Find the best credit card offers online.Many credit card holders met an unpleasant surprise when they tried using their gas linked credit cards last week.
Lately, Citibank issued credit cards linked with gas companies have been closed abruptly with little or no notice to credit card holders. As a result, many holders of gas company co-branded Citibank credit cards only found out that their credit cards were closed only when they were already at the pump and using it to pay for fuel. Many credit card holders are affected by this move of Citibank and reports of such experiences are beginning to proliferate in several consumer-focused websites in the internet.
Citibank has confirmed several details about this recent closing of credit card lines. In a statement released by the company, it has “decided to close a limited number of oil partner co-branded MasterCard accounts”. This means that Citibank has closed down their credit card lines co-branded with a number of oil company partners such as Citgo, ExxonMobill, Philipps 66-Conoco and Shell credit cards. Citibank however did not mention how many credit card holders got their credit cards closed and how credit these closed credit card lines accounted for. A spokesman from Citibank said that the closure date of the credit card lines was last Wednesday and card holders were informed with mailed correspondence on Monday.
This isn’t the first time that Citibank closed down several credit card lines co-branded with another company. Citibank also recently closed down its Home Depot branded line of cards. However, unlike its Home Depot card closures, Citibank has not stopped offering gas company co branded cards to credit card applicants. The company is still accepting applications for such credit card lines and is still promoting rewards such as a 3 percent cash back for fuel purchases and 1 percent cash back for other purchases.
Citibank’s actions surprised many of their credit card holders and many may have thought of turning to the law for compensation of the inconvenience that it caused them. However, what Citibank did is completely legal and there is no law, even in the newly activated legislations of the Credit CARD Act that prevents credit card companies from closing credit card accounts at their discretion. All credit card companies implement this as their right as listed in the fine print of their credit card agreements.
For Ben Woolsey, marketing and consumer research director of CreditCards.com, Citibank’s actions is “extraordinary”. However, these are “extraordinary” times, he said.
