Costco credit card dropping Apple Pay - Citibank Business

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Level 1

57 points

Costco credit card dropping Apple Pay - Citibank Business

On June 20, Costco is changing credit cards from Amex to Citibank. If you have Costco business membership, you must have a business card. This was fine with Amex since business cards support Apple Pay. Citibank on the other hand does not allow any business credit card to work with Apple Pay and after several weeks of calls, I find they have no plans to fix it. After 3 weeks of calls to Costco and Citbank here is the deal: if you have a Costco business credit card you must cancel the new card when it arrives, go to Costco cancel your membership, and sign up for a NEW personal membership, then APPLY for a new personal Citi card!

Anyone affected by this should call both Costco and Citi (use the Costco 800 # to get to Citi) and let them know they should:

1. Citi should support Apple Pay for all cards. But for now:

2. Citi should allow you to apply for a personal card even if you have a business Costco membership.

Also: Amex personal and business cards support Apple Pay notifications. Purchases show up on the iPhone and watch seconds after made. Citibank does not support notifications and from what I heard don't know what they are!

Posted on Apr 25, 2016 12:27 PM

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Answer 1

Apr 25, 2016 5:10 PM in response to Mario MG

Good to know information!

BTW, if you'd like, you can have your post setup as a User Tip in the Using Apple Pay in Stores community if you wish.

Click the Actions icon top right side of this window then click: Convert to User Tip

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Answer 2

Mario MG Author

Level 1

57 points

Apr 26, 2016 12:36 PM in response to Carolyn Samit

Good idea but apparently I don't have access to add tips. No action button exist for me on this page and no option for converting to tip on any other page referencing this post.

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Answer 3

Jonathan UK

Level 10

163,775 points

Apr 26, 2016 1:07 PM in response to Mario MG

Hi Mario

The ability to add / convert posts to User Tips only becomes available after reaching Level 5 (4,000 points).

More information:

Levels and Perks

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Answer 4

Apr 29, 2016 8:18 AM in response to Mario MG

My bad ... I forgot you had to be a Level 5 in order to create a user tip.

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Answer 5

ManSinha

Level 6

12,171 points

Apr 29, 2016 8:39 AM in response to Mario MG

One can also just sign up for Costco Business membership and continue using any personal VISA - while they are partnering with Citi VISA - they will accept any VISA is my understanding

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Answer 6

Mario MG Author

Level 1

57 points

Apr 29, 2016 9:54 AM in response to ManSinha

You're missing the point of the problem completely. The Costco card is the only card that will provide the high rewards. I have other Citi cards, 1 percent. But I get a lot back each year from the 4/3 percent Costco card purchases at gas stations and restaurants. That's the problem, no Apple Pay, no use.

Forgot to mention in my first post: In addition to the headache you LOSE ALL AMEX rewards. Yes, you earn 6 months of rewards through Jun 20, cancel Costco/Citi business and start over... Citi gets to keep all the rewards you earn and Amex has to pay them to Citi anyway to boot!

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Answer 7

sberman

Level 10

263,895 points

May 1, 2016 10:00 PM in response to Mario MG

I believe Citi is still formulating parts of their program with Costco.

They have already posted a section about business cards in the Costco section of their website:

Here is the general area describing Citi's Costco card:

https://www.citi.com/credit-cards/creditcards/citi.action?ID=citi-costco-credit- card-conversion

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Answer 8

Mario MG Author

Level 1

57 points

May 2, 2016 7:49 AM in response to sberman

I Have been at this 3 weeks with citi and Costco, that info is common knowledge and says nothing about the loss of Apple Pay. Citi business cards do not support Apple Pay. I've written to the CEO of both, surprisingly, citi responded and is setting up a call this week with me. If they figure a way to convert the cards and not lose rewards I will post back.

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Answer 9

OCRamón

Level 1

4 points

May 26, 2016 11:59 AM in response to Mario MG

The new Costco/Citi cards arrived today. We have a biz membership in Costco, but the new cards don't say "BUSINESS" on the front of the card and there is no biz name below our names on the front. The Citi web site shows 2 kinds of cards, biz and personal, and ours look like a personal one.

So is this a business card by Citi's definition? Will it work with ApplePay? There's nothing on either the Citi or Costco web sites that talks about this. If you find anything out, please post! And thanks for digging into this issue. Otherwise, guess we'll find out the hard way on 6/20.

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Answer 10

JaxFLBear

Level 2

321 points

May 26, 2016 12:29 PM in response to OCRamón

The paper ours were attached to said they are Citi Business Cards.

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Answer 11

OCRamón

Level 1

4 points

May 26, 2016 12:35 PM in response to JaxFLBear

That's interesting. The piece of paper with the cards attached we received does NOT say that. It calls the card a "Costco Anywhere Visa Card", with no reference to Business. The small print on the back of the card says we are business members of Costco, but nothing on the paper (or the front of the card).

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Answer 12

Mario MG Author

Level 1

57 points

May 26, 2016 1:23 PM in response to OCRamón

Our cards came and although the cards do not say business the paper says Costco Visa Anywhere Business.

I wrote to the CEOs of Costco and Citi and have a ton of new information, none of it good, here is a little:

* Citi will not give anyone a personal card with a Costco business membership, no way.

* If you cancel the card as I described above to get a personal card that works with ApplePay. you lose all your rewards earned with Amex to June 19! And any rewards earned after June 20 using the Citi Card up until it's cancelled.

* Citi has no immediate plans to support ApplePay for business credit cards.

* Costco won't convert any membership from business to personal.

* Cosco said that if you cancel your business membership to start a new personal one for this problem, they will apply/transfer your remaining membership fee.

My suggestions to them were:

1. Citi support Apple Pay for all cards. Not likely since they have no plans to. Second choice:

2. Citi should allow you to request a Costco personal card even if you have a business Costco membership. And transfer rewards.

3. If none of the above, Costco should convert our membership from business to personal.

I wish more people would write to Costco since they had 10 percent of Amex cards, that's a huge win by Citi, so Costco should have some clout. Especially since us Costco/Amex folks will lose the wonderful Amex US based support and ApplePay. I have had Citi cards for years and believe me there is no comparison.

If you don't want to write at least call Costco to voice your concerns. Numbers count.

Costco CEO is

W. Craig Jelink

Costco Wholesale

999 Lake Dr Issaquah, WA 98027

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Answer 13

OCRamón

Level 1

4 points

May 26, 2016 2:29 PM in response to Mario MG

Again, thanks for your hard work on this. Also, like you, I've dealt with Citi on credit cards before and agree that Amex customer service is much better.

I suspect many people will be in for a nasty surprise when they try to set up ApplePay with their new cards. I'll be back on this thread after June 20, and if my setup doesn't work, I will write directly to Jelink and tell him that Costco should fix the problem, including pushing Citi to turn on transaction notifications! I'll miss that as a security feature.

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Answer 14

Jun 20, 2016 5:21 AM in response to OCRamón

I was one of those people that was surprised this morning when I found I couldn't add my Costco Citi Business card to Apple Pay. My previous American Express also used to notify me anytime my card was used and wasn't swiped. It was a great security feature. Disappointed so far that Citi does not include this notification as a part of their alert service. Haven't even swiped my new Citi card 1x and I'm already disappointed.

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Answer 15

Jun 20, 2016 9:21 AM in response to Mario MG

This is ridicules, that Costco and CITI has change the CC without Apple Pay option. What's the reasoning behind it, why is such a big deal for them to set it up?

I may just drop this card and start using other VISA CC that supports Apple Pay.

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