Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card review

Finder experts pick Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card as a 2021 best product for credit cards.

How to apply for the Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card

1. Go to the provider's site to Learn more about how to apply for Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card.
2. Complete the application with details like your name, address, annual income and Social Security number.
3. Review and submit your application.

What credit score do I need?

You typically have better odds of getting a balance transfer credit card with a good to excellent credit score of 670 or higher. This is a good rule of thumb if you’re thinking about applying for the Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card. However, remember that approval is never guaranteed no matter what your credit score is.

Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card benefits

The Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card doesn’t offer many benefits, but it’s an excellent card for intro APRs. Here are the main perks to look into.

• No annual fee. Having a $0 annual fee makes it easy to keep your Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card open even after your intro APR expires. Even if you won’t earn rewards, keeping your card open keeps your average age of credit accounts high and protect your FICO score.
• Excellent balance transfer APR. Get a 0% intro APR on balance transfers for 21 months from the date of your first transfer, then 15.99% to 26.74% variable. You’ll get this rate on all transfers within the first 4 months of card membership.
  Its intro APR is what makes the Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card stand out among competitors. You’ll often find intro APRs that last around 15 months — 21 months is considered very high.
• Long purchase intro APR. Get a 0% intro APR on purchases for 12 months after account opening, then 15.99% to 26.74% variable. This is a longer intro APR on purchases than you’ll typically find with competing products — most 1.5% cashback credit cards have purchase intro APRs of 15 months.
  You can leverage the Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card’s interest-rate promotion to make purchases you’d like to pay off over a long period of time. But be sure to clear your purchase balance before the intro APR expires, or you’ll start accruing interest. For an idea of how much money you can save with a transfer, check out our balance transfer calculator.
• Four-month limit to transfer your balance. After you open your account, you’ll have four months to make transfers to qualify for the promotional interest rate. This is a higher length of time than the average balance transfer credit card. Most give you just 30 to 60 days to make your balance transfer, so the Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card effectively gives you double that length.

Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card drawbacks

Before applying for this card, determine if the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. Here are a few factors to keep your eyes peeled for.

• You’ll still pay balance transfer fees. Even though you get a top-notch balance transfer intro APR, you’ll still pay fees on your transfers: the greater of $5 or 5% for each transaction.
• No rewards. This card is strictly designed for saving interest on balance transfers and purchases during the intro offer period. Aside from any interest saved during this time, you won’t have any additional method of generating value such as points or cash back with this card.
• There’s a steep penalty APR. If you make a late or returned payment, Citi may increase the APRs on all of your balances to up to 29.99% variable. Consumers despise this, and rightfully so. It creates a lot of pressure to be perfect every single billing cycle. Citi also says you can lose your intro APR if you make one late payment, which makes it extra important to stay vigilant about paying your card bill.

Compare similar intro APR cards

Compare the Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card vs. Chase Freedom Unlimited® vs. Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card. While the three cards are similar, they have varying features such as purchase APRs and rewards rates. Find the card that’s right for you.

Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card	Chase Freedom Unlimited®	Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card
★★★★★ Finder rating 4.6 / 5	★★★★★ Finder rating 4.7 / 5	★★★★★ Finder rating 4.2 / 5
Read Review	Read Review Terms apply, see rates & fees	Go to site on Capital One's secure site
Minimum credit score 670	Minimum credit score 670	Minimum credit score 670
Annual fee $0	Annual fee $0	Annual fee $0
Purchase APR 0% intro	Purchase APR 0% intro	Purchase APR 0% intro
Balance transfer APR 0% intro for the first 21 months (then 15.99% to 26.74% variable) Balance transfer fee of either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater	Balance transfer APR 0% intro for the first 15 months (then 19.24% to 27.99% variable) $5 or 3% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater in the first 60 days	Balance transfer APR 0% intro for the first 15 months (then 19.24% - 29.24% variable) 3% fee on the amounts transferred within the first 15 months
Rewards None	Rewards Up to 6.5% cash back	Rewards Up to 1.5% cash back
Welcome offer N/A	Welcome offer Earn an additional 1.5% cash back on everything you buy (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year) - worth up to $300 cash back	Welcome offer $200 cash bonus after you spend $500 on purchases within 3 months from account opening

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Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card customer reviews and complaints

Citibank is not accredited with the Better Business Bureau and sports a rating of F as of June 2022. Customer reviews on the BBB site give the bank a 1.05 out of 5, citing poor communication and billing issues as a frequent complaint.

Citibank doesn’t fare much better on Trustpilot, earning a 1.4 out of 5 based on customer reviews as of June 2022, with poor customer service a frequent complaint.

Bottom line

The Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card is a premier choice if you want to save interest on existing debt and a solid choice if you want to save interest on new purchases. If saving is your main concern, you won’t mind that the card lacks other benefits, such as rewards.

Of course, the Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card isn’t the only card in town. There are plenty of other balance transfer cards that are worth a look, too, including Citi’s own Citi Double Cash, which offers a smaller balance transfer offer and no purchase intro APR, but unlimited 2% cash back on purchases.

Images: Citi.com