New Citi Rules Limit You To One Bonus Per 24 Months Per Brand (American Airlines, Expedia, Hilton & Citi TYP)

Update: We have a more complete post about this rule, found here.

We just posted about changes to Citi churning rules on ThankYou point earning cards, I didn’t think these restrictions were added to co-branded cards but after further checking they are. Basically you can’t get the sign up bonus on a new card if you’ve opened or closed a card within that brand (e.g American Airlines, Expedia, Hilton or Citi ThankYou points) within the past 24 months. Previously you were limited to the specific card not being opened or closed within 24 months (e.g you could get the Citi Prestige and then apply for the Citi Premier two months later and it would be fine).

citi thankyou point bonus change

AT&T

Bonus ThankYou Points not available if you have had any AT&T Access card or AT&T Access More card opened or closed in the past 24 months

American Airlines Cards

American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles not available if you have had any Citi / AAdvantage card (other than a CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage card) opened or closed in the past 24 months.

Expedia Cards

Expedia+ Points Bonus Offer is not available if you have had any Expedia+ or Expedia+ Voyager card opened or closed in the past 24 months.

Hilton

Bonus Hilton HHonors points are not available if you have had any Citi®Hilton HHonors™ card opened or closed in the past 24 months.

ThankYou Points

Bonus ThankYou points are not available if you have had ThankYou Preferred, ThankYou Premier or Citi Prestige cards opened or closed in the past 24 months.

Business Cards & Personal Cards

The new restrictions treat business cards and personal cards differently. For example, you can get the sign up bonus on the American Airlines business card as long as you haven’t had an open or closed American Airlines business card within the past 24 months, when you last had a personal card does not come into play.

What Happens If I Have A Mail Offer Without This Language?

Honestly, I don’t know. I highly suspect Citi would be enforced to honor the deal though as the language is not included in the mail out.

Our Verdict

Obviously this is a pretty major change by Citi, they have really been cracking down on people chasing sign up bonuses. First they added the rule that you couldn’t receive the sign up bonus if you’d opened or closed the same card within 18 months, then they extended that restriction to 24 months. Now that restriction applies brand wide, rather than being for a specific card.

This rule isn’t as restrictive as the rules from American Express (one bonus per card per lifetime, although this rule is often waived in targeted offers) and Chase’s 5/24 rule (won’t be approved for most cards if you have 5 or more new accounts within past 24 months). We will update our list of churnable cards page and also things you should know about Citi to reflect these changes.

The real question is if this change is being currently enforced, my suspicion is that Citi wouldn’t have added it unless they plan to enforce it. In the past when this sort of language has been added with Citi it’s been enforced immediately although you’ve occasionally been able to find links without the wording and then it wasn’t enforced. If anybody does find these sort of links, feel free to share them in the comments.

This will probably change my churning strategy going into the future, I’ll have a think about my plans and do a dedicated post shortly.

Hat tip to reader Tom

 

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Edgar
Edgar (@guest_620775)
July 23, 2018 18:11

Uggh, I messed this one up. Cancelled TY 10/16 (not sure exact date) but thought it was my wife’s card but it was mine. Went ahead and applied 7/14/18 and was approved and that knocks me out for bonus. Safe to say all is based on the approved date and close date and not the earn date? Wish-full thinking but if I don’t complete the spend till after my close date, can I get away with it? May have to get the wife to do an app then before committing the spend; about to pay for a cruise that will cover most of the spend.

tony
tony (@guest_410851)
May 26, 2017 10:51

if have a AA personal within last 24 months, will I get the bonus for applying AA business?
thanks

Elena
Elena (@guest_544604)
December 31, 2017 09:41

The answer would be yes. The post talks about it, it says “The new restrictions treat business cards and personal cards differently. For example, you can get the sign up bonus on the American Airlines business card as long as you haven’t had an open or closed American Airlines business card within the past 24 months, when you last had a personal card does not come into play.”

Hud Callaway
Hud Callaway (@guest_325127)
December 9, 2016 10:56

Sorry if this has already been answered, but I’m trying to make sense of the wording…”Opened or closed”. Does this refer to application -> open and closing account or does it apply to currently having the card? Example: I opened AA Personal Platinum Select on 1/14/16. Currently have it opened. 2 years have passed since I opened it. Will I qualify for a new AA Personal Platinum Select now since I currently hold the card? In a perfect world, I’d love to apply for the 50k bonus they have running now and cancel my older one. TIA

Chuck
Editor
Chuck(@chucksithe)
December 9, 2016 12:25

You’ll qualify for the bonus after 1/15/18 if they approve you for the card. Not sure the current situation as to whether they approve people for multiples of the same card. It used to be possible, at least on some cards, but I’m not up to date on what is currently possible.

