SethH
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2003
- Messages
- 2,867
I have had a credit card with Citi for about 10 years now. It is my longest open credit account and I keep the card around just for that reason.
Today I received a letter stating that "effective April 1, 2010, an annual fee of $60 is being added" to the card. This fee is "refundable" at the end of each year if I spend at least $2400 on the card during the year.
From what I've seen online LOTS of people are getting this letter. It seems to apply to 8-10 of their cards. Mine, for reference, is the Diamond Preferred Rewards card.
The back of the letter addresses my right to "opt-out" of this fee by closing my account. My concern, naturally, is that closing this account will likely hurt my credit score by reducing my available credit and by closing my oldest open account.
So, I'm here to ask for the collective wisdom of the HTF . . . what should I do? Do I close my account? Will it, in fact, hurt my credit? If so, how much? Does anyone know if Citi has other cards that will not have this new annual fee imposed that they might be willing to switch my account over to?
A little more background: I don't think it makes sense to pay the fee. I really don't use this card and will not spend $2400 on the card in any normal year. I have a BP Rewards card from Chase that I received a letter about stating they will not be adding an annual fee, and I use that card more anyway, so I plan to stick with that for most of my credit spending.
Today I received a letter stating that "effective April 1, 2010, an annual fee of $60 is being added" to the card. This fee is "refundable" at the end of each year if I spend at least $2400 on the card during the year.
From what I've seen online LOTS of people are getting this letter. It seems to apply to 8-10 of their cards. Mine, for reference, is the Diamond Preferred Rewards card.
The back of the letter addresses my right to "opt-out" of this fee by closing my account. My concern, naturally, is that closing this account will likely hurt my credit score by reducing my available credit and by closing my oldest open account.
So, I'm here to ask for the collective wisdom of the HTF . . . what should I do? Do I close my account? Will it, in fact, hurt my credit? If so, how much? Does anyone know if Citi has other cards that will not have this new annual fee imposed that they might be willing to switch my account over to?
A little more background: I don't think it makes sense to pay the fee. I really don't use this card and will not spend $2400 on the card in any normal year. I have a BP Rewards card from Chase that I received a letter about stating they will not be adding an annual fee, and I use that card more anyway, so I plan to stick with that for most of my credit spending.