Citi Chairman Card Review
Today, black is the new platinum. The Citi Chairman card is this respective banks premier credit card. It’s actually been on the market for several years now, yet it doesn’t have the notoriety of the other uber-luxury credit cards. It’s issued by Citi, but operates over the American Express payment networks. I decided to do my own Citi Chairman card review and this is what I found…
2012 Update: From what I can tell the program has remained the same for 2012 but I will update if I hear differently.
Annual Fee
The Chairman carries an annual fee of $500. This is steep, but it’s also comparable to other high end credit cards. For example, the AmEx Platinum is $450 and the Centurion is $2,500 (plus a $5,000 initiation fee). So the annual fee on the Chairman credit card isn’t too bad for this category, but let’s find out whether or not the benefits are worth it…
Airport Lounge
This is a benefit I expect to be on any high end card, so it’s not surprising to see this one has it. If you’re not familiar with Priority Pass, it’s a program that lets you have free access to those nifty little airport lounges (normally for first-class ticket holders). These lounges typically have free beer, wine, champagne, assorted snacks and ho’orderves.
If you travel a lot, using this feature will actually save you money; you won’t have to buy the overpriced drinks and food in the airport. But as mentioned, this feature is not just a Citi Chairman card benefit… most of its competitors offer the same thing.
Rewards
Spending earns Thank You Points; this is the typical rewards program you will find on most other Citi credit cards too. To be quite honest, I think this program is a big yawn. It’s the typical 1 point per 1 dollar spent. I’m also disappointed with how poorly the points convert over when it comes time to cash them in. Therefore, don’t fill out the Citi Chairman application just to get rewards!
Concierge
This is a benefit you will also see on AmEx Platinum, Centurion, etc. Basically, they all give you 24/7 access to a dedicated personal phone concierge service. This service can be used for all types of things… snagging hard-to-get dinner reservations, hunting down a sold-out article of clothing, or just about anything else you can think of for them to do.
Travel
Like many other top tier cards do, Citi Chairman offers an assortment of travel related benefits. For example, there’s free car rental insurance and roadside assistance, travel accident insurance, trip cancellation, luggage insurance, etc.
Should You Apply?
Here’s my take on it: The benefits on the Citi Chairman credit card seems to be pretty comparable to the others in its league, so that’s not reason enough to apply for it.
As far as its status and prestige is concerned, unfortunately Citi has done a horrendous job with marketing this card. In fact, the vast majority of people have never even heard of it. Considering that the card looks pretty blah, don’t count on it impressing anyone when you whip it out to pay for dinner. And whether you care about status or not, the truth of the matter is that the type of card you have does matter when it comes to business. For example, I decided to ditch a deal with someone because they paid for drinks with a sub-prime credit card. Are they really at the top of their game if they have a bottom rung credit card? I don’t think so.
Therefore, I will have to pass on the Citi Chairman Card. I feel the AmEx Platinum is a better value. In fact, that’s why this site has chosen to be affiliate adverting partners with them – among the premium credit cards it is clearly the winner and the value of the benefits are immense. To find out more check out our American Express Platinum review.
Roadside coverage has been severely curtailed. They locate a service for you but the card will pay for none of the cost.
Over Christmas, my car broke down. Call Concierge and after being routed to several different places learned that they merely contact a towing company and you pay the towing company charges. Amex covers the first $50.
I am a Citi Chairman Black Amex Holder for years. You mentioned that this card allows you to use airport lounges through Priority Pass. I need for you to do more research. Years ago, AA, Delta and the other larger airlines accepted Priority Pass. About 4 years later, these lounges cancelled their alliances and no longer accept this card. I find it highly inconvenience in some older airports (ex: La Guardia) have their sub-prime lounges located before security check-in. So I can’t even go to these lounges because I can’t take the chance of missing my flight because security check ins are unpredictable. Additionaly, the lounges that accept Priority Pass are inferior compared to Admiral and the likes. They are usually in terminals that aren’t accessable from larger airline terminals. SO it is work to near useless of a feature. A business traveler doesn’t use airlines that aren’t influential in their airport placements. Real lounges belong to Delta, AA, Cathay Pacific etc. So to pay $500 so you can lose time looking who accepts Priority Pass is a waste. I no longer want to carry this card.
Hi Donna, I should probably expand on what I said regarding ditching a deal because of a sub-prime credit card. Think about this logically for a second, if you are doing a financial deal with someone, you want them to have A+ money management skills, am I right? Well the deal I was referring to, the man had a subprime card for those with bad credit who can’t get approved for a normal card so yes, I do think it was warranted to bail on the deal. I’m not saying someone needs a Citi Chairman card or a AmEx Platinum but if you are in business, it looks horrible to whip out a card that is only used for rebuilding credit. He should have just paid with a debit because a card for bad credit basically screams “I can’t manage money.”
I own a Citi Chairman Black Mastercard, by far the best blackcard, which is no longer available to new clients. Not every vendor takes Amex blackcard or Amex Platinum but almost everyone takes Mastercard. As far as ditching a deal with someone because they don’t have a black or platinum card, I feel sorry for the pompous a######. C’est dommage!!
What you fail to mention is that you get credit for miles flown in addition to the dollarrs purchased. If you fly 50K miles per year, you effectively get 50K in points, hence the 500 annual fee is free.
Now this doesn’t look so bad, does it?