Via Flyertalk, as of April 19, 2015, there’ll be significant changes to the structure of rewards earned on the Citi Thank You Premier card. Also a change in the annual fee.
“Mostly positive”, Flyertalk concludes.
Contents
Reward Structure
Currently, the Citi Thank You Premier card earns 3 Thank You points for dining and entertainment, and 2 Thank You points for airline and hotels. Coming April 19, these numbers will be reversed, with dining and entertainment earning 2x, while travel will earn 3x.
The good news is that Citi significantly upped the ante on the travel category. Currently, only airlines and hotels are included. After April 19, they’re broadening the category – it will even include gas!
Here’s the list of what will be included:Â airlines, hotels, car rental agencies, travel agencies, gas stations, commuter transportation, taxi/limousines, passenger railways, cruise lines, bridge and road tolls, parking lots/garages, campgrounds and trailer parks, time shares, bus lines, motor home/RV Rental and boat rentals.
They broadened the category widely and added car rentals, taxis and more. And gas is always a welcome addition. [Presumably, gift cards at gas stations will also work, but we’ll have to wait and see…]
The downside of this change is that – as mentioned – dining and entertainment will go down to just 2x from the current 3x. Is it overall positive or negative? That will depend on which categories you use the card for.
With the new change, the Premier will be more similar to the Citi Prestige which earns 3x on airlines and hotels and 2x on dining and entertainment. This won’t bode well for someone who has both cards and wants to use the Prestige for travel and the Premier for dining and entertainment. After April 19, the Premier will actually be better in the travel category, due to the broad nature it will have, but won’t be any better for dining and travel.
Annual Fee
Another exciting change coming on April 19, is that reportedly the annual fee will go down from $125 to $95. This is great news for everyone, even the churner who has the card just for the signup bonus. On the Citi Premier, you only get the full 50,000 point signup bonus by waiting until after the first year is up, which probably means that you’ll have to pay the annual fee. Once the annual fee goes down to $95, the card will be $30 more profitable. We’ll have to wait for more confirmations on this annual fee change.
HT: flyer on Reddit
I may be alone in this sentiment, but this makes the card a little less attractive for me, as I was considering getting it specifically for the 3x on dining and entertainment, as I do spend a lot in these 2 areas
Yeah, that’s a definite downside for the dining and entertainment usage.
It’s weird how everybody is removing dining as a bonus category.
Haha, damn you Chuck I was just about to post this!
Ha, beat you!