Difference between revisions of "Citi prestige card"
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| − | <li>'''The Prestige card earns fantastic rewards on restaurant, online travel agency, and airfare purchases'''. You'll earn 5x ThankYou points per dollar, valued at at least {{Value|TY|5}} cents per dollar. Even if you simply redeemed your points to offset travel purchases, this works out to 5 cents per dollar. {{Link|Restaurant Spending}}</li> | + | <li>'''The Prestige card earns fantastic rewards on restaurant, online travel agency, and airfare purchases'''. You'll earn 5x ThankYou points per dollar, valued at at least {{Value|TY|5}} cents per dollar. Even if you simply redeemed your points to offset travel purchases, this works out to 5 cents per dollar (over 5.5 cents if you also have the Rewards+ card}}. {{Link|Restaurant Spending}}</li> |
| − | However, if you already have one of the Amex Platinum cards, you probably prefer to use it to earn 5x Membership Rewards points | + | However, if you already have one of the Amex Platinum cards, you probably prefer to use it to earn 5x Membership Rewards points and get some travel insurance benefits. And if you already have the Sapphire Reserve, you may prefer to settle for 3x easier-to-redeem Ultimate Rewards points and it's best-in-class travel insurance benefits. {{Link|Travel Spending}}. |
| − | <li>''' | + | <li>'''It can be a good choice on hotel and cruise purchases'''. You'll earn 3x ThankYou points, worth around {{Value|TY|3}}cents per dollar. The only card that is generally preferable is the Sapphire Reserve.</li> |
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Revision as of 17:02, 5 June 2020
$495
A $250 annual travel credit lowers the effective annual fee to $245. Citigold customers pay a total effective fee of $100.
None
Signup Bonus Chart5x Restaurants (≈7.5%)
5x Airfare and Online Travel Agencies (≈7.5%)
3x Hotels and Cruises (≈4.5%)
1x Everywhere Else (≈1.5%)
No Foreign Transaction Fee
For anyone who is comfortable redeeming their points for frequent flyer tickets, the Citi Prestige card offers the highest reward rate on Restaurants and Online Travel Agencies, as well as a great reward rate on Airfare. You'll receive 5x ThankYou points per dollar, worth at least 7.5% on these purchases. It also offers free cell phone protection and aiport lounge access (with unlimited guests).
The Prestige or the less-expensive Premier card can be used in conjunction with the no-annual-fee Double Cash card to earn 2x transferable reward points on your everyday purchases, which is potentially more valuable than the 1.5x Ultimate Rewards points you earn with the Chase Unlimited combo.
The Prestige card has another potentially valuable benefit—it gives you your 4th night free on hotel reservations made through Citibank's travel site, up to two times per year.
Because it is hard to use credit card travel benefits during the pandemic, Citibank has made some temporary changes to their cards.
- Purchases at supermarkets and restaurants count towards the Citi Prestige card's $250 travel credit until the end of the year. Since the Prestige card has the most valuable reward rate for restaurant purchases, it should be easy to get full value from your credit.
- The Citi Prestige card earns 5x ThankYou points on the first $1,500 of online purchases made during June, July, and August.
Jump to
Introduction to ThankYou Points
ThankYou Rewards is the name of Citibank's own rewards program. ThankYou Rewards Guide.
- ThankYou points can be transferred to many different frequent flyer programs. his gives you the flexibility to take advantage of award space on over a hundred different airlines. In many cases, you can choose to book a flight through one of several different partner programs, allowing you to take advantage of whichever program requires the fewest miles and fees for your trip.
- ThankYou Rewards occasionally offers promotional transfer bonuses. When the promotion is active, you'll get extra airline miles when you transfer your ThankYou Reward points to a specific airline. For example, if Citibank is offering a 40% bonus for British Airways, you'll receive 14,000 British Airways points for every 10,000 ThankYou points you transfer. See Take Advantage of Transfer Bonuses to Get More Value from Your Reward Points for more information or visit Frequent Miler’s Current Transfer Bonuses page for a list of current (and past) promotions.
