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- Credit card issuers are acknowledging the financial toll of the coronavirus by offering a variety of fee waivers and assistance programs to their customers.
- Citi is letting customers request financial assistance for their credit card accounts through an online form.
- If you request COVID-19 assistance for your Citi credit card, the issuer may offer to waive late fees for your account and waive the requirement to make a minimum payment due on your billing statement for two consecutive billing statements.
- You'll still accrue interest on your account if you don't make a payment during Citi's waiver period.
- See Business Insider's list of the best credit cards with intro APR offers.
The unemployment rate continues to climb as the coronavirus pandemic has led to widespread layoffs, and lenders such as credit card issuers are responding with various assistance measures for their customers. American Express is waiving late fees, lowering monthly payments, and temporarily lowering interest rates, for example, while Bank of America is letting cardholders request payment deferrals.
If you have a Citi card like the Citi® Double Cash Card or the Citi® Prestige Card and your financial situation has changed due to the coronavirus, you could be eligible for waived late fees and more.
Citi is letting cardholders request the following financial assistance measures for two consecutive billing periods:
- Waived late fees
- Waived requirement to make the minimum payment due as shown on your billing statement
These measures are currently in place through May 8, 2020. If you take advantage of this assistance and you choose to skip a monthly credit card payment, note that you'll still be on the hook for paying off your balance eventually - and you'll continue to accrue interest on your unpaid balances.
How to request waived late fees from Citi
Like virtually every other credit card issuer, Citi is notifying customers that its customer assistance phone lines may have extremely long wait times due to high call volumes. In addition to messaging Citi through the bank's mobile app, you can fill out a form to request financial assistance on your Citi card account.
You can find a link to the form on Citi's coronavirus resources page. Click the link, and once you log into your account you'll be able to select eligible Citi credit card accounts. If you already have a Citi card account enrolled in a forbearance or financial hardship program, it may not be eligible for additional waived fees.
Select the card accounts you'd like financial assistance for, and then hit "Submit." Once you submit the form, you should hear back from Citi in seven to 10 business days.
Consider messaging Citi customer service if you need more help
If you're looking for another type of financial assistance that Citi's not currently advertising, it doesn't hurt to send the issuer a message explaining your situation to see if any other options are available to you. For instance, if you recently became unemployed and money is tight, you could reference how other issuers like Amex are waiving interest fees for some customers. Worst case, customer service tells you no - in which case, you may want to consider switching any necessary spending to a credit card that offers an introductory APR period.
Read more: 4 ways your credit card can help when money is tight, from cash back to point redemptions on Amazon
Disclosure: This post is brought to you by the Personal Finance Insider team. We occasionally highlight financial products and services that can help you make smarter decisions with your money. We do not give investment advice or encourage you to adopt a certain investment strategy. If you take action based on one of our recommendations, we get a small share of the revenue from our commerce partners. This does not influence whether we feature a financial product or service. We operate independently from our advertising sales team.
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Please note: While the offers mentioned above are accurate at the time of publication, they're subject to change at any time and may have changed, or may no longer be available.
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