Hud
Hud (@guest_325156)
December 9, 2016 12:39

Ok got it. Thanks. Wording was a little confusing.

Tavosa
Tavosa (@guest_431671)
June 30, 2017 23:10

Hey Doc, do you happen to know if this information is still up to date (specifically that they do not count if the card is currently open)?

I recently went from the Citi Thank You Preferred to the Citi Double Cash because I was told by a CSR after she talked to the TY department that in fact having the card open also disqualified me from the bonus. Wondering if you’ve seen DPs that I haven’t?

Also, since I have now product changed and it has been over 2 years (May 2015) since I applied for the TY Premier, do you think I currently qualify after having changed the TY Premier to TY Preferred last July, and now to Double Cash last week?

Thanks!

Tavosa
Tavosa (@guest_431688)
July 1, 2017 00:06

Thanks!

For future reference, are you pretty positive if someone opens a Premier, never closes it, waits 24 months, then reapplies with the Premier STILL open, they should receive a bonus? Obviously I know the details are cloudy, but maybe you’ve seen some hard DP’S.

🙂

sean
sean (@guest_310401)
October 29, 2016 16:45

i applied for the aa business card prior to 8/28/16 met my $4k spend this month and was told i didn’t quallify for the bonus since i had the aa personal card closed in past year. so no differentiating between brands for personal or business. bummer

Chuck
Editor
Chuck(@chucksithe)
October 29, 2016 22:43

That doesn’t seem to add up. The terms are pretty clear that business and personal are separate.

There was a small period that they had them combined IIRC. Maybe you applied then.

Sean
Sean (@guest_310521)
October 30, 2016 05:27

Contesting it will see how it goes got pissed off I closed my account (bad sign of a churner) but was told if I do qualify they will provide the bonus. Will advise update in two weeks.

RA
RA (@guest_295654)
September 15, 2016 19:11

What if I did a product change? Just converted by Dividend to a Premier. Since this isn’t opening or closing an account, would I still be able to get the Prestige bonus if I were to apply in the next few days?

Chuck
Editor
Chuck(@chucksithe)
September 15, 2016 22:52
  RA

I’ll guess in your case you will not be eligible for a Prestige bonus, but can’t say for sure. (Most people have your question in reverse, and that point isn’t clear either.)

tassojunior
tassojunior (@guest_292371)
September 6, 2016 21:48

In spite of the language being on the Hilton Reserve app I wonder if people will still get the 2 free nights as they probably come from Hilton, not Citi. Not going to be the guinea pig but won’t be surprised if it works.

Ender
Ender (@guest_289426)
August 29, 2016 15:55

Does Thankyou preferred college considered as a regular Thankyou card for this purpose?

Ender
Ender (@guest_289744)
August 30, 2016 11:12

OK

I feel so frustrated to get a college version for 2500 TYP

John
John (@guest_288306)
August 25, 2016 19:33

Just applied for the AAdvantage Gold, already had the Platinum from December. The language had the “family card” mentioned in it. I rolled the dice and no mention of a bonus. I don’t think the 28th is the final date.

JP
JP (@guest_286539)
August 22, 2016 11:09

I rolled the dice and applied for a Citi AA Platinum Select card after downgrading my old one to Bronze during 3/16. I got instantly approved using a 50K offer that I found online but I am aware that I will not know if I can actually get the bonus until I have it spelled out in an approval letter, correct? Because calling Citi’s customer service will not be able to confirm? In the case that I receive this card with no bonus…is there any reason to keep it open, any other options I can do because it seems silly to have a card with no bonus and a $95 fee if I am not getting anything. I read some data points of folks still getting the bonus recently even with past accounts opened/closed in the past 24 months.

Mark
Mark (@guest_286535)
August 22, 2016 11:01

May be clarification is required: 24 month rule still apply whether on or before; The changes that will go into effect will be that it would include whole host of line instead of a specific brand. Is this correct? The 24 month period is already in effect for the same type of card. for e.g. Citi Premier.

Chuck
Editor
Chuck(@chucksithe)
August 22, 2016 11:25

Yes, there has always been a 24-month rule. New rule just groups a whole family of cards together.