means that you can only earn the bonus on a particular card if you haven’t earned a bonus on that exact card in the past 48 months. This is a pretty straightforward policy, and fortunately has no “family” language, meaning you’re eligible for the bonus on each type of card.
What has your experience been with Citi’s 48-month rule?
I've slowly given up on Citi. I used to put 80% of my spend on the Presitge + premier + double cash card, but that has erroded to about 0.
It started when Citi removed all travel insurance on the prestige. So I moved all airfare to Platinum (same 5X points).
I kept restaurant spend on prestige, but eventually moved it to the Amex Gold and canceled prestige altogether.
Venture X is...
I've slowly given up on Citi. I used to put 80% of my spend on the Presitge + premier + double cash card, but that has erroded to about 0.
It started when Citi removed all travel insurance on the prestige. So I moved all airfare to Platinum (same 5X points).
I kept restaurant spend on prestige, but eventually moved it to the Amex Gold and canceled prestige altogether.
Venture X is better than double cash in about every way for non-bonus spend.
I held on to premier for 3X gas, but am now going to downgrade.
Overall, I went from a stellar Citi customer to basically having no use for the citi cards.