Citibank Now Charges Balance Transfer Fee on Most Credit Cards

May 18, 2007 No Comments »

Citibank used to be the go-to credit card issuer for credit card balance transfers because of their lack of transfer fees, but it seems the cat is out of the bag. Gone are the days of 0% balance transfers with no fee. Now you can expect to pay a minimum fee of $5, but as high as $250 if you’re transferring a large balance.

If you look at the terms and conditions of many Citicards, you’ll now see verbiage such as “3% of the amount of each balance transfer, $5 minimum” or “…there is a $250 maximum fee with the 0.00% APR balance transfer offer described above”.

Most Citi credit cards now have a maximum balance transfer fee between $50 and $75. Be sure to check the terms and conditions carefully to avoid paying an arm and a leg to execute a balance transfer. And do note that the fees vary widely from card to card.

I was able to find a few Citi credit cards that still offer no fee balance transfers, but they are clearly being phased out by Citibank as part of their responsible borrowing initiative.

The Citi Home Rebate Platinum Select MasterCard, the Citi Upromise Platinum Select MasterCard, and the Citi Professional Card seem to still offer balance transfers with no fee, but that could change any day.

If you’re thinking about transferring a balance, you may want to jump on one of these deals before they raise the balance transfer fee on all their credit cards.

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