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The Citi ThankYou Premier Card is now offering 50,000 bonus ThankYou Points after $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening. For the majority of 2016 the ThankYou Premier had no sign up bonus whatsoever, then Citi came back with 40k points for a $3k minimum spending requirement bonus in December 2016. Since then we’ve seen the bonus fluctuate between non-existent to typically no higher than 50k, so if you’ve been waiting on this card’s bonus to go back up before applying, this is your notice! 50,000 ThankYou Points is not the historical high but it’s the standard high end these days.
We do get commissions when you sign up for some card offers, but not this 50k offer for the ThankYou Premier. We just want you to be aware of the best deals. For other offers, credit card links have been removed from posts and added to the menu bar at the top of every page of MileValue under the heading Travel Credit Cards.
Quick Facts
- Sign Up Bonus: 50,000 ThankYou Points after spending $4,000 within three months of account opening
- Category Bonuses: 3x on travel and gas, 2x on restaurants and entertainment
- Value of ThankYou Points: Worth 1.25 cents toward the purchase of any cash ticket OR can be transferred to 15 airlines for higher value (we value ThankYou points at 1.9 cents each when transferred this way)
- Global Acceptance: Chip technology and no foreign transaction fees
- Annual Fee: $95 that is waived the first year of card membership
- Eligibility: If you have opened or closed a ThankYou Prestige, Premier, or Preferred in the last 24 months you are not eligible for the sign up bonus.
Sign Up Bonus
The Citi ThankYou Premier Card now offers 50,000 bonus ThankYou Points after $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening.
Thank You points have two primary uses.
- Use them like cash to purchase any flight on any airline with no blackouts.
- Transfer them to miles with 15 airline loyalty programs. Then they are whatever miles you chose, subject to those rules.
If you use these like cash toward any flight, you will get 1.25 cents each of value, making the sign up bonus worth $625 toward any flights with no blackouts. And when you redeem ThankYou Points like cash toward any flight, the operating airline sees you as a cash-paying passenger, so you earn miles for your flights.
Instead of redeeming the points like cash, you can transfer your ThankYou Points to one of the 15 airline partners and one hotel partner.
Lowdown on High Value Redemptions Transferring to Loyalty Programs
The best partner tends to be Singapore Airlines, although that will vary slightly depending on your travel goals. In 2015 Scott transferred ThankYou Points to Singapore miles to fly United First Class to Hawaii, United economy to Madrid, and Avianca Business Class to Buenos Aires, and in 2016 he used them to fly Singapore First Class from Sao Paulo to Barcelona. I’ve used Singapore miles to book United Business Class to Buenos Aires various times, as well as to book economy flight on United from Madrid to the United States (which is a 2.5k miles cheaper than the standard 30k price). And most important to the luxury-inclined, Singapore miles are the only miles you can use to book Singapore Suites.
In November of 2017, Citi added Avianca as a transfer partner for ThankYou Points, which very likely could be Thank You Points’ second most valuable transfer partner. This is great news for those locked out of earning United miles via Chase cards because of the dreaded 5/24 rule, because Avianca is in the Star Alliance (giving access to the same award space United has access to) and Avianca doesn’t collect fuel surcharges (a typical problem with many foreign miles programs).
For full details on redeeming ThankYou Points, see:
We also wrote a series about how to maximize value when transferring your Citi ThankYou Points to airline partners:
- Sweetspots with Singapore KrisFlyer Miles #1: Suites Class for as Little as 32,000 Miles
- Sweetspots with Singapore KrisFlyer Miles #2: Awards on United and Partner Flights
- Sweetspots with Virgin Atlantic Miles #1: 10,000 Points USA to Europe
- Sweetspots with Virgin Atlantic Miles #2: Sweetspots on 12 Partner Award Charts
- Sweetspots with Flying Blue Miles: 30,000 Miles Roundtrip to Hawaii
- Sweetspots with Virgin America Points: 35,000 Points Roundtrip to Europe in Flat Bed
- Sweetspots with Etihad Miles: 20,000 Miles One Way to Europe
Note that this series was written in 2015, so some info is outdated. Since then, JetBlue, Turkish Airlines, and Avianca have been added as transfer partners. I plan on updating the series soon. In the meantime, check out Maximizing Aviance Miles for further details on LifeMiles redemptions. I don’t recommend transferring ThankYou Points to JetBlue as the rate is 1,000 ThankYou points = 500 TrueBlue points.
Category Bonuses
The Citi ThankYou Premier Card offers 3x ThankYou Points on travel and gas and 2x ThankYou Points on dining and entertainment, with no limit on bonus ThankYou Points earned.
