If you’re thinking of picking up the Citi Platinum AAdvantage card, you might want to check the mail for a targeted offer. My sister (who is just 18 years old) got an offer for 60,000 miles after $3,000 spent in 3 months. The $95 annual fee is waived and they enclosed an invitation number to be used during the application process.
The current publicly available sign-up bonus for the Citi Platinum AAdvantage card is 50,000 miles and it’s been a few years since I’ve seen a 75,000 mile offer for this card, so this is a solid deal.
After meeting the $3,000 spending requirement on this card, you’ll end up with 63,000 AAdvantage miles. That’s enough miles for two roundtrip economy class tickets to anywhere in the US (with 13,000 miles to spare). If it’s premium travel you’re after, you can redeem these miles for a one-way business class ticket to Europe. Plus, you’ll get 10% of your miles back as a cardholder perk. There are lots of other possibilities, but these are just a few examples.
My sister doesn’t have any credit cards. Nor have any family members added her as an authorized user on their accounts. I’m surprised she was targeted for this offer, but doubt she’ll actually get approved. After all, she’s a full-time college student with a part time job – hardly the ideal demographic for premium credit cards.
My real concern is whether I should sign her up for the card to begin with. On one hand, it will be good for her to start building her credit history, though it’s always good to start off with a no-annual fee card. That way, when the $95 annual fee becomes too much, the thought of losing your oldest credit line isn’t an obstacle.
There’s also the concern over whether she is responsible enough to handle her own credit card. When I was her age (in fact on my 18th birthday) I signed up and was approved for an American Express Blue Cash card. The limit was around $3,000 and I didn’t handle it so well in the beginning, getting myself into a bit of debt.
This went on for about 5 months when I finally managed to pay the card off. But when you’re young and you have a rewards credit card with a limit exceeding your spending power, you’re tempted to use it when you really shouldn’t.
So I’m kind of torn about signing her up for the 60,000 mile Citi Platinum AAdvantage card offer. I do need to get her a starter credit card to build credit. But I think if I sign her up for this card I’ll probably just meet the spending requirement and hold onto it for her. The offer is good through December 31, 2015 so that gives me enough time to make a decision.
Anyway, if any of you responsible adults out there are looking to acquire some extra AAdvantage miles before the rumored 2016 AAdvantage devaluation, then keep an eye out in the mail for the 60,000 mile offer from the Citi Platinum AAdvantage card. If you haven’t been targeted, you can try contacting Citi and asking them to extend the offer to you.
Back when Citi had a targeted 75,000 mile offer for the AAdvantage card, I reached out to them and got approved for the higher sign-up bonus. It took a bit of effort. They initially only posted 50,000 miles. I had to convince them that they did in fact extend the higher offer over the phone. Secure message is another option that might work.
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Just because you had problems with your first CC doesn’t mean she will. I was terrible with credit when I was young but raised my kids on the mantra of never carrying a balance forward. They started getting credit cards as freshman in college, when I told them they had to help with airline tickets to come home on breaks. I helped them with the spending challenge by having them get me an associate card. They are 22 and 24 years old now and each has a credit score in the high 700s and neither has ever paid interest on a charge.
This could be a great learning opportunity for her.
It can definitely be a good thing. I think I’ll get it for her and then just keep monitoring her account for a while and help her manage her spending. It’s something we all have to learn at some point.
My 23 y/o daughter graduated from college in May and is transitioning from an online shop to a brick and mortar store this week. I’d like her to get started building some credit history (and earning some miles/points). Any card you would recommend for a young professional starting out? She has no credit cards. Thanks!
One other point, if she has never had a credit card before, you might want to make her an associated card holder on some of your accounts. You don’t have to actually give her the plastic card but just being attached to your account can up her credit score very quickly.
That’s awesome! I think if she’s never had her own card, it’s definitely good to start with a personal card first. Some cards have minimum credit line requirements and qualifying for them requires a certain income level. I don’t know what your daughter’s income level is, but that could definitely factor into which card she’s eligible for. A very good starter card to start with is the Chase Freedom card. The sign-up bonus isn’t great, but it has no annual fee and is good for the long run. If down the road her business picks up, she can then apply for an Ink card – this way, the rewards she earns from the Freedom card can be transferred to her Ultimate Rewards account. If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me an email (ariana at pointchaser.com)
Start by having her identify her goals.
