A credit card is the last thing you should have if you wanted financial freedom or if you wanna get out of debt. However, there are instances in our lives that we have emergency expenses.
It can be alarming and hard not to be able to pay for Utility bills, buy food and groceries after having some emergency expenses. Apparently, credit cards are the fastest way to get out of a sudden spiraling financial crisis.
It is the fastest way. If you already have a card. Of course, if a financial crisis happens before having a credit card it may take a while or even impossible.
The thing is applying for a credit card may take a month or two. At the same time if you had an issue in paying bills you may end up not getting approved for a card too.
Check out: How to Get a Secured Credit Card with BPI
This post is not about how to get approved for a credit card. Today, I’m going to share the full timeline of my Citibank Credit Card application for Simplicity+ Visa card. It is for those who are curious how long do Citibank process their card application.
Just so you are aware, this is going to be my 4th card ever. But my 2nd active card with a separate credit limit. There’s a reason behind that which I’ll tell you later on.
Day 1 – 11/02/18 Card Application
When filling out their form make sure you have all details complete and accurate to avoid delays. Don’t falsify any information.
I applied through their website, it’s more realistic online than the sales reps because details will be unsecured.
Since I have an existing card, I entered my card number on the form. That was a life-threatening attempt, hahaha just kidding.
The thing is, I had a financial crash for the past two months. My baby’s first birthday, my unhealthy body strikes again and my baby broke my mom’s TV.
My mom is quite demanding with things. Instead of me paying for my card I was forced to get a home credit loan to replace her TV, my money was used to pay for the down payment. The TV was used on my baby’s birthday for karaoke purposes.
I was also supposed to make a payment for my card and just use the limit for purchasing the ingredients for my baby’s birthday feast. However, she told me that it’s gonna be better to buy at the local wet & dry market in Zapote. I got sick and lead to absences without pay, and being sick required me to purchase some meds too.
It was a total crisis for me. I’m being able to pay just the minimum due and the finance charges I’m getting every month is about 600+ PHP. So that’s getting into a deeper hole of financial disaster. So before it gets deeper and deeper, I applied for a second card to do a balance transfer.
Day 4 – November 05, 2018
I didn’t really check anything about the application on this day, but I got an email around 9 pm. I check my email around 1 am because my shift starts at 3 am. The email is not even about confirming that I got approved. But it gives the impression that it was.
The email was about welcoming me for an eStatement. I didn’t want to assume that time so I checked the application status.
Day 5- November 6, 2018, I got an Email from CitiBank
Technically it was day 4 because it’s 1 am. After seeing the email about the eStatement, I checked my application status. I can say that Citibank’s online facilities are quite secured because even in checking status it sends an OTP (one-time-password).
On the status of the card application, it only says “Booked”. Their process is fast but really confusing. I thought when they say booked, it means that it is booked for checking or credit investigation or whatever.
I tried checking on the web and there’s only one forum that has this topic. And no one confirmed the accuracy of the answer. Usually when you go to forums, if the question was answered or resolved, there would be an indication or at least a comment that says it’s good. But there’s none.
I needed to have the confirmation on which one is accurate because there are two answers that make sense. One says it’s booked for shipment and the other one says the same ideology as what I thought.
I’m so curious about what it means, so I also asked a friend who used to work in Citibank. He’s offline that’s why I decided to call Citibank.
You’re right I should’ve called them instead of searching and chatting a friend.
However, Citibank doesn’t have a toll-free number. It sucks right? I think they are the only bank that doesn’t have a toll-free number. They have chat support who can’t help me identify what I am trying to find out.
So for the sake of knowing what’s the real deal, I called them using our landline in CAVITE. Since I can’t find an answer about the “Booked” status on Citibank’s card application status, I thought it would be nice to confirm and share it here.
Having that said, I was able to confirm that it was approved and booked for printing. And later on, be shipped according to the rep.
Day 6 – November 7, 2018, I got the Credit Card Delivery Tracking Number
Around 5 pm, I received a text message that the card is about to be shipped via Air21. The tracking number is giving me an error when I checked it. Details were just loaded up after an hour.
If you encounter the same thing don’t panic. There are some parts on our job where we check tracking for orders and there are times that tracking numbers won’t have details for a while.
Maximum wait for tracking numbers to have details are within the day.
As per Air21’s website, deliveries in Cavite takes 1-2 business days. I have a feeling that this would arrive by tomorrow since we’re just in Bacoor, we’ll see.
Day 7- November 8, 2018, I received my CitiBank Simplicity Visa Card
Around 2:30 pm, I received the card. According to my husband, the delivery guy went over earlier but they can’t release the card to him even I left my authorization letter and IDs.
