Citi ThankYou Rewards Program Gets Better

Are you using any Citibank credit cards?

If you are, then you must be familiar with the ThankYou Rewards program. It’s basically a Citibank customer loyalty program that lets bank and credit card customers earn ThankYou points from using bank cards and credit cards and redeem earned rewards points for gift certificates, statement credits, airfares and hotel stays, and products. A long time ago, Citibank used to give cash back to its credit card customers for earned rewards, but now they are mostly in the form of ThankYou points (Citi Dividend World MasterCard still offers cash back). And Citibank is not alone. Major issuers like Chase, American Express and Discover all have their own rewards program like the one Citibank has and they all want you to spend whatever you have earned with them instead of giving you cash back directly and letting you spend the money elsewhere .

New ThankYou Rewards Features

Citibank has recently improved its ThankYou Rewards program to make it easier for cardholders to earn and redeem ThankYou Points, based on feedback from card members. The improved features of the ThankYou Rewards program include:

• No points cap and no expiration of points: Now cardholders can earn unlimited number of ThankYou Points and the Points you earned will never expire, making it easier for you to accumulate Points if you want to redeem big items.
• Lower redemption threshold: Citi is not offering more redeemable products and gift cards with fewer points needed than before. For example, most gift card redemption starts with 2,500 ThankYou Points, usually enough to redeem $25 gift card.
• In-store pickup: If you use your Points to redeem products, you will now have the option to pick them up at your local Best Buy stores, if you don’t want to wait for the shipping, meaning you can get them faster.
• Pay the difference with you Citi cards: If you don’t have enough ThankYou Points to redeem a merchandise, you can now pay the difference with your Citibank credit cards, allowing you to get the product using the Points you already have.

These are just a few highlights of changes recently made to the program. You can go to Citibank website to learn more about the ThankYou Rewards program.

Citi Credit Cards with ThankYou Rewards

As I mentioned above, there are a few ways you can earn ThankYou Points including using Citibank Checking Account (Citibank Checking Account $300 bonus offer is still available) and Citibank credit cards that participate in the ThankYou Rewards program. Here are a few Citi cards that are currently offering sign-up bonuses if you are interested:

• Citi ThankYou® Preferred Rewards Card $150 Bonus: Get 15,000 bonus ThankYou Points after making $1,000 in purchases within the first 3 months, redeemable for a $150 gift card. Earn 5 ThankYou Points for every $1 you spend on purchases at gas stations, supermarkets and drugstores for 12 months and 1 point for every $1 you spend thereafter. No expiration and no limit on the points you can earn. Redeem ThankYou Points for merchandise, travel rewards, gift cards, cash and more. No annual fee.
• Citi ThankYou Premier Card 2X ThankYou Points for 24 Months: Earn 2 ThankYou Points for every dollar spent in the first 24 months of card membership. Earn 1.2 Points/dollar at gas stations, supermarkets, drugstores, commuter transportation and parking merchants afterwards, and 1 Point everywhere else. No foreign transaction fee. No Points cap or expiration. First year membership fee is waived ($125 savings).