The Offer
Citizens Bank is offering New York and New Jersey residents a special offer when they get approved for a new Cash Back Plus credit card and also add a checking account:
- As a new customer, you’ll get 10% cash back for nine months on up to $1,000 in (calendar) monthly spend, with a new Citizens Cash Back Plus World Mastercard and a first, new Citizens personal checking account. This is a limited-time offer for new customers to earn up to $900 cash back.
- Open a Cash Back Plus credit card account – Earn 10% cash back for nine months and then 1.8% cash back on everything thereafter. No annual fee.
- Add a checking account – Select the first, new personal checking account that best suits your needs.
Current Personal Checking Account Holders and/or Applicants that do not open a first new Personal Checking Account will instead earn 10% total cash back rewards (inclusive of your standard cash back rewards) on all eligible purchases made during the first five (5) months of account opening, on up to $1000 spent per month with your NEW Citizens Cash Back Plus World Mastercard.
The Fine Print
- Earn 10% total cash back rewards (inclusive of your standard cash back rewards) on all eligible purchases made during the first nine (9) months of account opening, on up to $1000 spent per month with your NEW Citizens Cash Back Plus™ World Mastercard®.
- To qualify for this offer, you must reside in the states of New York or New Jersey and open both (1) a new Citizens Cash Back Plus World Mastercard Account and (2) a first, new personal checking account in person at a participating branch or online. Offer available for a limited time.
- Not valid for applicants who are currently or have been a signer on any Citizens personal checking account in the past 6 months.
- The personal checking account must be open with a balance greater than zero and in good standing through end of July 2023.
- Current Personal Checking Account Holders and/or Applicants that do not open a first new Personal Checking Account will instead earn 10% total cash back rewards (inclusive of your standard cash back rewards) on all eligible purchases made during the first five (5) months of account opening, on up to $1000 spent per month with your NEW Citizens Cash Back Plus World Mastercard.
Our Verdict
This is overall a pretty decent offer for those eligible since you’ll get a total bonus of $900 with $9,000 spend. The need to also signup for the checking account makes it more of a pain. I consider it more like a $720 bonus if we deduct the 2% you’d earn from a different card.
Without the checking account (and for existing Citizens checking customers) the total bonus is lower at $500 with $5,000 spend. Or you can look at it like a $400 if you deduct the 2% you’d earn from another card.
Hat tip to Larrabeedrill
Does anyone know if the 9 months is by “calendar month”?
So for example, if you started June 15, would the 10% still be rewarded until March 14?
Or would it end Feb 28? (February being the ninth calendar month)
It’s not by ninth calendar month based on what I saw:
opened/applied for cc on 4/13/23
opened checking acct on 4/18/23
first spent on cc 4/26/23
1/21/24 (10th calendar month) charge received 10% cb
1/23/24 charge received 1.8% cb
It seems the promotion has ended 🙁
Data Point:
5/9 – Applied for the card through the 10% promo link, received an application under review message
5/16 – Received approval and welcome e-mail for the card saying it’s in the mail
5/16 – Opened a checking account through the 10% promo link
5/19 – Received the card in the mail and the e-mail confirming I’m enrolled in the 10% cash back offer for 5 months or 9 months with a new checking account
The e-mails were the same exact ones that @SamIAM got below. Will keep updated on if the 10% cash back works.
The 10% is working AND being reflected in the online portal for the card.
I’m confident you’ll notice the same as soon as you enroll/register the CC for the online portal (got an email just the other day to do that. You’ll likely get it soon too)
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be working for me, I will have to contact the bank. Made a $30 purchase and only have 54 cents cashback in my online account. Same thing for a $110 purchase, it’s only showing 1.8% cashback.
Darn. Well, I’m sure cs will sort it out for you. cs reps seem decent at Citizens in my experience.
They’ll have to forward your issue to “marketing” dept., who (should) call you back with a follow up.
Make sure to jot down your case # from the rep you speak with. Should be “CFG..” something or other.
The reps at the actual bank seem pretty good, but they can’t help with credit card issues. First called the main line, and then tried to chat just to see. Both were very nice but redirected me to their third party to handle credit cards. I have to call 1-800-684-2222 to deal specifically with their credit card reps (does not seem to be US-based help). Did you use that number?
I tried calling twice and they were pretty clueless. The first person said I wasn’t enrolled in the offer even though I have an e-mail stating I’m enrolled with my credit card number and name. He said there was no way to confirm it or and nowhere to show proof of e-mail.
The second time I called in the guy asked me what the date of the e-mail was and told me “Offers can take up to two weeks to activate” I tried explaining that it was a monthly offer, so am I missing out on all these May purchases, but he didn’t really understand the offer or what I was saying.
I might try calling in again, but will probably chalk this one up to a lost cause and have the checking account closed.
Try making a stink on these #s:
877-525-9248
800-922-9999
Ask for a supervisor each time. Ultimately something has to go to “marketing” *I think*
I haven’t gotten any confirmation in writing that I’m enrolled in the 10% promo.
@barrytuneup says here ( https://www.doctorofcredit.com/ny-nj-citizens-bank-credit-card-900-signup-bonus-card-checking/#comment-1592786 )
“can’t do 1k in VGC at Stop&Shop and throw in some groceries each time? NO PIA.”
Isn’t there a %fee for using VGCs?
Also, do we know for sure these are counted to the $1K each month and not considered some type of cash transfer thus ineligible as a “purchase”?
VGC have a $5.95 activation fee which works out to be a 1.17% “fee” to get ~$506 in spend. depending on your circumstances and velocity that can be worthwhile to knock down some MSR quickly.
and you could buy a card and check the Citizens website to see how many points it gave you once the charge posts.
