Citi Diamond Preferred Review

This simple card is made for those who need extra time to pay off debt but don’t want to pay for that extra time. Whether you have a large purchase to make or old debt to get rid of, if you don’t need a card with all the bells and whistles, this card may be for you. 

It doesn’t have a rewards program, but it does give cardholders four months to make 0% APR balance transfers. That's not shabby when compared to a maximum of 60 days required by many comparable cards. Just make sure you are disciplined about paying off debt. However, once the 0% APR period ends, the standard purchase and balance transfer rates aren’t competitive and could quickly reverse any of the no-interest cost savings.   

• Introductory APRs for purchases and balance transfers: It’s not uncommon for credit cards to only offer introductory purchase APRs, while others only offer promotional APRs for balance transfers. The fact that this card offers both is somewhat unusual. 
• More than a year to pay off card interest-free: Long introductory APR offers are always standouts in the card industry, but the whopping 18-month-long period offered by the Citi Diamond Preferred is one of the longest. Whether you open this card to make purchases or transfer balances, the long zero-interest period will allow you to create and stick to an extended, feasible repayment plan that won’t take over your finances. 
• No annual fee: There’s no upfront or recurring cost for using the card. This makes it easy to calculate the card’s value. 

• Wide range of non-introductory APRs: Once the 18-month-long 0% APR period ends, there's a wide 10-percentage-point range of APRs that will apply to purchases and balance transfers, based on your creditworthiness. It erodes value from the card once the introductory rate offer expires, since there’s no reward program, either. 
• Balance transfer fee: Not all cards touting balance transfer perks charge fees for such transactions, but the Citi Diamond Preferred card does, even for transfers made under the introductory balance transfer APR. While a transfer to a no-interest card can save you money, the addition of a fee reduces the savings

• Citi Entertainment: Get special access to purchase tickets to thousands of events each year, including presale tickets and VIP packages to concerts, sporting events, and dining experiences, plus complimentary movie screenings and more.
• Citi Concierge: Cardholders can connect with a staff of specially trained experts who can assist you with travel, shopping, dining, and entertainment purchases. 
• Choose your payment due date: As a new cardholder, you can choose when to pay your bill on any available due date at the beginning, middle, or end of the month. 

Citibank ranked No. 6 for customer satisfaction by J.D. Power’s 2019 U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction Study, scoring a 799 on a 1,000-point scale. The industry average score was 806. 

Citi may not be a standout in this area, but customers get some nice benefits, like free access to their FICO score 8 online and on the Citi mobile app, a 24-hour customer service phone line available every day, and a secure, online portal where you can chat with a customer service representative.

Citi’s Fraud Early Warning system will notify you of suspicious account activity by text, email, phone or mail to keep you in the loop right away. And if you want another layer of protection, you can generate a virtual, temporary Citi credit card number to take the place of your real one while shopping online. 

If your card is lost or stolen, use Citi Quick Lock online or via the mobile app to instantly lock the card and block new charges and deter fraud. That feature also conveniently allows recurring transactions to proceed uninterrupted until the matter is resolved. 

If fraud does occur, you can call Citi Identity Theft Solutions to help resolve identity theft situations by identifying compromised accounts, filing police reports, and sharing resources to help you and your credit bounce back. 

Most of the Citi Diamond Preferred’s fees fall in line with industry standards. Take note: If you do carry a balance after the promotional period ends, there’s a minimum interest charge of 50 cents and foreign transactions carry a 3% fee. These are also common fees, but you can also find balance transfer cards without them.