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The Citi ThankYou Premier Card currently has an offer of 50,000 bonus ThankYou Points after $4,000 in purchases within the first three months of account opening.
According to One Mile at a Time, that sign up bonus is changing tomorrow, August 22. This is not shocking considering that, for the majority of 2016, the ThankYou Premier had no sign up bonus whatsoever. Then in December of 2016, Citi came back with 40k points for a $3k minimum spending requirement bonus. It was upped to 50k not too long ago.
Considering that history, a change in the bonus likely means it will decrease or possibly just go away.
The ThankYou Premier card should not be confused with the Citi Prestige Card, which currently has a 75k sign up bonus.
If you haven’t opened or closed a ThankYou Prestige or Preferred in the last 24 months, then you are eligible for the 50k sign up bonus on the ThankYou Premier. Read on to decide whether or not you should apply before tomorrow.
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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 12 airlines and Hilton 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 40k sign up bonus.
Sign Up Bonus
The Citi ThankYou Premier Card 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 13 airline loyalty programs or to Hilton points. 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 $500 toward any flights with no blackouts.
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 13 airline partners and one hotel partner. 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 used Singapore miles to book United Business Class to Buenos Aires this year, as well as an economy flight on United from Madrid to the United States (which is a 2.5k miles cheaper than the standard 30k price). Singapore miles are also the only miles you can use to book Singapore Suites.
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
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.
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
Word on the street is that this 50k sign up bonus is changing/being pulled tomorrow.
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 by the end of today. However, if you can meet the minimum spending requirement, the Citi Prestige (75,000 ThankYou Points for $7,500 in spending within three months of account opening) is probably a better card.
If you can manage that requirement one way or another, then you should probably apply for the Prestige and can always downgrade to the Premier after the first year.
Are you going to apply for the Citi ThankYou Premier today?
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℠ 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!
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[…] $3,000 in purchases made with your card in the first three months the account is open (it is rumored that this offer is changing TOMORROW! Apply now if you want the 50k bonus). The card also earns 3x points on travel and gas and 2x […]