Citi has sent out a letter to Citi ThankYou Premier cardholders:
With your Citi ThankYou Premier card, you earn 3X points on eligible travel purchases, including gas purchases. Beginning July 22nd, 2017, we’re making some changes to the terms and conditions on your card:
- Gas station purchases will continue to earn 3 points for every $1 spent
- Gas purchases made at warehouse clubs, discount stores, department stores and convenience stores will earn 1 point for every $1 spent
The full letter can be viewed below:
Our Verdict
I was under the impression that the Citi ThankYou Premier already operated in this manner, but I guess not. This is one of the better credit cards for gas purchases. It’s nice that they will be giving people that made gas purchases at convenience stores the extra 2x points owed to them as well.
Hat tip to reader Scott S
My TY Premier statement from after the change has posted, and I can report that both the “Vehicle Services – Service Station” and “Vehicle Services – Automated Gas Dispenser” MCCs continue to count as gas stations for bonus purposes. So if a “Service Station” will continue to sell you gift cards, you’re still OK.
Does this change affect Safeway gas stations?
I don’t think Safeway is a warehouse club, discount store, department store, or convenience store…just a regular grocery store or perhaps a drugstore?
Just wanted to check…thanks!
Don’t think we know just yet. Will depend on what MCC codes they allow and how those stations code.
Perhaps this will depend on the MCC coding. For example, many 7/11s are coded as “service stations” so I assume those will continue to get 3X. But some may be coded as “convenience stores” and those will only get 1X. Same with the other convenience store chains. It will be a chore to check each store’s MCC coding, might be easier to switch straight gas purchases to a different card (except for stores you frequent and have taken the time to check their MCC coding). If you are MSing for the 3X on gas, will definitely need to check the MCC codes for those stores in advance.
How big a problem would MS be on a 3x card? You’re going to have to buy a LOT of cards to make that worthwhile after paying the gift card fee, and the hassle factor would be enormous. Of course, never underestimate some people’s willingness to do time-consuming stuff, so I guess “somebody” does this (and probably does a lot of it). Still, wouldn’t a better solution be to just limit the 3% back to, say, $500 a month? That would be enough gas for anybody and would prevent the extreme gaming. It’s really asking customers for too much to distinguish between a gas station and a convenience store.
TYPs are transferable, so it really depends on how you use them. FM currently has a 1.82 cent value on them, which equates to 5.5% at 3X. Personally, I value TYP at 1.65 cents, so 3X is 5%. I think that is a decent return if someone wants TYPs.
I agree its asking customers for too much to distinguish between a gas station and a convenience store. For straight gas purchases, most people should probably switch to a card where the difference doesn’t matter.
How do customers buy Visa gc with this card? As far as I know all 7-11s are hard coded against buying Vanilla gc with credit cards. Did that change recently?
It was hard coded for a time last year, from about April through September or so, while they upgraded their POS to accept chip cards. After they upgraded and worked out the glitches, the hard coding was removed. That being said, many 7-11s refuse to sell VGCs on credit, but at least some will.
Last quarter I tried 3 separate 7-11s and they all let me use my credit card to purchase the OV. However, the system rejected the transaction which is exactly what happened last year.
Have you never run into this issue? Is it possible that certain stores and/or regions could hard code it while others allow it?
I agree that what you described is what was happening last year when it was hard coded. I have had no issue buying the variable visas since October with credit at my go-to 7/11s in Illinois and Florida. It would complicate their IT but I suppose they could keep track of which stores are hard coded and which are not. I could see stores that don’t want to sell these on credit and stores in areas prone to higher levels of cc fraud wanting to keep the hard coding.
Last year when the buying 7-11 gc with credit cards was even hard coded against. Last quarter and this quarter I was able to purchase 7-11 gc at the same stores I mentioned. This would mean the stores purposely hard coded against Visa gc.
Is there any kind of thread you follow about this? I’m just curious if this has happened to others.
The first sentence should read: “Last year buying 7-11 gc with credit cards was even hard coded against.”
dammit dude. this is what happens when they see huge abuse with MCC being too broad. i am sure VGC people saw this coming sooner or later. sigh…
In the Tucson metropolitan area, which encompasses over a million people, I can think of ONE old school service station that does repairs, sells batteries and tires, and has gas pumps (full service of course). EVERY other fuel location that I have seen is a 7-11, Costco, AM/PM, Valero, Circle K, Shell, QuikTrip or similar. At least locally, eliminating convenience stores and warehouse (or grocery store locations which also have free standing food/drink/snack shacks) basically eliminates any possibility of future gas bonus points on a City TY Premier card.
Most communities I’ve been in look similar. Are their new terms targeted at residents of Mayberry (no offense to small communities – thats where I grew up … and worked at a service station!!)
No, I’m pretty sure their new terms are not intentionally targeted at the residents of Mayberry.
I agree. It would seem this card is rather useless to use for gas purachses if unable to use at convenient stores. Who uses stand alone gas stations these days and where do you find them?
are you being serious with you question or no? Who uses stand alone gas stations these days and where do you find them? not sure what you do with your points and miles but you should use them to get out more…
I think one of us is clueless but it’s not me. Do you drive or just sit at your computer all day? Gas sold at convenient stores alone (not counting the superstores) total about 125,000. There are only about 10,000 stand alone stations for a ratio of 12.5 to 1.
Stand alone stations have been declining for years and if you do find one you will typically pay more than at the more discounted places.
A simple google search would tell you that since you don’t seem to travel much.
Yeah, I’m also troubled by the “convenience store” language. The vast majority of places that sell gas have a “convenience store” attached. I can see great difficulty in predicting how such purchases would be coded. And, obviously, a lot of the cheaper gas stations — places like Wawa and Sheetz in the Mid-Atlantic — are arguably more convenience store than gas stations — even if they have 20 pumps outside. I would submit that any station that sells gas from a self-dispensing pump (no need to go inside) SHOULD certainly be considered a “gas station.” That would also apply to the supermarket stations — which are quite common in certain places — but at least you can usually tell what a supermarket is. “Convenience store, ” not so much.
Wonder if this alludes to Citi cutting the Prestige and instead focusing on the Premier.
Don’t think so, expect to see benefits added to Prestige.
What if anything are you hearing/expecting regarding added Prestige benefits? As the July cutoff for Admirals Club access approaches, this card is looking pretty expendable unless they do something wonderful — and soon!
AGREE! @william please share if you have heard of any rumors!
the soon to be 25% off 4-night hotel stay is nice, but i don’t use that benefit enough to justify holding onto the card. some other benefit would be nice.
William,
Have you heard any rumors concerning these new benefits and what they may be?
Nothing concrete, just that something would be added. I’ll do a post when/if I know something more useful.
Thanks!