You meant 1.19% act fee (5.95/500), right?
So, $500 is the max you can get on these cards? Could you get more than one per month if need be? And do they every expire or lose value? (sorry for all the Qs. I’ve never bought one. You may not know these answers)
To be clear, you yourself have not tried the VGC route, and are not confirming it works, and gets 10% (but your assumption is, it does, or should.. ?)
Just got the approval email notifying my new card is in the mail
I’m wondering if anyone’s approval/welcome email from Citizen’s specifically mention the promo in it.
All my approval email says is the general:
“Earn 1.8% cash back on everything you buy.† Yes, everything.”
Updating for anyone who might want to know:
Just got another email explicitly stating I’m enrolled in the 10%:
=====================================
Congratulations, xxxx!
You’ve successfully enrolled in our off-the-charts offer for 10% cash back on your new Cash Back Plus credit card.*
As a reminder, if you opened your first, new personal checking account during the promotion, you’ll earn 10% cash back on everything for nine months, on up to $1,000 spend per month.
If you were already a Citizens checking account holder prior to enrolling in this offer, or if you’re a new Citizens customer and opt not to open a checking account, you’ll earn 10% cash back for five months.
When your new credit card arrives, be sure to download the mobile app1 so you can stay on top of your rewards and redeem them on the spot.
======================================
Hopefully I will also get the $400 for opening the new checking account too. Will update 4 months.
In what order did you apply?
Did you first apply for the credit card and then once approved apply for the checking account from a different page?
or were you able to put in the promo code on the same application flow?
I did the whole thing in one flow, from the CC promo page as intended.
For anyone wondering about this, I just got another email confirming the promo:
==============================================
Congratulations, xxx!
You’ve successfully enrolled in our off-the-charts offer for 10% cash back on your new Cash Back Plus credit card.*
As a reminder, if you opened your first, new personal checking account during the promotion, you’ll earn 10% cash back on everything for nine months, on up to $1,000 spend per month.
If you were already a Citizens checking account holder prior to enrolling in this offer, or if you’re a new Citizens customer and opt not to open a checking account, you’ll earn 10% cash back for five months.
When your new credit card arrives, be sure to download the mobile app1 so you can stay on top of your rewards and redeem them on the spot.
For anyone wondering about this, I just got another email confirming the promo:
==============================================
Congratulations, xxx!
You’ve successfully enrolled in our off-the-charts offer for 10% cash back on your new Cash
Back Plus credit card.*
As a reminder, if you opened your first, new personal checking account during the
promotion, you’ll earn 10% cash back on everything for nine months, on up to $1,000 spend
per month.
If you were already a Citizens checking account holder prior to enrolling in this offer, or
if you’re a new Citizens customer and opt not to open a checking account, you’ll earn 10%
cash back for five months.
When your new credit card arrives, be sure to download the mobile app1 so you can stay on
top of your rewards and redeem them on the spot.
(mod: my comment keeps getting deleted for some reason)
Did you get the application under review when first submitting the application? Or was it straight to the approval e-mail?
I did not get application under review
Looks like there’s no way to combine this with the $400 checking offer?
Why?
Do you have to apply for the checking account in the same flow?
Does anyone understand if they go by the calendar month or by statement month?
I had a chat this morning with them.
Looks like they have USA-based support.
Anyway, the cashback is per statement but the 10% seems to be per month.
BUT…
The kicker is that the cashback can only be redeemed in $25 increments
UGH !!!!
but what is the month- calendar month or “statement month”?
“statement” month ; asked again in another chat session
i think the cs rep was misinformed or didn’t understand the question. the 10% is limited to the first $1000 of charges that post (not based on transaction date; it’s the posted date that matters) in a calendar month.
i can personally vouch that this is the case, or at least that’s how it has played out in May for me (April was a partial calendar month for me, so I guess I missed out on some 10% cashback there). the $1000 was spread between 2 statements, but i’ve dropped to 2% in the middle of the month once i hit $1000 of posted charges in May. i have more details in my other reply in this thread.
i can confirm that the 10% cashback is per calendar month, not statement “month”. and it uses the post date for the purchase, not the transaction date, to determine what month it counts for.
looking at my account today, i wasn’t sure why my cashback dropped to 2% in the middle of the month, but adding up the 10% earning transactions from my current statement (started 5/5) and the transactions from my last statement (starting from the most recent charges) brought me to a little over $1000 by the time I got to the first POSTED charge in May (transaction date was April 28).
SO-
I just started May 15.
For my month #1 (of the 9 available), I essentially only have 15 days to get to $1000 spend? AND probably to be safe, I should clear that *several* days –before– May 31? Because the last transaction(s) might not post for a few days and could end up posting in June if it’s too close to the end of May? Therefore not being counted toward my first month’s $1000 spend cap? and being counted toward my –second– month (June) spend instead?
So I apply for the credit card first and then the checking separately? I applied for the cc and got “application under review”. I suppose I should wait to see if I get approved and then go for the checking account?
From the Terms:”Current Personal Checking Account Holders and/or Applicants that do not open a first new Personal Checking Account will instead earn 10% total cash back rewards (inclusive of your standard cash back rewards) on all eligible purchases made during the first five (5) months of account opening, on up to $1000 spent per month with your NEW Citizens Cash Back Plus World Mastercard” This is the best as RED said below. Only 5 months of 1 k spend and then 400.00 on checking = 900 also. RED is great!!!
Yeah but 9 mos @ $100/mo = $900 ++ $400 for opening new checking account == $1300
$1300 > $900
..unless there’s something I’m missing; some reason it shouldn’t work out that way.