I finally called up Citi today to cancel my beloved Citi Prestige credit card.

The $450 annual fee hit my account last week, and Citi recently cut one of my favorite card benefits (Admiral Club access when flying American), so it was time to say bye.

I told the automated system I wanted to close my card.

“If you would like to close, please say ‘close,'” it said.

“Close,” I replied.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t get that.”

“CLOSE.”

“I’m sorry, I still didn’t get that, please repeat or press one for ‘close.'”

The first representative I talked to apologized right off the bat for the loss of the Admiral Club access and free games of golf, then immediately went into a minute-long shpeel about how the card has new benefits that make it very valuable to have.

After her shpeel, there was a pause, as if she were waiting for me to be excited at the card updates that I already knew weren’t improvements on what the card offered previously.

“So, are there any retention offers available by chance?” I asked.

“Okay, are you thinking about canceling?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Lemme get you over to somebody who can discuss your options with you,” she said.

The next representative did another quick shpeel, then went on to offer me this:

“You can receive a $50 statement credit for every one of the next 7 billing cycles in which you spend at least $1,500 on the card.”

“Hmm, interesting,” I said.

Pause.

“Are there any other offers available?”

There were.

Several of them.

I don’t remember the exact offers, but two of them offered one bonus point per dollar spent in different categories, up to 10,000 bonus points.

Another offered a $200 statement credit for some insane amount of spending.

There was one that offered an impressive 50k-point bonus after spending another insane amount (I think $5k?) in six consecutive months.

That spend would be doable for some people, but not for me.

I quickly decided that $50/month in statement credits could result in a net $100 annual fee that is very worth it to me, though I’m not sure my expenses will be high enough to hit that.

I accepted that offer, but I’m still not sure I won’t call back and cancel.

Thoughts?

*Update: I found a guy who I think got the exact same offers I did. To compare what I remembered versus what is probably reality, check out this post.

To see a bunch of examples of Prestige offers people have gotten, go here.