Jonathan over at My Money Blog did a post about the Best Credit Card for College Students. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this, since it’s based on a CNN Money article. In fact, not only have I seen this information – I went ahead and applied for the recommended card back in early September.
The card in question, the mtvU Platinum Select Visa Card for College Students by Citibank, does seem like the ultimate credit card for college students. An intro 0% APR for balance transfers and purchases (which I was going to take advantage of), 5% back on restaurants, bookstores, record stores, movie theaters and video rental stores. And “bookstores” includes Amazon.com, where you can buy anything you could ever possibly want – and get 5% back.
Not only that, but the card also gives you Thank You Points for getting good grades! A 4.0 could get you a $20 gift card at one of the many, many stores included in the Thank You Network.
Sounds awesome, right? I wish I could give a glowing review of this card, but alas, I cannot. Because instead of actually getting the card, I ended up in application hell.
It started out pretty much daisies and roses. The online application process was exceedingly simple, and didn’t even ask for my household income! (That probably should have tipped me off that this was not actually going to go smoothly.) So I sent the application into cyberspace, and waited.
And waited. And waited. Finally, after about 3-4 weeks, I got a letter from Citibank. There was no indication as to whether I was approved or denied – it just said that they needed more information to verify my enrollment as a student. “Fine,” I thought, “That’s fair, since it’s a student card and all.” Except the “verification” was just the beginning of application hell.
In order to verify that I was a student, they wanted the following:
- A copy of my student ID, front and back, with a current enrollment sticker OR
- A copy of a paid tuition bill for the current semester
- AND a copy of a bill (from the last 90 days) for a land line phone (cannot be cell phone)
- and if the land line phone bill was not under my name, they would ALSO need a copy of one of my bank statements from the last 90 days.
Ugh. This was already starting to get annoying. First of all, my school doesn’t DO “current enrollment stickers” on our IDs, so it was going to have to be a copy of the tuition bill.
Secondly, I can count on one hand the number of college students I know who even have a land line. Luckily, I happen to be one of those – but only because I moved home to live with my parents this year. But, of the college students I know with land line phones – none of them have the bill in their name. Some of them don’t even get a bill, because their phone service is wrapped up in the school’s housing bill.
So, fine. I mailed in the obnoxious amount of paperwork to verify my “studentness,” and waited.
And waited. And waited. About two weeks later, I got a phone call from Citibank, just telling me to call them back (this was an answering machine message). Confused, I called the number, and the lady on the other end of the phone didn’t know why I was calling, either. Since the answering machine message hadn’t given me a reference number, I had to give the customer service agent my social security number in order for her to look up the account.
That’s a major loss of points guys – there are few things I hate as much as giving out my social security number, especially on the phone.
So the lady, who was very nice, actually, looked up my account and said that I needed to resend my tuition bill, because it was printed from a website, but didn’t contain an “http.” This was actually my fault – I don’t have a printer on my computer, so I’d saved the bill page and then took it to another computer to print. So I accepted my responsibility, and asked her was address I should send a properly-printed tuition bill to. (Note this now: nothing else was said about there being any other problems with the paperwork I had sent in.)
So I sent a new tuition bill in, and waited. But this time, I didn’t wait long! Two days later, before they could have possibly received the second tuition bill, I got an email from Citibank. An email saying “You have been denied because we could not verify your student enrollment.”
What?!?
I waited a couple days, to make sure the new tuition bill had time to get to them. And then I called again. This time I had a reference number, but because I couldn’t understand the customer service rep very well because of her accent, I ended up screwing up my “password” and then having to give her my social security number anyway.
It’s like nails on a chalkboard when I have to give out my social security number on the phone.
So she pulled up my account info, and said that there was a problem with my tuition bill. The problem this time was that it didn’t contain my social security number. “Well of course it doesn’t have my social security number on it! My school switched to not using our social security numbers because it’s a security risk!” I said. (Also, couldn’t they have mentioned this the first time I called?)
The women informed me that I would have to send in a copy of my student ID with a current enrollment sticker. I told her my school doesn’t do current enrollment stickers. She told me I would have to get the school to send a fax, on school letter head, with my reference number, my home address, and my social security number to Citibank.
And that’s where I gave up. I have no interest in going down to the Registrar’s office, and giving them all of my information, asking them to type it up and then fax it to Citibank. Nope – not worth my time.
The long and short of it is, if two or more of the following are true for you, don’t apply for the mtvU Platinum Select Visa Card for College Students:
- Your school doesn’t put “current enrollment stickers” on your ID.
- You tuition bill doesn’t have your social security number plastered on it.
- You don’t have a land line phone in your name.
- You don’t like giving out your social security number as if it were candy.
I can’t believe I let them pull my credit report for this. So lame!
Wow… that blows. It sounds similar to my experience trying to open one of their savings accounts to get a bonus. They wanted a copy of a landline phone bill with my name, and a utility bill in my name if the phone bill wasn’t…
I guess I’ll forgo applying for this card =X
cry baby, why don’t you think about how the other millions of people with the card got it.. you’re just whiny and impatient
nick (who is not the cool nick from Punny Money),
Ok, I’m thinking about all millions (millions? do millions of people really have this card?) of people who have the card and… I don’t care. Citibank has recently adopted this verification policy, and it sucks. Also, Citibank should learn some customer service.
This was not posted entirely so that I could complain (although that WAS fun), but so that anyone else looking to get the card could have fair warning as to the problems with the application process.
Thanks for coming by the blog!