- You can also "cash out" your points at 1 cent each. Citi Premier and Prestige customers can very easily convert their points to cash.
- If you have the no-annual-fee Citi Rewards+ card, you get a 10% rebate on your points redemptions. This is capped at to your first 100,000 points of redemptions each year. For example, if you transfer 50,000 points to British Airways, you'll get 5,000 points back. This gives you an easy boost of 11% to point values, regardless if you convert your points to frequent flyer tickets or cash them out.
- We value ThankYou points at 1.5 cents each. Because you can take advantage of award space and "sweet spots" from many different frequent flyer programs and the occasional transfer bonus, ThankYou points are generally worth more than any single type of airline miles. If you highly valuable premium-cabin award tickets, ThankYou points are worth even more. But because Citibank has a weaker set of airline partners, ThankYou points are typically somewhat less valuable than Membership Rewards points. On the other hand, if you expect to be able to take advantage of Turkish Airlines awards for domestic and Hawaii travel on United Airlines, they may actually be more valuable the other types of bank points. How Much are Points Worth?
- If you aren't comfortable using your points for frequent flyer tickets, they are only worth 1 cent each. Unlike Chase's Ultimate Rewards, transfer rates for hotel programs aren't very attractive, there are no fixed-value airline partners (like Southwest), and there is no cash out option for greater than 1 cent per point.
Collecting the Signup Bonus
- It is worth getting this card just for the signup bonus. The typical signup offer is 50,000 points valued at $$750. In addition the Prestige card comes with an easy-to-use $250 travel credit, and because the credit is available every calendar year, you can use it twice during your initial year.
- However, you can only collect one signup bonus every 24 months from the Citi ThankYou card family. More accurately, you can't collect a signup bonus within 24 months of signing up for, or cancelling, the Citi Prestige, Citi Premier, Citi Preferred, or Citi Rewards+ card. While cancelling a card resets the clock, converting a card from one to another usually does not. This special signup bonus restriction doesn't apply to the Double Cash or AT&T card, even though they can earn ThankYou points.
- From a pure signup bonus perspective, you are probably better off signing up for the Citi Premier card. Its normal signup offer is 60,000 points. You'll save $400 in annual fees and receive an extra $1.5. Best Credit Cards for Restaurant Spending
- It can be a good choice on hotel and cruise purchases. You'll earn 3x ThankYou points, worth around 4.5cents per dollar. The only card that is generally preferable is the Sapphire Reserve.
However, if you already have one of the Amex Platinum cards, you probably prefer to use it to earn 5x Membership Rewards points and get some travel insurance benefits. And if you already have the Sapphire Reserve, you may prefer to settle for 3x easier-to-redeem Ultimate Rewards points and it's best-in-class travel insurance benefits. Best Credit Cards for Travel Spending.
Getting Rid of the Card
Before cancelling or converting your Citi Prestige card, try to use up any remaining amount of your annual travel credit.
You'll lose any ThankYou reward points you've earned with your card, shortly after you close the card or transfer the points to another account, even if you have another card that earns ThankYou points. If you have a significant amount of points, transfer to the no-annual-fee Rewards+ card, rather than cancelling outright. You'll receive a prorated refund of your annual fee, so you don't necessarily need to do it immediately after your anniversary date.
Having at least one Reward+ card on your account gives you a 10% rebate on the first 100,000 ThankYou points you redeem each year (regardless of their original source). You also won't reset the clock for earning your next Prestige / Premier signup bonus.
If you don't have a points balance to protect, you could convert to a Citi Dividend card, which earns 5% back on the first $6,000 of annual spending in a rotating set of categories. However, your card number may change as part of the switch and if it does, your signup bonus clock will reset. If it is more than 30 days since your annual fee, you also may NOT receive a prorated refund of your annual fee.