We recently closed all our accounts with CitiBank for this exact reason ... major issues with their process and online banking.

Agree with sushi - I never allow auto pay but I understand a lot of people find it convenient. We had to open an account with a local bank when we moved because there is no Chase in the entire state of NC (seriously) and their online banking, particularly the bill pay system is so convoluted I won't use it and am banking out of state. It's tough to lose a system we're familiar with.

I've never used Costco credit card but we have Citibank for our corporate card. Based on that experience I would never get a Citibank card for personal use. They are the worst cc company I have ever dealt with. I was surprised Costo chose to do business with them. And not surprised you are having problems with them. Like others I would never use autopay.

I think that you can use any Visa card at Costco now.

What sushipup said about bill-pay through your bank. I have it set up to pay whatever the balance is on a credit card I happen to use. If you don't want to pay the balance, you just enter an amount to pay each month.

You can use any VISA card at Costco. I use the CitiCard to identify me as a member and use another Visa to pay. Also I advise against auto pay. You can pay bills through your online banking option. If you are concerned about forgetting a payment, when a bill comes in, use the online banking feature that lets you indicate when you want the payment sent.

I have had a Citibank card for almost 30 years. I occasionally have issues but they are always resolved quickly and professionally: i did have an issue a couple of weeks ago and the phone system was overwhelmed and it was frustrating. It sounds like it is related to the Costco switch.

I have autopay set up for minimum payments on my 2 credit cards just in case and manually go to their websites and pay the balance each month.

We just moved. I am pretty tech savvy but the amount of time I have spent online setting up new accounts is astonishing. I think security concerns are making doing business online increasingly complicated.

Yes, you can use any VISA card at Costco, but the Costco card offers generous benefits on buying gas, IIRC.

I also avoid companies' auto pay features & use my credit union's bill pay for everything I can. I like having as many of the bills as possible in one place, so I don't miss anything. My credit union(& I'm assuming other banks as well) also has an auto pay option, but I've never used it.

I don't use autopay. It's easy enough to pay online. We got the Citibank card, but I realized the other day we could have just used our Chase Visa card. Oh well.

I've had my Citicard (Mastercard) for almost 20 years, never ever had a problem . I would also never use autopay. When I get my monthly email, I go online and pay it off then. Something I really appreciated is when I asked if they'd lower my rate, they dropped it lower than both our AMEX and Discover cards would. We just got our Citi Visa for Costco and will probably use it exclusively due to the benefits.

I don't understand why someone woudn't use the card "for that reason". Considering the volume of cards that were changed and the volume of new cards being processed I bet they are doing the best they can. It's certainly not a job I'd want right now and surely once it calms down things will be fine.

The new costco visa has great financial incentives to use it, esp gasoline. I don't buy all that much at costco, but was enticed to use the citi card by the offers of rebates on using it there and elsewhere.

Those of you who don't use autopay, but the bill payer service at your CU or bank, can you set it so it pays the amount to avoid interest charges vs the actual balance? There are usually charges on mine from the time of billing to the due date, but I don't want to pay those until they are billed the following month, just the current charges that have already been billed.

I'm so filled with anxiety about missing a payment and giving those folks ONE CENT of interest, that I use autopay to avoid it and reduce my stress about it. But I do just pay my CU Visa each month using a calendar reminder, so I guess I could do that. But I seriously could not find the info I needed about balances and payments on the citi website. It was really not user friendly and I'm pretty savvy, I think. Oh, and I just realized I've never gotten an online bill, nor did I get a paper one this past month. Ugh. off to call them once again.

Thanks for your insights.

"Those of you who don't use autopay, but the bill payer service at your CU or bank, can you set it so it pays the amount to avoid interest charges vs the actual balance?"

you should only be charged interest on the amount you owe if you are late paying. My VISA bill comes in and I have at least 15 (may be longer) days to pay without an interest charge. Anything charged after the closing date of that bill goes on the next month's bill. No interest charges.

i pay bills on the 1st and the 15th, always pay cc bills off in full. when the 1st comes around I know that the cc bills are to be paid on that day.

I set up the payment whenever I get the bill, and set the "pay on" date for a few days before the due date. Example, bill is due on the 12th, I set the pay date for the 7th or 8th, and the system tells me when the payment will reach the company. I always give them an extra day.

I've always avoided Citibank like the plague. They are notorious for not applying payments in a timely matter, in order to collect interest and fees.

Errant, me, too. I think somewhere in my credit past I must have had bad experiences with them (and other megabanks) so long ago switched to CU's only. Except for the Amex card at Costco and I really loved my Amex experience, despite them also being a megabank. I'm almost so mad at Costco to cancel my membership about it. Not yet, but maybe.

I'm almost so mad at Costco to cancel my membership about it.

Cutting off your nose to spite your face? ;)

You aren't forced to use the Citi credit card. Yes, you give up the nice perks, but what the heck. You can use another Visa card that may have great perks for you (airline miles for those of you who travel, for example), or you can use a debit card. Or cash.

It's like TV, why do we get so many who cry about terrible TV shows when they can just change the channel? Don't like Citi? Don't use their card.

"Cutting off your nose to spite your face? ;)"

No, I shop my values and giving one cent of interest to a citibank or other megabank (I don't ever pay interest on any credit card) because they are so horrible to deal with really rankles me. So giving up several hundred dollars a year in benefits would not be that big a deal if I can't get this to a manageable, stressless state for me. Like I might save money shopping a walmart, but I won't do it.

Sushipup, you are so right and I do know that; I usually like the Costco experience (all except shopping the warehouse), how they treat their employees, their guarantee, etc so I am trying to give this credit card switch a chance. I guess I just needed to gripe about it!

I don't pay interest either. Sounds like your choice of auto-pay may be the culprit. Why not do away with that and simply pay the bill online? We made the transition from AmExp to Citibank without a hitch.

Gripe away, Olychick, it's good for you. ;-)

Oly, I once had a super bad experience with auto pay and that's why I will never ever use it, especially where my credit is concerned.

I get an email from Citibank letting me know my statement is ready to be viewed and I then go to the Citi site and pay the balance from there. You need to set it up so that they have your account # and the routing # of your bank just as you would with auto pay but with this process and they will prompt you for that info when you make your first payment.

Also, what I really like about the card is that you get some sort of a discount no matter where you shop.

Costco switched from AmX to Capital One MasterCard in Canada. Why it is different from the USA I don't know. I do have some bills, such as utility bills, on auto pay mainly because of convenience while traveling. There have been no issues and I do check them. My biggest bill is always Visa, which I carefully watch and pay on-line from no matter where I am.

Regretfully wrt Costco, I am leery about Capital One. When Hudson Bay switched from their own card to Capital One I had some bills with weird unrecognizable little charges, interest on them, and corresponding reversals - although I always pay in full. This made me very mistrustful of their system, needless to say. I did speak to their customer service and when they could not explain what was going on I cancelled my Hudson's Bay (reborn as Capital One) account after holding a Bay card for forty years. I haven't had a problem with the Costco card, but I generally avoid using it other than for access.

Olychick, I think you are wise to be cautious with a bank/card that is not "performing". Life is too short and there are alternatives.