Money expert Clark Howard has suggested the Citi Double Cash® Card to listeners for years thanks to a simple, easy-to-understand rewards program.
But Clark is annoyed with the cash back credit card provider after news of their latest policy change.
During a recent episode of The Clark Howard Podcast, Clark heard from a listener who said that Citi notified them that they’d lose online payment access if they did not soon adopt a paperless billing policy.
This sent Clark into one of his classic rants about properly taking care of customers.
And, perhaps more importantly, gave him an opportunity to spread the news that existing Citi customers should pay attention to this in the coming months.
In this article, we’ll walk through Clark’s answer to the listener’s question and look at some of the details being reported on Citi’s new paperless policy that could be concerning to some cardholders.
Listener’s Plight Sends Clark Into a Rant on Citi Double Cash® Card
Hal from Texas wrote the following note to Clark:
“I received my paper statement for my Citi Double Cash Back card, reviewed it with my spouse, and went to Citi.com to pay as usual. I was stunned to be greeted with a popup informing me that I have to change to paperless statements, or after three such notices will not be able to pay Citi online or on the Citi app anymore. I did not make the change in the hope that the customer outcry might get Citi to drop that new requirement. Please, Clark, spread the message that this is a ‘customer no-service’ move so Citi might reconsider.”
Hal is one of several people who recently have reached out to Clark about a similar popup message that they’re receiving from Citi when they login to pay their bill.
Needless to say, this move by Citi has Clark pretty upset:
“Yeah, I’ve been hearing this from people. And Citi, I mean, come on. This is classless,” Clark said. “If you want to tell people that, moving forward, if they’re going to have a card with you it has to be paperless billing: That’s fine. But to use your brute force and size to say you either do it our way or we’re taking away your candy? Really? That’s a trashy way to treat people. Especially with the number of times we, as taxpayers, have bailed out Citibank when you were going to go extinct when you were insolvent as a bank. Including, I think, more than a trillion dollars 15 years ago. This is just not cool. And you should really rethink this.”
Wall Street Journal Report Confirms This Is Happening To Some Customers
The suspicions that Citi is up to something have been confirmed by a new Wall Street Journal report.
Considered a cost-saving measure, Citi has indeed been notifying its customers who receive paper statements on banking and credit cards that they have a choice to make: Either switch to paperless statements or lose your ability to access your account online.
The WSJ also obtained a screenshot of what one of these popup statements look like:
According to the report, failing to opt into the paperless statements program could leave customers mailing paper checks as their primary means of paying credit card bills. Yikes!
As Hal mentioned above, it seems as though you get three reminders via popup before you’re forced into a decision.
Are There Alternatives To the Citi Double Cash® Card?
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Annual Fee:
$0.00
Bonus Offer:
Earn $200 cash back
Bonus Offer Disclaimer:
after you spend $1,500 on purchases in the first 6 months of account opening. This bonus offer will be fulfilled as 20,000 ThankYou® Points, which can be redeemed for $200 cash back.
Intro APR Rate on Balance Transfers:
0%
Intro APR Period on Balance Transfers:
18 months
Variable APR:
19.24% – 29.24%
Rewards Program Details:
Earn 2% on every purchase with unlimited 1% cash back when you buy, plus an additional 1% as you pay for those purchases. To earn cash back, pay at least the minimum due on time. Plus, for a limited time, earn 5% total cash back on hotel, car rentals and attractions booked on the Citi Travel℠ portal through 12/31/24.
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There’s a reason that Clark has recommended the Citi® Double Cash Card for so long: It’s simple.
You get 1% back on everything you purchase when you pay, and then you receive an additional 1% back when the bill is paid. There are no spending category requirements and no limits to the amount of rewards you can earn.
The unlimited 2% cash back you can earn on your everyday purchases is great. And you don’t have to worry about an annual fee eating up your rewards, either.
Clark keeps this one in his wallet, but we understand if you may be frustrated by Citi’s latest power trip regarding paperless billing.
Luckily, some alternative credit cards provide similar rewards that you could consider.
One card that Team Clark likes that you may want to consider is the Fidelity® Rewards Visa Signature® Card.
It offers the chance to earn unlimited cash back on everyday purchases and have that money sent directly to your Fidelity investment account. Choosing that method of rewards redemption will result in 2% cash back, and it’ll also help you save for things like college or retirement.
I have this card and can confirm that you can receive paper statements and still pay your bill online at no additional cost.
Alternatively, you could consider the PayPal Cashback Mastercard®, Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card or Alliant Cashback Visa® Signature Card as no-annual-fee cards that offer at least 2% back on all your purchases.
Are you experiencing similar issues with Citi? We’d love to hear about your situation in the Clark.com community.
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