Citi AT&T No Longer Earns 3x at Paypal Digital Gifts

Via r/churning user nikdaquik, the Citi AT&T credit card no longer earns 3x for Paypal Digital Gifts purchases. A friend has confirmed that their PPDG-direct purchases also earned 1x on a statement which closed today. I believe it’s retroactive in the sense any statement closing now (perhaps since March 1) will only earn 1x, even for purchases made during February.

Citi announced back in July 2017 their intention to exclude gift card purchases from earning 3x with the AT&T card. In reality, there wasn’t any big shift on the date of the change, just a slow process as they weed out gift card vendors from being eligible for 3x.

Well, apparently they’ve finally detected PPDG and excluded them from earning 3x. Nothing changed from what we see on our end; they probably just individually coded the merchant not to earn 3x any longer.

It’s a real bummer because AT&T really helped juice the margins on some break-even deals. RIP

 

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aubergine
aubergine (@guest_696489)
December 26, 2018 13:41

Random data points for ATT card. These all coded up for the online bonus

KLwines.com
winebid.com
Amazon
Amazon Prime Now
Amazon Prime Now Tips
Google Photos
CostPlusWorldMarket online

The first two were the ones I really was interested in.

NinjaX
NinjaX (@guest_567714)
March 8, 2018 02:47

this CC is gonna die. guaranteed. makes no sense citi to have this relationship. this CC reward structure is also an anomaly.

DW
DW (@guest_567646)
March 7, 2018 20:17

It seems like everything is going away lately. Even though notice came out last summer, I was hoping mortgage and PPDG would keep tracking.

CHEAH
CHEAH (@guest_567603)
March 7, 2018 17:23

Can i still convert other citi card to att access more?

Diamond Vargas
Diamond Vargas (@guest_567473)
March 7, 2018 13:04

If you’re 5/24-ed out of getting Ink Preferred and 24-monthed out of the Citi Premier, this is still the cheapest annual fee card for 3x on travel purchases.

Dukie02
Dukie02 (@guest_567551)
March 7, 2018 15:23

Another great do on the proliferation of L3 data is a recent email from Amex saying basically ‘you don’t need to let us know you’re traveling anymore because we can tell from your purchases when you’ll be out of the country.” Level 3 data at its finest.
Maybe they can start declining us for upcoming travel they don’t think we should take or goods they don’t think we should consume! Can’t wait!

Yao
Yao (@guest_567447)
March 7, 2018 11:56

Also mortgage payment through Plastiq didn’t earn 3x with this card in March statement

Ralph
Ralph (@guest_567482)
March 7, 2018 13:26

How was the payment characterized? What day did the payment process and who is your mortgagee? Wondering if this is a one time occurrence or something the rest of us should be concerned about.

Adam
Adam (@guest_567584)
March 7, 2018 16:32

Sadly I also found the same thing happened to me too with my statement that was generated today. My mortgage had been posting with 3x but this time it didn’t.

The payment processed on 2/23 and it showed as Services – MISC GOVERNMENT SERVICES just like it always did. My mortgage is with Capitol Federal bank, a small bank in Kansas.

Ralph
Ralph (@guest_567601)
March 7, 2018 17:21

Thanks for the data point, Adam. My statement posts tomorrow so I’ll report back afterwards.

foobar
foobar (@guest_567728)
March 8, 2018 08:28

Yep, mortgage payment to BofA posted Feb. 10 as “Services – MISC GOVERNMENT SERVICES” (as it had for the previous several months); statement cut Mar. 7, and it only earned 1x (as opposed to 3x in the past).

Ralph
Ralph (@guest_567736)
March 8, 2018 09:47

Same here. I will not be using Plastiq for mortgage payments anymore unless and until I see confirmation here or on other sites that Plastiq has somehow found a workaround for this.

Jim
Jim (@guest_567959)
March 8, 2018 20:46

Same here. The CitiMortgage charge is no longer earning 3x, even it is coded as the same category as previous months. Deal dead.

William
William (@guest_567443)
March 7, 2018 11:48

Can you make a post to analyze which card is the best to use on PPDG these days please?

Bob
Bob (@guest_567442)
March 7, 2018 11:44

ugh, this hurts. I’m mid way thru my statement and already racked up big spend on PPDG…

Won
Won (@guest_567438)
March 7, 2018 11:39

Oh how precious few vendors are left that earn bonuses on gift card purchases through PayPal. I hope the remaining remain intact for Ink Plus…

Thomas
Thomas (@guest_567436)
March 7, 2018 11:38

At this point what good MS opportunity even exist anymore with this card? I was thinking of converting an old citi aadvantage , but it this point why bother?

Chucks
Chucks (@guest_567451)
March 7, 2018 12:00

So the MS opportunity isn’t great but the organic possibilities are pretty strong. Plastiq and so many online purchases qualify for 3x it’s a very strong earnings potential. Also, as it has price rewind it makes for a very strong combination with Earny- it’s far more valuable for Amazon than the Amazon Visa for instance.

dt
dt (@guest_567663)
March 7, 2018 22:16

As it offers annual 10000 TYP bonus (after $10000 spend) that makes annual fee more palatable.
If not enough generic online spend I will order the difference in GCM VGC (via TCB for a small profit) and earn 1TYP/$1 spend.
I do get at least 2cents/1TYP with Turkish Airlines business class transcontinental flights.

dt
dt (@guest_567664)
March 7, 2018 22:17
  dt

P.S. Sorry Chuck but it still works for me somehow:)