Very uncool, Nick and Citibank. Wag of the Finger to the both of you and you have been placed On Notice.
I am sorry to hear your experience. I got the card myself for about 2 years now, it’s great to get the 5% back. I assume I got it before they have all these new policy due to all the on-going credit problems… The credit world is not a pleasant world these days.
I also got this card almost 2 years ago and didn’t have any of the same hoops to jump through. Although, I read a lot about people getting it who weren’t students which is probably why they added the new ridiculous policy.
But, for some reason… in the past two years I had no idea Amazon counted as a bookstore! So thanks!!! And hopefully, Citi won’t realize when I graduate and I’ll be able to keep this card for a long time. =)
I heard that Citibank just dropped in their financial value and ratings. Must be karma for their questionable customer service and maze like verification process! What goes around …
I am not sure if this is a standard procedure in the industry for a student credit card application.
You may want to try other student credit card issuers instead. There are many available with equally attractive offers from Discover, Chase and Capital One.
And I am surprised they asked you for social security number over the phone.
This is very strange to hear (albeit hilarious to read). I applied for this card around Nov’07 on their website, and the card showed up in the mail a couple weeks later just like that. Actually, I had clicked a ‘submit’ button twice by accident, and they sent me two cards, believe it or not. It sounds like you were one of the unlucky ones, unfortunately.
Almost the exact same thing happened to me. I applied for the card. I waited almost four weeks then they called me and asked me to verify my social security number. I was not comfortable giving it out over the phone so I asked if they could read it off and I would confirm the information. They said they did not have my social in their system even though I put the information on the credit card application. They agreed to mail me the confirmation paperwork instead. I then had to wait another 3 weeks before the paperwork arrived. Later I had to mail confimation of my phone bill and a copy of my social security card. I waited another few weeks and then had to send in a copy of my student ID and a current paid tuition bill. Yet another few weeks after this I was informed I was denied because they could not confirm my enrollment as a current student even though I had sent them all the information they had requested to confirm this information. It was all a big headache.
@Amanda – How long ago did that happen to you? I’m trying to figure out whether it’s a policy they had for a certain time, or for a certain set of applicants.
To Stephanie:
I just recieved the email informing me I was denied a few days ago. The email simply said “we cannot approve your application because we are unable to verify the college enrollment information you provided.” They did not tell me what they were unable to verify. I would have happily sent in any additional information, had they requested it. I had already sent them a paid tuition bill and a copy of my student ID with the current year’s sticker. They did not even bother to tell me what other information was needed. They just denied me. I even tried calling customer service, but I could not talk to anyone without an account number. I did not have an account number because my application for the card was denied.
This seems very weird. Just like Minh’s comment above, I got this card around the end of last year without running into any issues at all. I did make sure to use my university email address on the application, and I also already had other student credit cards. I’m not sure if those things play a factor or not though.
Broke Grad Student’s last blog post..Introducing the College Money Network
Exactly the same terrible experience as yours. How I wish I have read this post before my application. So bad.
Here is what they are still asking for:
A student ID with a current enrollment sticker (copy both sides) OR a paid tuition bill for the current semester or trimester
Telephone bill copy must be a residential phone bill, dated within the past 60 days, stating your name, mailing address and phone number* (Cellular phone bills are not acceptable) OR utility bill copy, must be dated within the past 60 days, stating your name and mailing address. Can be a water, cable, electric, sewer or gas bill.
*If the phone bill is not in your name, you must also include a copy of a mortgage, bank or credit card statement, dated within the past 60 days, that clearly states your name and mailing address.
I just get approved, and received a card with 4k credit line. When I received the above mail, I thought it’s impossible to meet their requirments. Then one month later, I picked up the phone and talked to a representative. I submitted a copy of my stundent card (with issue date in 2008 on the card), driver license, recent two semester tuition bills, FPL bill (under brother’s name but the same address), my credit card bill, my att mobile bill. Almost everything with my name and address at home and in the university. Then I faxed to Citi and got an instant approve. So it’s worth the try. Good luck.
That sounds like way too much of a hassle, for a couple of stupid, seemingly customized perks, for a college student. Just get a card with a low interest rate, and spend wisely. Sorry, your credit score was pinged for no good reason.
You had some major problems. Ive had this card for about 3 months and had no problems. First off, I have no credit history and got the card. Secondly, it only took 3 days for my card to be processed and 2 more to recieve it in the mail – and lastly, I didnt have to provide any proof that I was a student. Looks like you just have some hella bad luck.
Student credit cards are usually the better choice due to your ability to get them with a part time employment wage or with government payments.
I really don’t know whether I should apply for this card or not. It seems like there are both sides to the story, and I just don’t know which side to take. I definately don’t want to get screwed over in the end. :/
I just applied 5 days ago and now they send emails, and they want me to send a land line phone bill to verify my address, and I did my application over the phone because the system was down online. I sent it so we will see what happens lol
I applied for this card about a month ago. Two weeks ago I was asked to submit a copy of my SS card. I did, and now I received an email asking for “A copy of student ID, front and back, with a current enrollment sticker OR
A copy of a paid tuition bill for the current semester”.
My school also doesn’t do current enrollment stickers, and I was late registering for this semester and as I result was not able to get into any classes (so I don’t have a tuition bill for this semester…).
I’m going to send my ID card and hope it goes through anyways.
Couple of questions:
1) Since I’ve never had a credit card/credit line before, does this application affect my credit score? Do I even have a credit report?
2) What are other good student cards (with more… lenient requirements)?
Thanks
I was approved for $500.