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Normally I love to see offers from banks and credit card companies in my email or snail mail.  Some offers are targeted specifically to me while others that you might receive are available to the general public.  It’s great when you get a targeted email for instant Platinum airline status, 2000 bonus AAdvantage miles, $30 off at Amazon or up to 12,000 United miles.  But Citibank in particular seems to always give me the dumbest offers.

They are also the ones that keep mailing me the low APR balance transfer checks that I have to shred, but check out these 2 recent emails I’ve received

Citi Prestige Authorized User bonus

First is a bonus for adding an authorized user to my Citi Prestige

a blue box with white text

So I pay $50 for an authorized user (that gets very few of the benefits that make having the Prestige worthwhile), spend $3000 on the card to get a measly 1x return on my spend (well technically 2x as I think the 1x is on top of the 1x you normally get)?  Ummmm no

Citibank birthday email

It was my birthday recently so I got an email from Citibank wishing me a happy birthday.  Did I get anything good from that (like many other companies do)?  IHG has been known to give you 1000 points on your birthday

a birthday card with a blurry background

Nope.  Just that graphic.  I mean, I am not expecting Citibank or any other company to just give me free stuff on my birthday or any other time, but I also don’t think that they really care that it’s my birthday.

And it hasn’t been too long since Citibank sent me an offer for 10% off a redemption none of us should ever make

What about you?  What are some of the dumbest offers a bank or credit card company has sent you?


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