Travel includes everything you’d expect like flights, hotels, and car rentals and even more like parking, tolls, campgrounds, and yacht rentals.
Restaurants include sit down places, take out, fast food, and even bars and nightclubs. Entertainment includes movie theaters, sports tickets, museums, and a lot more.
For a full breakdown on exactly what counts and what doesn’t, check out Citi ThankYou Premier Categories Change Today: 3x Gas and Travel; 2x Dining and Entertainment.
Offering both 3x on travel and gas is incredible for travelers. Throw in 2x on dining and entertainment, and this card has among the best categories out of all travel rewards card, especially for a low annual fee like $95 (which is actually waived the first year).
Fees
The Citi ThankYou Premier Card has no foreign transaction fees. It also has chip technology for global acceptance, so it’s a great card for overseas travel.
The card has a $95 annual fee, but it is waived for the first 12 months.
Eligibility
The ThankYou Premier is subject to Citi’s sign up bonus rule, which is that you are only eligible to earn a sign up bonus if you haven’t opened or closed a card from the same type (brand or co-brand) within the last 24 months. So if you have opened or closed another Citi Premier, a Prestige, or a Preferred card in the last two years you cannot earn the 50,000 ThankYou Point sign up bonus.
Bottom Line
We’re happy to see an increase in the sign up bonus for any card, and it’s even better when it’s for a card with great benefits like the ThankYou Premier. You can redeem these 50k points for $625 worth of paid flights, or for a much higher value by transferring to an airline partner. We value ThankYou Points at 1.9 cents each (making the bonus worth roughly $950 if you transfer ThankYou Points first). This is typically as good the bonus gets for the ThankYou Premier.
If you haven’t opened or closed a Premier, Prestige, or Preferred card in the last 24 months, then you should seriously consider signing up for this card. It’s got a lot to offer for free the first year, and for a relatively small price tag after that.
Hat tip Doctor of Credit
Just getting started in the world of points and miles? The Chase Sapphire Preferred is the best card for you to start with.
With a bonus of 60,000 points after $4,000 spend in the first 3 months, 5x points on travel booked through the Chase Travel Portal and 3x points on restaurants, streaming services, and online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs), this card truly cannot be beat for getting started!
Editorial Disclaimer: The editorial content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuers. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuers, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuers.
The comments section below is not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all questions are answered.
[…] Citi ThankYou Premier Card: 50,000 bonus ThankYou Points after $3,000 in purchases made with your card in the first three months the account is open. The card also earns 3x points on travel and gas and 2x points on dining and entertainment. The $95 annual fee is waived the first year. Read the full offer breakdown here. […]
Can I apply for this and an AA card to combine pulls?
Instead of closing my Citi Premier 3+ years ago, I product changed to the Thank you preferred. Will I be able to get the 50000 bonus on Premier again? Product changing with Citi seems to be a grey area and Citi bonus rules are very confusing. I would hate to apply, do the spend and get no bonus reward. I have no confidence that I would get a correct answer by calling Citi asking a CSR.
That’s a tough question because it seems to vary. Did you keep the same credit card number?
Got the same situation here.
Same situation here. Anyone know the answer?
If you have the same credit card number on your downgrade as you did on your Premier or Prestige, and you haven’t opened or close a ThankYou Prestige, Premier, or Preferred in the last 24 months, then I think it’s probable you are eligible for the bonus on this Premier card again. I cannot give you a definitive answer but that I think so.
How many Citi CC can a person safely have and still get approved for an new product? I have two Citi CCs (two different AA cards), will CitiBank approve me for this one? My last Thank You card was cancelled back in 2013.
I did find that if you call in and have your old Prestige or Premier card numbers they can tell you exactly when you opened and closed the card. I may call today and see if I can get clarification on this.
byron
i would consider using one of the many credit card churning spreadsheets to help you keep track of your cards etc.. here is an example.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OnvKHJ0NZzgI2AxqMEgU-HDa1lXotEG6uEyYzttMAw4/edit#gid=334515423
That’s the best tracking spreadsheet I’ve ever seen. thank you!
You made my day.
You said this is an example. what others are you aware of?
or, is this the best of the lot?
Donald,
My spreadsheet is very similar. I have found the date I closed a card is not always the date that Citi, Amex, etc. has in their system. Their date is always later than mine. I keep closed cards and open cards on the same spreadsheet so as to keep aware of when one needs to close. I use a cell with the open date plus 10 months to tell me when to close, and then another cell indexed by the rules of the program to tell me when to open again.
[…] bonus ThankYou Points after $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening. Transfer points to 14 airline loyalty programs for the most outsized value. Points are also redeemable for 1.25 cents each on any airline’s cash tickets (sign-up bonus […]