As per the delivery guy and the note on the package, this is a face to face delivery. They also have a form from Citibank that I have signed, the guy said they’ll return that to Citibank.
So if you think you’ll not be at home during business hours, ask for the card to be delivered at your office.
Activation of the card
It’s very easy to activate the Citibank card. I just downloaded the app and registered for an account there. Just make sure you have the card with you when signing up because it is required.
After sign up, it asked me to activate the card and poof! It’s activated.
My first use of my CitiBank Simplicity+
Since I can’t do balance transfer yet, I tried using it for our groceries. Since I found out at SM Appliance Center that they have “Buy Now, Pay Later” promo, I decided to invest in a laptop to maintain this blog.
I just recently posted why I hate installments, but I decided to get one for a laptop. There are more opportunities that I can unlock if I have a laptop that’s why even I hate installments, I have to get it.
That was just 7 days of application and activation
I should say that Citibank is the fastest bank that processes card applications. I thought it would be BDO because my other card is with them. They processed my card in less than 30 days.
I’ve seen that there was a lot of bad feedback about how long it took them for the card to be received. But according to the delivery guy, if I failed to receive the card at that time it may take a while for me to receive it.
Maybe those people who had a bad experience with receiving the card failed to be at home when the card is being delivered.
74 thoughts on “My Citibank Simplicity+ Credit Card Application Review”
I came here to your blog to know more about the CITI Simplicity Card, its cash back feature. But as I after reading your blog, I’m just curious, were you able to pay off your debt on your other credit card?
Hi their cash back only applies when you pay your dues on time even it’s just the minimum due. And yes I paid my debts. If I am out of budget I try my best to pay at least the Minimum Due amount. It would incur some fees tho. But the account will remain active by paying it.
Hi, my application for citi simplicity card is currently on Booked status, is this an assurance that my application got approved?
Thanks
Hi based on experience with their cc application and loan application, my answer is yes. I also tried to check on forums in the past and there’s only one topic related to the same question and their answer is yes as well. ?
Hi Miely,
I had applied my Citi Simplicity Card online last April 3, 2019. Although i did not receive any calls from them, i did get an email to check my application status, which as of now April 30, it still says “Received”. I’ve contacted their support last wee and said that my application is still “on process” something like that.. What can you advise on this case? It’ll be a month now from the date I applied online, should I still wait for the accepted/rejected notice?
There are lots of holidays on April and tomorrow is another holiday that can cause some delays on your card application. I suppose that you just have to wait and check the application status online. Once it says booked the it has been approved and if the application isn’t there on the site then it means it got rejected. There’s an expiration date on the application status if it says received after that or before the expiration might as well contact citi directly.
Hi did you apply online? If you did most likely they have sent you an email on how to track your application. If it says booked then it is approved. I didn’t really get any notification from them about my card approval. I only got notified when they are about to deliver. Also about their hotline you have to try other options to seek a real person to talk with. I don’t think that check status function on their hotline work. ?
Hello! I applied for a Citibank Simplicity Credit Card last weekend online. An agent contacted me through phone call last Monday and notified me that it would take 5-7 working days to hear from them again. This whole process is causing me anxieties because I don’t know when it will get approved. I tried to contact them through landline but they’re asking for either an application ID (which I don’t have; I only have the reference number) and my TIN number (which whenever I try to input results to no application connected to such). Any suggestions? Thank you!
Hi did you apply online? If you did most likely they have sent you an email on how to track your application. If it says booked then it is approved. I didn’t really get any notification from them about my card approval. I only got notified when they are about to deliver. Also about their hotline you have to try other options to seek a real person to talk with. I don’t think that check status function on their hotline work. ?
Hello! Yes, I applied online. They sent me a link but whenever I tried to open it, it only says “received”. Since I’m already contacted by one of their staff through phone I was assuming it’s gonna change to “processing”. Or maybe I’m just overly assuming. Hahaha. Good to hear that the status function doesn’t really work. When I heard that my TIN isn’t connected to any application, I was about to assume (again!) that mine was already thrown to the bush. Haha. I guess I have to really patiently wait then. Thanks! Wish me luck!
I see haha don’t be nervous I am hoping you’ll get approved. Apparently they don’t change the status to processing or any. I noticed it just says received or booked. For rejected I believe the details will be gone there. Because I had a loan application an the details were gone from the status checker. But the called for reconsideration then I saw it there again until it changed to booked.
Hi Miely,
Huhu. So sad to say I got rejected and I don’t know why. Hayy!! Better luck next time, I guess.
I didn’t realize that your comment was posted on my old post on bpi express start review. Hahaha. Don’t worry about that you can try secured credit cards. Sometimes citibank calls for reconsideration.