Putting together a plan for your Citi credit cards is kinda like setting the table for a picnic in the middle of a tornado. As soon as you make your decisions, Citi changes something, messing up all your plans.
I wrote about what I was going to do with my Citi cards but, as it turns out, I had to make some changes. Because, Citi.
One part of the plan that remained was finally getting rid of the AT&T Universal Rewards card. It’s one of the discontinued cards I hold on to but it was time to let it go. I decided to try and change it to the AT&T Access More card.
I’m sure some of you know of this card, while others might not. When it first came out, the big deal was the signup bonus of $650 that you could use to get a new phone from AT&T. While that’s long gone, the benefits of the card are still appealing. Most interesting is that the card earns ThankYou points, which, when combined with a Citi Premier or Prestige, allows those points to be transferred to any of Citi’s travel partners.
The card earns 3 ThankYou Points per $1 spent at AT&T and for “online purchases at retail and travel websites.” Besides that, the card only earns 1 ThankYou Point per $1 spent on other purchases. If you spend $10,000 on the card during your cardmember year, you get a bonus 10,000 ThankYou points. That’s 4x points for online purchases, including Amazon.com, which is almost unheard of (unless you buy Amazon gift cards at an office supply store).
While the card has been closed to new applications for over three years, it still was available as a product change if you had another Citi card until 2018.
I can confirm the information shared by Middle Age Miles that the Citi AT&T Access More card is no longer available for product changes.
I tried three times to change to the card and was shut down each time. The first time, I called trying to change my AT&T Universal card to an AT&T Access more. The rep got all the way to reading me the perks of the card but was unable to complete the conversion.
Always willing to try and HUCA (Hang Up, Call Again), I gave it a week or so and called again. This time I got the same thing; close but no cigar. I figured this time I would follow the process listed by Travel With Grant and change to the AT&T Access card first.
After getting my new card, I gave it a few weeks and tried to call and change to the AT&T Access More. No luck. The rep even told me that the card is no longer available in their system for product changes. However, they could change me to a Citi Double Cash card instead.
While I may take them up on their offer of the Double Cash, I left the card “as is” for now. The AT&T Access card still earns 2 ThankYou points for online purchases and from travel websites and has no annual fee. The Double Cash is a better option earning 2x points everywhere but I’ll stick with the AT&T card for now and see if Citi sends me any offers to change cards.
Final Thoughts
Losing the ability of product changing any Citi card to the AT&T Access More card is a loss, but a small one. The card wasn’t well known and there was little risk for Citi to prevent the people who would be most likely to take advantage of the cards benefits from acquiring it.
I’ll miss out on the ability to earn 3x or even 4x ThankYou points for online purchases but I’ll deal. I’m going to go full geek here and compare this to one of my favorite video games.
Constants and Variables.
There’s always a lighthouse. There’s always a man. There’s always a city
While a card may go away, a program may devalue awards and signup rules may change, there will always be opportunities to take advantage of and people there to take advantage of that opportunity.
Constants and Variables.
There’s always a bank. There’s always a program. There’s always a point redemption.
An opportunity is gone, so we go on. Onto another card, another program, another method. Until things change again and the process starts over.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
