Citi just launched a new credit card called ‘Rewards+‘. The card itself is interesting because you earn a minimum of 10 Citi ThankYou points per transaction, but the sign up bonus is only 15,000 points and it contains the following restrictive language:
Bonus ThankYou Points are not available if you received a new cardmember bonus for Citi Rewards+℠, Citi ThankYou®Preferred, Citi ThankYou® Premier/Citi Premier℠ or Citi Prestige®, or if you have closed any of these cards, in the past 24 months.
Often when new cards launch it’s not possible to product change to them immediately. This doesn’t seem to be the case with this card, with reader @itsbuenaventura already successfully product changing to this card from the Preferred. I imagine you’ll only be able to product change from other Citi branded cards (e.g the cards listed above). In general your Citi 24 month clock won’t reset with a product change if your card number stays the same, otherwise it will reset.
I just tried to convert P3’s ancient AT&T Universal card she’s had since 1993. I was told there would be no hard pull, but the number would change. Two questions: 1) Wouldn’t this appear as a new card because the account numbers change? and 2) Would it look like the AT&T card had been closed? If the answer to either question is yes, this isn’t worth a 5/24 slot or closing her oldest card. P3 just wants a card that isn’t so ugly and doesn’t have the raised numbers on the front.
I’ve had cards where the numbers changed (lost/stolen card replaced with a new number) or it switched from Visa to Amex, and I believe I retained my history (thus no loss of history or hit against 5/24).
Yes, I’ve had cards that changed numbers when the product itself did not change (lost card), with no effect on my credit report. In my case, I would be doing a product change. I think this is what happened when I went from Citi AA Plat to Dividend, but this was years ago when I was just starting out and not keeping records. This doesn’t match what the agent told me yesterday, so I’m not sure what the truth is.
One thing that I did not consider earlier is whether a product change with a new number resets the 24 month clock. Citi doesn’t appear to be consistent in when you keep the number or not, so this not a settled matter either. P3 may apply for the Premier card at some point. Given that we’re not sure the clock would reset in situations like this, that’s one more reason to stick with the AT&T Universal card.
Hey Citi, some clear guidelines in whether product changes reset the 24 month clock and under what circumstances account numbers change would be nice.
I converted a Preferred card to Rewards+, and Citi says the new terms will take effect in 51 days (and I can cancel the conversion before that if I want). But I received the Rewards+ card already (after only 11 days). Does my card have the new points benefits immediately (the 10% back when redeeming, and rounding up to 10 points), or will that not start until 51 days? (Does the 51 days only apply to things like interest rate, not points?)
I got an email today inviting me to convert Citi TY Preferred to Citi Rewards+ just by clicking a link in the email, which I might do – didn’t try it yet. (Also got one to convert Citi DC to Citi Rewards+, but I’m not doing that.)
ETA: Emails say Citi TY Preferred to Citi Rewards+ keeps same card#, but Citi DC to Citi Rewards+ does not.
What happens to all the benefits of your existing card if you convert to a different card? I have phones that are covered by the 2 additional years from the extended warranty. I’m afraid a new card number/account will wipe out those benefits.
Called up today and was told that they are seeing an error while product changing to rewards+ and the change will be available only after jan 27th. Citi being citi!! 🙂
PCd today from the AA Plat card. Citi is refunding my $95 AF from last March!
Going to apply eventually for an Aviator card for more AA miles & have a Citi AA Biz til then. Love the “small spend” feature to earn ez TYPs towards Amazon cards!
Called to convert an AAPS that had it’s annual fee just hit, and the CSR had no idea what the Rewards+ card was. She told me my only options were to convert to the no-fee AA card, the Thank You Preferred, or the Thank You Premier. I just said thanks, and that I’d call back later. SMH; she didn’t even know about the Double Cash.
Was not able to convert Simplicity.
It did however, get them to lower my APR.
How is this card better than the Double Cash card?
It’s not. If you are just looking to keep your TY points alive, there are other free card options.
The only thing that’s attractive is the 10pt minimum. But Citi will shut you down if you abuse it with minor purchases. So suppose you sneak in 10 of those a month by mixing them in with regular purchases. If you put $250 a month on this card and get a bonus 100 points from those penny purchases, you’d wind up with 350 points. Max value is 1.67cpp with a premium card. So at most you are looking at $5.84. A more realistic valuation is 1.4cpp when converting to airline miles. That gives you $4.90.
And of course a double cash card will give you $5 for that spend.
It only gets worse as the monthly spend rises. For example, at $1000/mo, R+ would be worth $14. DC would give you $20.
Agree. This is more useful when card purchase is below 5 $. For example purchase of 5 $ will give 10 points with this or 10 cents equivalent with dc. any amount less and you gain value in TY points but anything more you lose good chunk. For example 35 $ purchase with this card gives 40 points and DC will give 70 cents. so i guess unless you get more than 1 cent of value from TY point , this card does not make sense.
Unless you use them to make purchases on Amazon (egad!), I am not sure how you’d get LESS than 1 cent of value from a TY point. How much more than 1 cent really depends upon your usage, but less than that is using a ridiculous redemption.
I called up to downgrade my att card & checked until it showed my credit card number would change so I stopped there.. I am stuck with 1.75% plastiq fee so it doesn’t matter to me. Will change my preferred card to reward plus instead tomorrow. Yes it’s available