Credit Card Programs - Best way to get a lot [40k] of ThankYou points in a couple of months?

My wife's birthday is coming up, and I wanted to do something nice for her on her birthday. I need an additional 40k in pts so the hotel will be covered 100%. Purchasing pts is a rip-off, and in June, Citicard just gave me two new credit cards (Premier, Dividend). Any suggestions on how to obtain these additional 40k in pts?

You could apply for a card (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credit-card-programs/1266831-back-better-citi-premier-50-000-ty-bonus-pts-500-worth-fee-free-first-year.html) in her name, and transfer the bonus points to your account after they post. (My wife would be OK with this, but I can see that some might feel as if they were paying for their own present.)

Is it a type of hotel where you could apply for a branded hotel card and get the points that way?

Yea, thought of that, but she doesn't want another credit card; besides the benefits they provide. Also, not sure if Citi will give me another credit card with a big sign on bonus so soon. I have pts at Penfed and Chase, but alas, I cannot transfer them to Citi. The hotel is in Manhattan, with no sign on bonus CC.

You could earn a portion through the ThankYou shopping portal. They will allow you to sort the merchant list by the number of points per dollar. I have not used it recently and cannot say how quickly the points post, but I would do this part sooner rather than later.

The only other source of ThankYou points, aside from spending with the card you hold now, is banking. The drawback to earning ThankYou Points for banking is that Citi will send you a 1099 for the value.

You could earn a portion through the ThankYou shopping portal. They will allow you to sort the merchant list by the number of points per dollar. I have not used it recently and cannot say how quickly the points post, but I would do this part sooner rather than later.

The only other source of ThankYou points, aside from spending with the card you hold now, is banking. The drawback to earning ThankYou Points for banking is that Citi will send you a 1099 for the value.

That's actually not always the case. With miles, it is, but not generally with points.

I work for the bank and I very rarely see clients get a 1099 for TY points, only for AA miles.

Personally, I got 40K for myself, 40K for my gf, and my parents got 40K a piece with the Citigold checking bonuses over the last two years, and none of us ever got 1099s. I think there may be some limit per year (maybe $600?) to trigger a 1099. Citi values TYPs at 1cpm, whereas their miles are ridiculous--I want to say 2.5cpm.

I have not followed the discussion closely, but my understanding is that Citi issues a 1099 for AA miles in the year in which they are earned based on a fixed value, but for ThankYou points during the year in which they are redeemed based on actual value. 40,000 at .0133 each would still fall under the $600 threshold. However, it's close 45,113 would be the trigger point.

That's actually not always the case. With miles, it is, but not generally with points.

I work for the bank and I very rarely see clients get a 1099 for TY points, only for AA miles.

Personally, I got 40K for myself, 40K for my gf, and my parents got 40K a piece with the Citigold checking bonuses over the last two years, and none of us ever got 1099s. I think there may be some limit per year (maybe $600?) to trigger a 1099. Citi values TYPs at 1cpm, whereas their miles are ridiculous--I want to say 2.5cpm.

Citi does send out 1099 forms on the TYPs earned thru banking.

I have not followed the discussion closely, but my understanding is that Citi issues a 1099 for AA miles in the year in which they are earned based on a fixed value, but for ThankYou points during the year in which they are redeemed based on actual value. 40,000 at .0133 each would still fall under the $600 threshold. However, it's close 45,113 would be the trigger point.

Correct.

We have learned about the TYPs generated 1099 as early as 2007, during the 1st major devaluation - long before people were hit by 1099 from banking product bonus of AA miles which is a relatively recent thing, started about 2 years ago.

During the 2007 redemption, it was not uncommon to get 0.10 per cent value of TYPs. 1099s were all over the place the next Spring. To be fair, Citi's system was rather accurate in properly calculating the taxable value based on the points earned from the banking side - i.e. the TYPs from the credit card side was not taxable. It took quite a while and quite a lot of discussion here to finally figure out what was going on and people did report back the taxable value largely matched up the points they earned from banking side, at the redemption value.

Citi does send out 1099 forms on the TYPs earned thru banking.

I guess they're not consistent, then. I cashed in well over $600 in TYPs in early 2011 (i think around 70K points), but didn't get a 1099 for it. I guess we'll see what happens with my parents when they cash in 140K points next month.

I guess they're not consistent, then. I cashed in well over $600 in TYPs in early 2011 (i think around 70K points), but didn't get a 1099 for it. I guess we'll see what happens with my parents when they cash in 140K points next month.
Were those BANKING points? Only the banking points (and only if over $600) are taxable.

EDIT: Ok, to be more precise... those are the only points Citi thinks are taxable and the only ones they have a history of reporting. Depending on your own tax situation, other points might be taxable and/or might adjust a deduction you could take.

Were those BANKING points? Only the banking points (and only if over $600) are taxable.

It was almost exclusively banking points. However, only 40K of them were bonus points, the rest were monthly earned points and employee award points. There were some CC points too, but that was before I really used my TYP cards.

My parents have 40K + 40K (banking) + 60K (CC) + about another 30K from monthly bonuses. We'll see what happens when they cash them in though.