In May Citi removed the ability to generate virtual account numbers for American Airlines cardholders. There was some concern that these would be removed entirely for all cards. Today Citi has actually made an improvement to Virtual Account Numbers, previously flash was being used causing lots of issues. That’s no longer the case and Citi is using Javascript SPA. It’s unlikely that Citi would invest in updating this feature if they planned to removed VAN’s completely so this is good news.
View Comments (28)
today, 08/01/2021, i tried using VIRTUAL ACCOUNT NUMBER from citi, and all the new cards have max expiration of 08/21. now per citi policy and card policy that implies expire at END of august 2021. BUT, some sites (indipendence blue cross phila. pa, and digital river), re rejecting my cards with expire of 08/21, it seems that they are assuming that the cards are EXPIRED, and are rejecting them. If I am correct, then this month is going to create an avalanche of irate citi customers who assumed that cards with expire of 08/21 were good for this month. I wrote to citi chat, the rep indicated she would file a "complaint" for me, but she apologized, stating she had no other way to ESCALATE this to th desigers of the soon-to-be-released new version of the VAN system. anyway, if i am right, that is not good. just my observations.
I tried getting a virtual number, when I hit the big button it doesn't do anything. I have popups being allowed. It was a nice feature for them.
I "was" really happy to see Citi updated their support for Virtual Cards.
► But then about a month ago (around mid-November), I started having a problem:
If I generate a Virtual Card linked to my Citi ThankYou card, it works fine...
But if I try to generate a Virtual Card linked to my Citi DoubleCash card, it fails with this error, every time (I have tried this several times a week for the last 4 weeks)
The error is:
"Sorry, we are unable to connect to the server at this time. Please try again."
Finally, I called up Citi support.
The guy on the phone hilariously told me that I was using it wrong... He said only "Only the card that is set as the 'default' card in your account can be used to generate Virtual Card numbers."
When I asked him why this was never a problem before mid-November, he said it was because of the new Citi security procedures! Hahaha, who is training these idiots???
Literally, the Virtual Card app lets me select which card I want to use to generate a Virtual Card number...
So why would it be "against the security procedures of the new Virtual Card software" ????? Really? It just sounded like the guy wanted to get me off the phone.
So I asked him to show me how to change my 'default' card.
He then told me that it takes at least 24 hours for the change to take effect, so even if I change it now, I will not be able to use the other card to generate a Virtual Card.
I laughed out loud! This guy thought he'd be able to get me off the phone by giving me some cockamamie answer!
So I said "Fine, show me where to change the default card."
So he took me to the spot where I could change that...
And guess what!?!
The DoubleCash card was ►ALREADY◄ set as the default!!
This totally destroyed his ridiculous assertion that the problem was related to which card was 'default' on the account!
I asked him what I should do next - because this problem has been an issue for a month and it obviously isn't going to fix itself.
He said he would have a manager or technical person call me back the next day... a Sunday.
It sounded weird to me, but I said ok.
I told him I am available all day, doesn't matter how early or late - this problem is important and I need it solved.
The next day came and went --- no callback. The next ►WEEK◄ came and went... STILL no callback.
I called Citi back, spoke to a very nice lady... but still equally clueless.
She asked me to check what browser I was using.
Like, what??! This is a SERVER ISSUE... on CITI's END!!!!!! This has nothign to do with my browser.
But ok, I had been using Chrome before, so I opened up Microsoft Edge.
Same result - Citi ThankYou card worked fine. Citi DoubleCash failed with the same error:
"Sorry, we are unable to connect to the server at this time. Please try again."
Now she changed her story and said that it's a known issue.... wow, it wasn't known a few minutes ago, but now it is?
Anyway, she told me she doesn't have a timeline on when it'll be fixed, but I can try again later today....
Another blowoff!
This problem hasn't been addressed in a month but maybe it'll be fixed later today!?
Come on Citi! You have to train these people better. This is garbage!
I've tried again last night and this morning... same issue persists.
►►►What is it going to take to fix this issue, Citi!??!!
They're now working for AAdvantage cards again!
As of today, it seems that the virtual number and some of the citi bank site itself has resorted to Flash again. Definitely the old UI with the flash "lego" block icon in the address window. Is anyone else noticing this setback?
I have to log into my citi account to get a virtual number. Upon logging in I am told to answer my security questions and then I get locked out. I've had this happen many times. I call the 1800 number and they unlock my account, I've changed my security questions and the same thing happens. I cannot get anyone "live" as covid has everything backlogged. This has been going on all week. So frustrating. I'm trying to prevent fraud and feel like I'm being punished. grrrr
The new version of the software *was* working, but today I'm getting this error:
"Due to Citibank's latest security standards and protocols, please go to Citi.com and use the online version of Virtual Account Number"
Did they really roll out this new software only to kill it a few weeks later?
Seems to be working here. You going in through the web page?
No, I was using the downloadable program on Windows 7.
I’ll try reinstalling. *shrugs*
Not sure if they fixed the download version. Going in through the web site does work.
For now have been disabling CSS to fix the bugs with the new app ("Disable Styles" in the developer options of my browser). Makes the app basic but at least I can open/close cards.
Do they let recurring charges just go through after the virtual number expires? They should not, but remember Amex let my recurring go through even after requesting a (physical) card number change
Since the change, I can't get this new non-flash version to work. The system just keeps saying "generating virtual account number please wait..." anyone else running into this issue? Full disclosure, I use this feature A LOT.
Figured it out, this change changed the order of my cards. Usually I picked the top card, the system changed the top card to one that was closed, so I was selecting the wrong card.
It's always operator error. Always.