Citi, like all other credit card issuers, had rules on signup bonuses. It limits them to just one every 24 months per card family. They changed the rules a bit earlier this year, but now some applications have a new Citi 48 month rule that extends the waiting period.

DansDeals reports that now Citi AA Platinum, Citi AA Executive, and Citi AA Business card applications on AA.com show a new restriction for signup bonuses. You will not be eligible for a bonus on these cards if you have received a bonus within the past 48 months.

Citi 48 Month Rule

Old rule:

American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles are not available if you have had any Citi® / AAdvantage® card (other than a MileUp℠ or CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® card) opened or closed in the past 24 months.

New rule:

American Airlines AAdvantage bonus miles are not available if you have received a new account bonus for a Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Select account in the past 48 months.

You can see the new rule on these links for Citi AA Platinum, Citi AA Executive, and Citi AA Business card.

Guru’s Wrap-up

Moving for 24 months to 48 is certainly bad news. But there’s also some positive pieces of information in the new wording of this Citi 48 month rule.

First, card are no longer grouped together by family. The new 48 month rule only applies to that specific card, not all AA cards in Citi’s portfolio. So if you get a bonus for the Executive card, you can still go for the Platinum version bonus. The other good news is that closing a card will not reset the clock.

For now the new language is not showing on all applications available, but they could be just testing it at first. It’s very possible that this could become the new rule for AA cards and others.

Let me know what you think of these changes.