Contents
The Offer
No direct link, offer available in-branch only (CT, DE, MA, MI, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, VT)
- Citizen’s Bank is offering an introductory offer on their Cash Back Mastercard to earn 5% cashback on all purchases through March 31, 2020.
The Citizen’s Bank Cash Back Plus Mastercard generally earns 1.8% back on all purchases. With this introductory offer, you’ll earn an extra 3.2% on all purchases for a total of 5% cash back.
Our Verdict
This offer is being advertised at Citizen’s Bank branches, and has been available since at least last week. Not sure how long it’ll last. Judging from various readers who’ve sent this in, it appears to be available at all Citizen’s Bank locations, but again, it requires a physical branch location and can not be done online.
5% for 4-5 months is pretty sweet, especially if you have large purchases to make, e.g. for the holidays or your upcoming tax bill. There doesn’t appear to be any limit to the 5% earn, though we don’t know how generous the bank is with credit lines which could hinder the ability to make large purchases. Update: some readers have gotten $500 credit limit from Citizen’s Bank in the past 🙁
Hat tip to readers Max, AR, Michael and PF
Just a heads up for anyone that still has this card. Just got an email with the subject “10% cash back is yours. Get going!” Looks to be 10% back on up to $500 spend/month on restaurants & groceries until May 5th. Pretty sweet deal for a sock-drawered card!
Terms @ https://www.citizensbank.com/cards-and-rewards/credit-cards/card-offers/disclosures/src/CBPSBREM.aspx
cc
William Charles
Did anyone hit this hard with PayPal payments?
Received the additional cash back yesterday.
anyone want to update their haul from this?
Estimated total spend: $76,560.15
Estimated 5% cashback earned: $3,828.01
veerob and samosa impressive! hope everything goes smoothly with cashback posting
Thanks, Sam, crossing my fingers over here. Haven’t seen any reason why they won’t honor it, so I think we’re good.
total spent: ~$48K
cashback received: ~$864 (@1.8%)
cashback expected by 05/31: ~$1536 (@3.2%)
Too bad I chickened out and didn’t cycle CL.
I received the remaining 3.2% cash-back.
veeRob how about you?
Nothing here yet. did it show up in your regular cash back balance?
Yes, it showed up right where 1.8% used to be. I also received a congratulatory email that showed my exact total spend, amount I had received @1.8% and amount they now paid @3.2%.
I am pretty sure soon you will get too, they may be sending out in batches.
I got neither, yet. Will report back when I do!
Now the question is what to do with this card, and how to avail the next opportunity if they run the promo again in November. Do you know whether this recent promo was for new customers only or did the existing customers got it too? If it was for new customers only then I wonder if we close the account now we may be eligible for another round in November.
I believe the promo was for new cardmembers, but I could be wrong. No idea if they’ll run the promo again, my guess is no as they probably see by the numbers that it didn’t help them all that much. Personally I’ll just be keeping the card and using it for certain purchases I don’t want on my Citi Double Cash card. Happy to give them some business for the time being to reward them for this promotion as long as it benefits me.
Cash Spent: $36222.40
1.8% already earned: $652.02
3.2% credited 04/15: $1159.12
Total 5% cash back: $1811.14
I think they have shut me down. Haven’t used the card for a week, today an organic $40 purchase got declined. Called the number on the back of the card, guy from their fraud dept. said the transection wasn’t declined due to fraud alert but rather the card has been blocked by “the bank” even before this attempted purchase. He said the bank will notify me soon about card status. I still have access to the online account but I suspect they are going to shutdown the card.
Still no update from the bank. Still have access to online account but unable to make purchases with CC.
This is the first time my CC with any bank has ever been blocked so I don’t have any experience dealing with this situation. I don’t how what’s a appropriate strategy here; should I just wait for their decision or should I keep trying reaching out to them. Looking for help from experienced folks
veeRob. 
Dan - Legal Bank Robber
Wish I had words of wisdom. I talked to the fraud department when my big Simon purchases weren’t going through on multiple days, and they were super helpful. They ended up whitelisting that merchant for me so the big transactions would go through and didn’t even ask questions about what the purchase was. Very friendly. I personally wouldn’t think it was a complete shutdown based on what you’ve experienced. You’ve tried using the card at other times for normal transactions? And have you tried calling the fraud department again and ask to speak with a supervisor about the issue?
