# Citi — documented application rules

> Citi application rules, documented: 3 tracked rules (3 active as last confirmed), 11 dated rule changes on record since 2016, most recently November 3, 2023. Every change dated and sourced; statuses reflect our last documented confirmation, not live issuer policy.

## 8/65 velocity rule — Active — last confirmed November 3, 2023

- **2023-11-03**: Five-day recent-inquiry auto-decline added — Reports indicated applications were auto-declined if any bank had pulled the applicant's credit in the previous five days, with the stale pull reused for up to 60 days unless reconsideration requested a fresh one. — sources: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/citis-application-rule-explained-865-rule/ · https://frequentmiler.com/possible-citi-5-day-rule-causing-denials-for-too-many-inquiries/
- **2018-07-01**: Reported one-card-per-60-days limit judged not a firm rule — Date approximate. Some applicants were told only one new card could be approved per 60 days; Doctor of Credit concluded this reflected fraud screening when applying for two of the same card rather than a firm approval rule. — sources: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/new-citi-application-rule-one-card-per-60-days/ · https://www.doctorofcredit.com/citis-application-rule-explained-865-rule/
- **2017-03-27**: Rule first documented (1 per 8 days, 2 per 65 days, business 1 per 95 days) — Date approximate; taken from the March 2017 screenshot in Doctor of Credit's original post. The real window is 60 days, with 65 used as a safeguard; business applications require a 90-day gap, and denials still count. — sources: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/citis-application-rule-explained-865-rule/ · https://www.uponarriving.com/citi-creditcard-application-rules/

## 48-month rule — Active — last confirmed April 11, 2023

- **2023-04-11**: ThankYou family moved to a per-card 48-month clock — Citi family cards gained a 48-month clock like the American Airlines cards; each ThankYou, AA, and Custom Cash card runs on its own, and only receiving a bonus—not closing—resets the clock. — sources: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/citi-24-month-churning-rule-explained-detail/ · https://onemileatatime.com/guides/citi-card-48-month-rule/
- **2022-11-29**: 24-month language removed from the Rewards+ card — Date approximate. The Rewards+ application no longer showed the 24-month limit, while the Premier still did and still counted Rewards+ as part of its family. — sources: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/citi-removes-24-month-language-from-rewards-card/ · https://frequentmiler.com/citi-drops-24-month-churn-rule-on-rewards/
- **2021-07-08**: Custom Cash launched with 48-month language — Doctor of Credit noted the new Citi Custom Cash card also carried the 48-month wording. — sources: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/is-citi-moving-from-24-month-signup-bonus-restriction-to-48-month-restriction/
- **2019-07-04**: AAdvantage cards extended from 24 to 48 months, per card, with closure clause dropped — All Citi AA links showed 48-month language by July 4, 2019; the new wording tracked each card individually and dropped the clause under which closing a card reset the clock. — sources: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/is-citi-moving-from-24-month-signup-bonus-restriction-to-48-month-restriction/ · https://thepointsguy.com/news/citi-adds-48-month-restriction-to-aadvantage-credit-card-applications
- **2019-02-08**: Terms reworded to key off receiving a bonus rather than account opening — The ThankYou terms shifted from cards "opened or closed" to having received a new cardmember bonus or closed a card, implying product changes into a family no longer reset the clock. — sources: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/language-change-in-the-citi-24-month-rule-and-implications-24-months-becomes-27-months-more/
- **2016-08-29**: Business cards confirmed outside the per-brand rule — The American Airlines wording excluded the CitiBusiness/AAdvantage card from the brand look-back, and Doctor of Credit's strategy post treated the closure-resets-clock provision as the rule's harshest feature. — sources: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/strategies-dealing-citis-new-application-rule/ · https://www.doctorofcredit.com/new-citi-rules-limit-one-bonus-per-24-months-per-brand-american-airlines-expedia-hilton-citi-typ/
- **2016-08-12**: Per-card 24-month rule expanded to a per-brand 24-month opened-or-closed rule — Date approximate; terms took effect August 28, 2016. Previously the restriction applied only to the specific card opened or closed within 24 months; the new terms barred a bonus if any card in the same brand (American Airlines, Expedia, Hilton, ThankYou) had been opened or closed in that window. Doctor of Credit advised applying before August 28 under the old terms. — sources: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/new-citi-rules-limit-one-bonus-per-24-months-per-brand-american-airlines-expedia-hilton-citi-typ/ · https://frequentmiler.com/citis-new-speed-limit/

## 6/6 inquiry rule — Active — last confirmed September 5, 2016

- **2016-09-05**: Rule first documented — Applicants with six or more inquiries on the specific bureau report Citi pulls are denied, and reconsideration can pull a different bureau; Doctor of Credit judged it a denial reason rather than a hard rule. — sources: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/citi-deny-6-new-inquiries-one-credit-bureau-within-six-months/ · https://www.doctorofcredit.com/citis-application-rule-explained-865-rule/

Canonical page: https://www.bonuseagle.com/rules/citi
Full dataset: https://www.bonuseagle.com/rules/dataset.csv (CC BY 4.0)