The Offer
- Receive a signup bonus of 50,000 points after $5,000 in spend within 90 days of account opening on the City National Crystal Visa Infinite card.
There is a $400 annual fee which is waived for the first year.
Application Process
You’re only supposed to be able to apply for this card at a City National branch. Branches are located in NY, DE, GA, TN, NV & CA, with the vast majority found in California.
In the past, some people have reported in the past some below have been able to get around this by e-mailing/faxing their application. Most likely, you’ll have to go in-branch, but you might be able to apply even if you aren’t from their footprint states, so long as you show up in person. YMMV. Call (800) 773-7100 to inquire further.
City National also has a fixed focus on relationship banking with high net worth individuals, if you don’t earn a lot of money and aren’t in a profession that is expected to have a high salary after a few years, chances are you won’t be approved. Some say that you have to be a RBC client to be eligible to apply. YMMV.
They will most likely require the following to determine if you fall into one of these groups:
- W2 or 1099
- Previous three months bank statements
- Possibly, other verifications as well
Card Benefits & Points Value
City National Rewards Points can be redeemed for airfare with most carriers; you can use their airfare search tool to see how many points you need for a flight. It also seems like you can use them to book hotels and cruises. It seems like you’ll normally get around 1¢ per point in value or a bit more. There are also no blackout dates.
You can also redeem for various gift cards at slightly less than $.01 per point.
Other card benefits:
- Unlimited Priority Pass Select lounge access for two and their guests (e.g. one primary and one authorized user card + guests)
- $250 airline credit for eligible incidental charges per card per calendar year; each authorized user also gets the $250 benefit separately, up to three AUs (be warned they might send out a 1099-INT for this)
- $100 companion fair discount, this can be repeated
- $100 Global Entry Credit
- Crystal Card Concierge service
- Visit Infinite Benefits
- 12 free Gogo passes annuallyÂ
Our Verdict
50,000 points isn’t quite the 100,000 points offered last time around, but still very generous given the benefits. Something tells me we won’t see a 100k offer again, being that last time they pulled it early.
In any case, it’s still a great deal. You’ll end up with $500 worth of travel + $250 eligible airline incidental charged per each card each calendar year + lounge access and other benefits. And the first year has no annual fee.
If you’re seriously considering this deal, it’s worth checking out our full review on this card first. And let us know if you had success applying via fax/mail/email, as has been the case in the past.
Hat tip to Slohokin on Reddit