The possible trigger for red flag may be maxing out the card limit, or it may be due to the reason that a few days ago P2 was returning some items to a merchant that she had purchased with Citi credit card, but during return process she inadvertently inserted the citizen’s credit card into the card reader. So, the merchant “refunded” the funds to my citizen’s credit card (have been posted to account) that were actually purchased by the Citi card. I am thinking that may have raised a red flag in the system and led to the card freeze. Who knows….
Yep, I have been applying 1.8% CB to my account too. I think we will get the remaining 3.8%. I am not spending crazy anyway…just aiming for $2-2.5K CB in total.
Just wanted to update on my spend. I should be at around $70k in spend by the end of the month… not bad for a $10k limit and only 4 months. If all goes as planned and I get the additional 3.2% cashback, I’m looking at $3,500 in cashback. Very happy with the result if they pay out the 3.2% without any hassle.
imo this is way too risky to try to max out and do any kind of ridiculous MS on. the smart thing to do would be try to get maybe $1000 total and hope they dont notice. if you try to be a big fish and do something that stands out, someone will likely notice and you will be out a lot of money. wells fargo did it to me back when they offered the 5% at drug stores for the first 6 months, just arbitrarily shut me down and took away the cash back. i think there will be a lot of sad posts come May
liquidation opportunities without MO eh? are you just talking about the commonly known bluebird/serve, plastiq, etc or do you have some 0 cost secret couch ms method
Nothing exotic, just BB and GoBank.
I should also point out, $0 MS or Gift Cards were bought.
How did you do >$50k in volume in such a short time without MS?
What was your credit limit and were you cycling your credit?
Thanks for your input
veeRob , hopefully you are right!
I wasn’t planning on maxing out but just couldn’t stop myself. Did $7K in MS along with $5K organic spend and there goes the monthly limit. The only good thing is I didn’t cycle the credit. If I survive this time, I think going forward I will probably use ~80% of CL.
I did my full CL the first statement. Going to try to cycle at least once per cycle. Can’t resist. Good luck to us both.
I just got shut down. Had $1000 or so cash back, meaning they just stole $2700 or so. I’m quickly opting out of Binding Arbitration, And you should to.
RIGHT TO CANCEL OR OPT OUT OF THIS ARBITRATION AGREEMENT
You may opt out of this Arbitration Agreement to resolve any claim or dispute by arbitration.
To opt out of this Arbitration Agreement, you must send us written notice of your decision
within forty-five (45) days of the opening of your Account or of receiving the Arbitration
Agreement for the first time. Such notice must clearly state that you wish to cancel or opt
out of the Arbitration Agreement section of this Card Agreement. It should include your
name, address, Account name, Account number and your signature and must be mailed to
Credit Card Services – Arbitration, P.O. Box 7092, Bridgeport, CT 06601. This is the sole and
only method by which you can opt out of this Arbitration Agreement. Your exercise of the
right to opt-out will not affect any remaining terms of this Card Agreement and will not result
in any adverse consequence to you or your Account. You agree that our business records
will be final and conclusive evidence with respect to whether you cancelled or opted out of
this Arbitration Agreement in a timely and proper fashion.
Applied in branch last week. Instant approval, received the card today. $12K CL. My score is ~790, 6/24. I thawed only Equifax knowing that they pull only this CB, and sure enough they did. Luckily, only 2 inquiries in the last 12 months with this CB. Hoping for an easy $2K provided my BBs survive the shutdowns.
Finally got my online access and made a test purchase at the mall. My small test tracked as shopping and I see the 1.8% cash back in my account already. 🙂
Did you try to lower Cash advance limit? Not sure whether they reduce it.
Thanks for the tip. Called in on my drive to Simon and successfully set cash advance limit to $0.
I tried to buy a $500 VGC (recent Safeway deal) but transection didn’t go through, they locked my card. Had to call and re-activate it. Next day, tried again and transection went through. Simons is next. I am thinking of $10K per month for first two months, then maybe ramp it up for last two months…..hope Simons keep extending their $1K deal until then. Lets see…