This morning, we published a Citi Premier Complete Guide. Since publication, the welcome bonus on the Citi Premier card has increased to an all-time high of 80,000 Thank You points after $4,000 in purchases in the first 3 months. That’s an awesome offer for those interested in Citi ThankYou Sweet Spots. Doctor of Credit notes an odd term added at the bottom of the application page, but it isn’t actually new and I don’t think it is cause for concern.
The Offer & Key Card Details
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
75K Points ⓘ Non-Affiliate 75,000 points after $4,000 spend in 3 months$95 Annual Fee FM Mini Review: Very strong earnings for spend. Excellent bonus categories. Points transferable to select airlines. Recommend pairing this card with Citi Double Cash and Citi Rewards+. Click here for our complete card review Earning rate: 3X grocery ✦ 3X dining ✦ 3X gas stations & EV charging ✦ 3X flights, hotels, travel agencies ✦ 10X hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked through Citi Travel℠ Card Info: Mastercard World Elite issued by Citi. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Noteworthy perks: Transfer points to airline partners ✦ $100 Annual Hotel Savings Benefit ($100 off a $500+ hotel stay, excluding taxes and fees, when booked through Citi Travel) ✦ Travel protections See also: Citi ThankYou Rewards Complete Guide |
Quick Thoughts
The bonus here is excellent; at a base level, 80,000 ThankYou points can be redeemed for $800 in cash back. That’s an awesome return. Better yet, you can transfer to partners for far more value. This new bonus would be more than enough for five round trip tickets to Hawaii from the mainland US if you’re able to get Turkish Miles & Smiles to work. The bonus could also get you to a number of regions in the world in business class at least one way — it is clearly a solid bonus. In fact, if you did the entire $4K spending requirement at restaurants and grocery stores (at 3x), you would have enough points for a round trip business class ticket to Europe via Turkish Miles & Smiles and nearly enough for round trip business class to destinations in the Middle East and Africa.
However, Doctor of Credit points out that a term has been added to the application page. At the very bottom of the offer landing page, there is a paragraph that begins with this sentence:
Bonus ThankYou® Points are not available if you received a new cardmember bonus for Citi Premier® Card within the first 3 months of account opening.
It was unclear to me exactly what that meant until Mark Ostermann reminded me of his Miles to Memories post of late last year about this new terminology. In other words, this terminology isn’t new. I don’t believe this terminology was meant to restrict the bonus to once per lifetime on this card (or else we would have had data points indicating as such over the past ~9 months).
Overall, eighty thousand points after $4k in purchases in a terrific offer on the Premier. It is unfortunate that Citi’s primary travel rewards card isn’t a good travel-booking credit card ever since Citi decimated all of the major travel protections that the card used to carry. That makes it hard to justify a Premier as the primary card in a rewards credit card wallet, but as a compliment that diversifies your point holdings while offering excellent return on both grocery store and dining spend, this is certainly worth consideration.
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Apped this today. I’m 4/24 and LOL on inquiries except on Equifax where I have 2. Mixed DP’s from what I could find on freezing, but I froze Exp/TU and was immediately approved. Score! I have one Citi card, an Expedia card that got downgraded after year 1. Have had others in the past that I closed.
Is this a situation where you can be approved even if not eligible for the bonus? My wife’s Premier was closed about 18 months ago, so she’s not eligible. We wanted to just try throwing an app at it to see what happens, but not sure it’ll auto-deny. Would hate to open it and then not get the bonus!
You can still be approved without being eligible for the bonus. The nice thing is that there is now a bonus progress meter. I don’t know how long it has been there, as it’s been a while since I applied for a Citi card (not since my AA shutdown). In the app, go to that CC, and click on the TYP, it will show your progress vs your MSR, and the bonus amount. If it doesn’t show then at least you know not to bother with $4k in spend.
Rumor is today is the last day.
Referral links are indeed dead, but the offer is still live at Citi.com, at least for now.
I was waiting because i was 3 cards in with the chase 5/24 rule, just was approved last week for the aeroplan. I was doubtful id get approved since i racked up 30k in spending in the last month, but surprisingly i was approved, with a very low 3k credit but at least i got approved.
I have the IHG chase card, Reserve card, freedom, and old school INK, any suggestions on my last chase card i should get? I know united card with 100k is nice but im having trouble deciding.
I just tried to apply but was no go/denied. What are the pre-requisits for this card? Last time I had a Citi card was 2016 from my credit statement. Last cards I have signed up for have all been Amex. I am not at 5/24 or anything like that.
There are DPs that they don’t like ppl with >800 credit and low utilization. They seem to be taking a page from C1. But somehow I was approved.
“80,000 ThankYou points can be redeemed for $800 in cash back” <– I’m having trouble finding any language to this effect on the Citi site. Could someone clarify: can ThankYou points be redeemed for cash back/statement credit at 1:1? Thanks!
“…not available if you received a new cardmember bonus for Citi Premier® Card within the first 3 months of account opening.”
this is puzzling Dan (Dansdeals) thinks its a typo.
Could mean so many things. Worst case it could mean, after 3 months of account opening, they will close the card on you. That is literally what it says. The card is NOT available to you anymore (e.g. does not work / will be shut down) since you received the new cardmember bonus “within the first 3 months of account opening.” That is obviously not what they meant, but could be impetrated that way – it is defiantly not worded well at all.
still not sure what it meant. could it mean you can not apply for another TY points earning card from Citi within 3 months after getting this one?
I was thinking of signing up for the new Custom Cash card to compliment my Citi Premier (which is 3.5 years old). But this made me realize–I should sign up for this offer, and then downgrade my old Premier to the Custom Cash.
Just to clarify–the Custom Cash card actually earns real TYP, right? It is not like the Double Cash, which earns cash back that can be turned into TYP, correct? I just want to be sure, so that if I downgrade my old Premier, the TYP from the Premier don’t expire in 60 days (which would happen if I turned it into the Double Cash).
Oh shoot -thanks for the reminder on the TYP expiration! Is downgrading your current card required (can you have 2 Citi Premier cards at the same time?)? I have a Premier, an AA, and also the Sears Citi card. I JUST applied for another Chase card today (Freedom Flex) – hoping that credit inquiry does not show any Citi application I might try to complete before the 80k TYP offer goes away!
You can definitely have more than one Premier card, it is just a matter of will they approve you for a second. They have been more restrictive on Premier approvals lately. I got denied back in August for too many open accounts, too much available credit relative to what I use, etc. I applied for Custom Cash a couple months later and was approved instantly.
I tried and got an instant disapproval. Called phone number provided and was taken to a recording that stated “too many recent credit inquiries.” I did apply for Chase Freedom Flex yesterday. But otherwise I have a good income, great credit scores, and fairly low but regular use of my Citi cards including my current Premier card.
With the instant disapproval, is a recon call advisable? Thanks in advance!
Well, unless you call, you definitely won’t be reconsidered! That being said, I would set my expectations low. When I called recon, they were not at all sympathetic. They told me I could close accounts I wasn’t using and apply again in a couple months, but no guarantees. I did see one person mention they were successful with recon, so its worth a shot.