My older daughter is so busy building her career that a travel rewards card is a waste of time and energy; she isn’t taking many vacations. She is in such a high powered career (Hollywood film industry) that she cannot plan ahead. For her, a Southwest credit card made sense because tickets are refundable if work demands she change her plans. All through college she collected Delta points but she finds she cannot use them because Delta award travel requires planning many months ahead of time.
For the other daughter, she identified which airlines service the airport in her new city and she started collecting United and American Airlines points. She is also busy building her career so is more interested in short domestic trips to visit college friends and her sister.
It’s so odd because Delta seems to be the go-to currency for newbies who don’t know better. I started out the same way – a huge Skymiles balance. You’re making a great point though – it’s ultimately all about your travel goals and which currency will get you there.
Yup, spouse and I both received this 63K offer — and it was very specific to us, in that the offer includes notes on our existing AA miles balances (earned from previous cards even)… and how the 60K would increase that existing balance. (Presumably they know already how we earned most of the existing balance.) Nice too that the annual fee is waived first year. Tempted.
By contrast, the 75k offers that are “out there” presently seem to come with the $450 annual fee — and it’s rather embarrassing to read the bloggers (mms) pushing them on the logic that you can get the $450 back, in theory, via rebates on airline incidentals over two years.
I’d rather pay off the incidentals from cash back earned on other cards (discover, amex blue, etc.) — rather than over two years via a rebate that barely rebates a nasty annual fee.
Push back out there in defense of $450 annual fees?
The 75k offer is definitely not worth $450. I did take advantage of it when it was 100k, but why pay an extra $450 for just 15k extra miles? Even if you’re getting $200 in airline gift cards and credits, that’s still money out of your pocket.
By the way, about that AA rumored “devaluation,” why are we even calling it that, as yet? So far, I’m seeing most indications that the changes will come more on the how the points are earned side…. (by linking them to cost of ticket — yes, can understand why that will irritate the crowd that actually earns tons of miles by flying… unlike those of use who earn them through other means.)
Yet have you seen any indications of changes, if any, to the awards themselves? (that would give rise to the claim, “devaluation?”) I rather like the changes that have come to Delta on that side — often permitting the use of award miles at much lower rates. AA is already seems to be doing that quietly, via greater use of the reduced redemption rate promos…. (listed by airport)
I’ve heard the award chart is actually devaluating and those 67k CX awards in first class are going to require 80k+. I’m sure it will be on par with what other airlines require.
I received this offer in the mail AFTER I’ve already signed up for another offer (50k miles) a month ago. I sent a message to Citi and the response was that they’ll give me additional 10k miles to make up the difference. The rep stated it would take 1-2 billing cycles for both the 50k and 10k to credit. I’ve already met my minimum spending and currently in my second billing cycle, so we shall see. I convinced my sister to sign up for an AAdvantage account and wait and see if she gets targeted for an offer in the next few months. She only signs up for 1-2 cards in a year.
Nice! I hope it works out and the miles do get credited without incident.
Trying to figure out how Citi’s targeting logic works. Girlfriend got the 60K invitation and I did not. We have the same address, age and income with very close credit ratings and number of AAdvantage miles. Only significant differences are my employer requires me to carry a Citi Corporate card for business expenses and I have million miler status. They must either be excluding current Citi card holders or anyone with lifetime gold or platinum. I called the number on the invitation asking if I could get in on the 60K deal. They said they would approve me for the card, but only award me 50K miles – same as the public offering on their website. Anyone else successful asking them to extend the offer?
They seem to be going after “new” customers who either don’t have an existing AA card or aren’t elite AA members. My sister has 2,000 AA miles in her account and hasn’t flown them in years (the miles came from e-miles transfers) so it’s odd she got targeted while I didn’t.
A friend got it and threw it out. I would go for it and – though I get lots of CC offers because of my credit rating – I haven’t gotten it. I even called citicard application service (someone in Asia) and the best they could offerme to switch from Barclays was 50,000 and I won’t do it for that. So I’m in same boat as the OTHER Steven Above. Please post if there is a code in the form those getting 60,000 mile offer have gotten.
Lets say I cancel the card before the after i spend the required amount to get the 60k miles. Do I still get to keep the miles if I CANCEL the card ?
Just wait for them to post first. But yes, once the miles have posted and you’ve cancelled the card, you get to keep them.