Citi & Sears have announced starting on November 1st, 2016 current cardholders of the Citi Sears Mastercard whose cards are linked to the Shop Your Way Rewards program will start earning Shop Your Way points at the following rates:
- 5% back in points on eligible purchases made at gas stations*
- 3% back in points on eligible purchases at grocery stores and restaurants*
- 2% back in points on eligible purchases made at Sears & Kmart
- 1% back on all other purchases
*These categories have a combined limit of $10,000 in spend, after that they will earn 1% back in points
Cardholders will receive these rewards through December 31st, 2017. Starting in March 2017 newly designed Shop Your Way Rewards cards will be issued (see below). Shop Your Ways Rewards members will be eligible to signup in January 31st, 2017 and you can register interest here.
Our Verdict
The Citi Sears card used to send out a lot of highly lucrative targeted offers, I suspect these will disappear with this new promotion. Some cardholders were being targeted with cash offers and some Citi ThankYou points.
This card is a bit confusing because  Shop Your Way Rewards points are worth 0.1¢ each towards Sears merchandise (Citi transfers at a rate of 1:12 for example). But this card actually gives you 5%/3%/2%/1% back in points, so it actually earns at 50/30/20/10.
The downside to this is that you need to redeem for Sears merchandise. Here are some better options:
