At the moment Citi is offering increased sign up bonuses on two of it’s Citi ThankYou points earning cards:
- 75,000 points after $7,500 in spend on the Citi Prestige card
- 50,000 points after $4,000 in spend on the Citi ThankYou Premier card
Unfortunately Citi has a rule that states: “Bonus ThankYou Points are not available if you have had a ThankYou Preferred, ThankYou Premier or Citi Prestige card opened or closed in the past 24 months”. That means if you open one of these cards you won’t be eligible for the other. It also means a lot of people won’t be eligible for either of these bonuses as they have opened or closed one of these cards in the last 24 months. We discuss this rule in some more detail here. I thought it would be interesting to compare these two cards to see what is the better offer.
Key Differences
- Annual fees:
- Citi Prestige: $450 ($350 for some customers)
- Citi Premier: $95 and this is waived the first year
- Card benefits. The Citi Prestige comes with a number of card benefits that are not included on the Premier:
- $250 air travel credit each calendar year
- Priority Pass Select Membership (good for two guests and immediate family)
- Fourth night free on hotel bookings when you book through Citi (based on the average nightly rate).
- Instant discount when you book online
- Statement credit when you book via the Citi Concierge
- $100 Global Entry/TSA PreCheck Credit
- Minimum spend requirement:
- Prestige requires $7,500 spend within three months
- Premier requires $4,000 spend within three months
- Citi ThankYou Premier earns 3x on gas stations & cruises (this is included in the travel category, not the case for the Prestige)
- Insurance. Citi Prestige offers the following insurance:
- Up to $500 of necessary personal and business items if your baggage is delayed for more than 3 hours
- Offers primary insurance up to $100,000 outside of the U.S. and secondary insurance within the U.S.
- Trip Cancellation/interruption insurance of up to $5,000 per person per trip.
- Trip Delay Reimbursement:Â Valid if your flight is delayed 3 hours or more
- Points valuation. Points are worth 1.25¢ towards flights on both cards but
- Worth 1¢ when redeeming for cash with Citi Prestige
- Worth 1.25¢ when redeeming for all travel with Citi Premier (e.g Hotels)
- Card Stock. Not sure how I missed this before but:
- Citi Prestige is METAL
- Citi Premier is not METAL
- Relationship Bonus.
- Prestige offers 15% relationship bonus for CitiGold/Account Priority & 25% for Citi Private Bank
- Premier offers no relationship bonus
They also share a lot of similarities:
- Can transfer points to 11 airlines & 1 hotels. They also sometimes offer transfer bonuses.
- Both cards earn at the following rates:
- 3x on travel (this includes gas stations on the Premier card and only flights & hotels on Prestige)
- 2x on dining and entertainment
- 1x on all other purchases
What Card Should You Pick
I don’t think there is a clear winner either way and one card would be great for some people and terrible for others. The Prestige has the much higher annual fee and minimum spend requirement, but it does come with a higher sign up bonus and the annual fee is somewhat offset by the air travel credit of $250 (also keep in mind this is every calendar year so you could potentially use it for 2017 & 2018 and only pay the annual fee once) and other card benefits (priority pass membership, fourth night free and greater insurance coverage).
If your somebody that travels a lot (especially for work with reimbursable expenses) and you can meet the minimum spend requirement then I think the Prestige probably makes more sense. In saying that the Premier also provides great value and it’s an ‘easy’ 50,000 points without having to worry about maximizing travel benefits. Both cards are listed under our best credit card offers. Let me know in the comments what card you prefer and why.
My Citi AA Biz won’t allow bank account funding. Do both of these cards not allow as well?
Citi Premier does for me
With the 60,000 point bonus on the Premier, it is a no brainer now to get it over the Prestige.
I found a pre-approval offer from the “View Your Pre-Approved & Pre-Qualified Credit Card Offers” Citibank page. In this offer, it has no wording regarding open/close a Thank you points account in 24 months, or had the bonus in the past 24 months. However, it does mention that I cannot be a current card holder. I do have a Citi Prestige card close about one year ago. I wonder if I will still be able to get the bonus 50,000 points in this case…Or YMMV?
You should be able to, don’t suppose it’s a sharable link? Can you take a picture of the full terms?
If I apply for a double cash back which cards does that preclude for 24 months and which are not? Can I get DC back card and then do a premiere or prestige or TY card for bonus? Thanks
Double cash doesn’t have any affect on Premier/Prestige/Preferred. So yes you can do both
Wondering whether Premier is still offering 1.25c/p towards hotel? I saw the term on application page said “ThankYou® Points are worth 25% more when redeemed for airfare through the ThankYou® Travel Center”
Hi DoC, just curious but where did the note where you can redeem TYP for 1 cent per point with the Prestige come from? I was thinking about cashing some points out but when I click on “redeem points for statement charges” the value works out to 1.33 TYP’s for every 1 cent, so not good.
It’s been two years since I opened/closed a typ card. I have the premier open still so if I apply for the prestige and get approved, then I can close my premier card but will my 30K typ be okay because I’ll start earning points on the prestige or will I lose them? I’m assuming applying for premier isn’t an option since I already have one open?
This was a very helpful comparison thanks. Just want to add that the Prestige offers a relationship bonus of 15% for anyone with Citigold/Citi Priority accounts, and 25% for anyone with Citi Private Bank. The Premier does not.
Good point, Al!
The flight delay benefit keeps me from getting rid of the Prestige. Three hour delays aren’t uncommon at all.
Hi Jason,
How many times of you redeemed for the +3 hour delay? And what percentage of your flights have had +3 hour delays?
How much have you successfully claimed on average? I believe it is capped at $500 per trip?
Most of my flights are award flights and from what I understand, Prestige does not cover +3 hour delays on award flights. Have you had any success for award flights?
Out of 20 flights, I have had two +3 hour delays.
Hello,
I have a Citi Premier Card, and 24 months is coming up in a month. Once I hit 24 months, can I apply for a Citi Premier Card again (i.e. have 2 Citi Premier cards open), and then cancel the older one once I get the bonus?
Thank you!
Yes, should be possible. Again, read our post on this: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/citi-24-month-churning-rule-explained-detail/
Is there a way to check the eligibility of this 24 month via a customer service rep?