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Contents
The Offer
Citi offers 3 versions of cards that issue ThankYou points:
- Citi ThankYou Preferred. No annual fee. Regular signup bonus of 20,000 points.
- Citi ThankYou Premier. $125 annual fee, waived first year. Regular signup bonus of 50,000; 20,000 points which can be had immediately, and another 30,000 which can be had after first anniversary.
- Citi Prestige. $450 annual fee. Regular signup bonus of 30,000 points.
The good news is on the first option, the Citi ThankYou Preferred. Via Slickdeals, there is now a link where you can get 30,000 points, instead of the regular 20,000.
Note: The spend threshold is slightly higher. Instead of $1,500 in 3 months, it’s $2,000 in 4 months.
Historically, we did see this 30,000 signup bonus on this card a little over a year ago, though the point-earning structure was a little different then.
Our Verdict
I’ve been toying with signing up for the ThankYou Premier for a while. Since I personally value Citi ThankYou points at around one-penny-per-point, I’d get a $500 value, minus a $125 annual fee. Given that I can get a $300 value right away with this current offer, I may just go for that instead, and leave the Premier for a different time.
I wonder if there’s a way to get the 50,000 points on the ThankYou Premier without paying the annual fee. If I’d meet the second year spend-threshold right away in the second year, and cancel as soon as the points post and the rewards were redeemed. If that’s possible, then I’d go for the Premier.
Anyone have any info on this? Let me know.
I am loving my Prestige (60k, $350 annual fee branch offer), $250 airline credits, best value on point redemptions, Priority Pass for the family even for $50 AUs, AA for primary, 3x on airfare & hotels with better than Chase trip delay coverage, there’s a lot to like, the only premium card I plan to keep long-term.
Wow! Good roundup of the benefits of Prestige. I don’t travel much, so I won’t be going for it as of now.
does the preferred card points transferable if you have the prestige card? just like chase freedom and CSP card?
I’m not sure. Anyone know?
All the Citi Thank You Points CCs have the option of being separate or linked together into the same Thank You Point account.
Thanks for chiming in.
Hey James, so if my Citi Preferred is linked with my Prestige, then I can use the Preferred points for airline transfers? I just wanna make sure as I am thinking of downgrading my Premier card which is already linked to my Prestige Card. I don’t want to see my Premier Points as useless if I downgraded to the Preferred Card. Citi has some really weird and draconian rules. They just make it so confusing for all of us. Unbelievable!
Do you know if we can apply for second Citi TY preferred card or not? I hold both a Citi TY Preferred and a Citi TY premier card.
According to Citi T&Cs, customers must wait 18 months before eligibility for the same Thank You point bonus.
Just to clarify a couple of things. 1.Same Thank you bonus means from the same card or any thank you card?
2. I got the preferred bonus of 20k last time. Does that count as the same bonus (since its 30k this time)?
Thanks for helping out.
1) If I’m not mistaken, each TY card is separate, so you can earn the bonus on each.
2) I think it will count as the same bonus, even though it’s a different amount, since it’s the same card.
1) Same Thank You bonus == Same card
2) Yes
Citi offers the Thank You Premier 50k bonus for 3k in spend in 3 months with the first year annual fee waived through their website’s pre-approval/qualified function. I know cause I had that as one of mine.
Interesting. I think you mean that that you can get the whole 50k in the first year, without having to wait for the second-year/annual-fee to hit. I’d be jumping on such an offer. I’ll have to check out the pre-approval function. Thanks!
That is indeed what I meant! I had the offer and took it. I’ll more than likely downgrade it after the first year and have all 50k and no AF hit.
I tried, but they gave me the regular offer. Lucky you.
That must be YMMV, as I looked on my pre-approval page and it just has the standard split first/second year bonus.
Also, you might have an issue with your plan as Citi normally requires a full 12 months after opening a new credit card before they allow a product change, thus you might get stuck paying the annual fee unless I’m missing something…
Could be they’ll return the annual fee if canceled within 30 days, like Chase does. Have to look into that.
Thanks for the update Chuck!!!
Citi has a special offer for the Citi Prestige Thank You CC inside Citi Bank branch offices. More info can be found at flyertalk.
Thanks! I’ll check out the flyertalk thread.