u/throwaway-cc123

So I applied for CSP on 13 Aug. It pre-approved me for the card, so I went ahead with a hard pull. It then went into the dreaded review saying I should expect something in 7-10 days.

I called the next day, and it felt like they needed verification with questions like, "did you apply for the card?", "which city do you live in" etc. Once I verified again, they said this is now with a special team and I could call back after 24 hours to check on its status.

So I called again the next day (15 Aug), and they again asked me for "did you apply?", "what device did you use?", "were you physically at the address while applying?" and such. After all of this, they still said it'll be 5-7 days before I heard back anything!

It's frustrating. I had a small trip coming back in a week and I thought I'd hit the SUB comfortably, but I completely underestimated how slow Citi can be.

Does anybody have tips to expedite the process?

I opened CSR for 150k SUB. I've 65k UR points. Because of 25% extra value for PYB for annual fees, I'd need 63,600 UR points to offset $795. Cash is a bit tight for me right now. I don't have travel planned right away and everything looks expensive even in points. I travel to South Asia once a year and do not take business class seats.

Is 1.25cpp the best I could do in this situation? Can I consistently do better than this when I need it?

EDIT: i travel in economy or premium economy only.

Lake shore limited 449 out of BOS on 5/22 is delayed by at least 3 hours at the moment: https://railrat.net/routes/LakeShoreLimited/.

Does that mean they hold up 49 from NYP at ALB until 449 catches up? Seems brutal when 49 is more or less on time.