My reader mr.S has just alerted me to this news and I saw it reported on One Mile at a Time blog. Apparently, the sign-up bonus on Citi Thank You Premier will change on January 28th. I don’t receive any direct communication from Citi bank, so can’t confirm the accuracy. Assuming it’s correct, what does this mean to you? Should you jump on this bonus now? The answer, you guessed it, is: It depends.
First, let’s talk about the current offer. The short version is that you get 50,000 Thank You points after spending $3,000 in 3 months. You can redeem them for $500 Walmart gift card (as well as many other retailers); $625 credit towards paid airfare, hotels, cruises or car rental; transfer the points to miles on 1:1 basis to programs like Singapore or Air France. If you happen to have a Citi Prestige, you can combine the points and get more value toward flights, specifically American Airlines. You can read more on this card and redemption options here Also, don’t hesitate to contact me with further questions.
There is no doubt that the sign-up bonus on Citi Thank You Premier is terrific in its current form. What will the changes look like? There are a few possibilities, all of them guesses on my part:
1) They could reduce the sign-up bonus. That’s what everyone seems to think at the moment.
2) They could make bonus tiered as they have done in the past. It used to be that you got the initial part during your first year as a cardholder, and the rest during your second year. It forced you to pay the annual fee, and was kind of a pain to track. I actually got my Premier card under those terms. If I had to guess, I would say it’s unlikely that Citi will go this route.
3) There is another plausible scenario. Citi could increase the sign-up bonus. It’s not actually that far fetched. You might remember that in the fall of 2015 there was a link for 60,000 points, though it didn’t live very long. Also, Citi Thank You Premier is marketed as a competitor to Chase Sapphire Preferred, and the bonus on the last one was recently increased to 55,000 points. It’s possible that Citi is planning to match it.
I want to stress again that I have no idea what changes are in store, so do what you are comfortable with. You have 7 days to think about it, and hopefully, there will be more information coming soon. I recommend you wait for now (if you can), and if Citi doesn’t give out more details, go ahead and decide on January 27th.
Offers come and go, and chances are, even if you miss out on the best deal now, it will come back at some point in the future. I recommend you look at my page of Best sign-up bonuses and pick a card that fits your unique situation (Citi Thank You Premier is listed, and does pay me referral if you apply through my site). Everyone is different and you may find that other offer is better suited at this time.
Readers, what are your thoughts on this new development?
Click here to view various credit cards and available sign-up bonuses
Author: Leana
Leana is the founder of Miles For Family. She enjoys beach vacations and visiting her family in Europe. Originally from Belarus, Leana resides in central Florida with her husband and two children.
Looks like the bonus went down to 40,000 pts.
@HML Yep, just saw that on my affiliate site. I wish we were given more details ahead of time. Well, it looks like you made the right call! Congrats. ?
I just applied and was approved for Premier yesterday (and SPG Personal and Alaska BofA – just because – one of them was through your links)…I was denied 90 days ago for capital and barclay so I held off applying for anymore cards for 90 days and am super excited to be collecting sign up bonuses again :). I am thinking Citi will match the offer if is better since I just applied but if not, I am okay with that, I didn’t want to take a chance – the Premier was number one on my list to get. I have given up on ever getting a CSP – but there are plenty of other fish to fry.
@HML First, thank you so much for using my link for one of your apps! I very much appreciate it. Congrats on getting all three cards approved. Nice haul! Capital One and Barclays are definitely more picky than other banks, so I’m not surprised they shafted you few months ago. It varies, of course, depending on the person and their history. Barclays has a weird formula that no one is able to pinpoint. Some can get several cards within few months, others are seemingly blacklisted. It definitely makes sense to go after cards like Arrival and now CSP early in your churning “career.”
On Premier: there is a good chance Citi will match it if the offer is increased. No guarantees, of course. Honestly, the bonus could very well go down, nobody knows. Hopefully, we’ll hear more within the next few days. Either way, like you said, it’s pointless to worry about it. It’s impossible to predict what thanks will do unless you work for the bank.
And this may be what gets me off the couch. I’ve been twiddling my thumbs hoping to make it to a certain point where I can realistically expect to be approved for the CSP with less than 5 apps in the last 2 years. But we may have to just jump on this now. We will probably not add each other as authorized users so that should help but it does push back our timing a bit on when we can do the CSP again. I’ll have to keep a close eye out for conjecture on what changes.
Plan is to use your air France trick to Hawaii.
@Cheapblackdad I definitely understand the desire for CSP bonus. I would love to get it, but “no go” at this time. I’m hoping they relax the rules (fingers crossed). Also, I believe 5 is the cutoff to be approved, though, I’ve seen conflicting data points on this one. As much as I would love to get more UR points (my favorite flexible currency), it just doesn’t make sense for me to put my churning career on hold. I would be foregoing all kinds of deals in the meantime, and the approval on CSP isn’t even a sure thing. Of course, everyone has different goals, and I understand your reasoning. Well, you do have a week before the changes to Premier are made. Who knows, maybe it will be a good development.