MilesBuzz! - Citibank's 2 free rt tickets "thankyou" promo

has anybody done this promo and any feedback would be appreciated. I want to know what kind of restriction is there on the 2 free tickets.

http://citi.bridgetrack.com/cbol/08/balancebuild/default.htm?Promo_ID=CSZ2&BTData=402107C726861745B574342BEBEB0A8A59E908493F9 FFF5EAEAC5C2D6C6A2482&BT_TRF=50&ProspectID=E861C83173A0433A8486D8BB9D905047

I signed up and have funded the accounts - it takes a few months to get and have the points post. From what I understand you will get 40,000 TY points and if you use them within six months they will be good for 2 tickets up to $400 each in value.

After the six months if you have not redeemed them, they will just be points in your TY account, subject to redemption just as any other points.

Bruce

have you redeemed your points for tickets yet?

I've received a similar offer from Citi and am mulling it over. Somebody correct me if I've got the math wrong:

- Need to deposit $26000 ($25000 into savings and $1000 into checking) for 7 months (3 months of qualifying transactions with the checking account and 120 days for the 40000 points to post to the account) to receive up to an $800 tax-free benefit.

- $800/$26000 = 3.07% in 7 months, or 5.27% annualized return . This is on top of whatever else the account earns (probably between 2 and 3% annualized with the current market conditions).

- Considering the $800 benefit is tax-free, it's more like a $1143 taxable benefit (assuming 30% federal+state tax rate), making the annualized return closer to 7.54%.

So assuming one takes full advantage of the voucher value ($800) and the transaction costs in the checking account are minimal, this $26000 will yield an annualized, taxable return of 9.5-10.5%. Not bad. Not easy to beat.

Of course the return drops if tickets less than $400 each in value are claimed, the checking account transactions are costly and/or the 6 month window to use the voucher expires.

Regards,
Chris

Welcome to FT!

Your first post sounded like something I had to do in Account 2101.

:D

Welcome to FlyerTalk chris_in_sunnyvale! What a fantastic first post!

you are almost correct, about 80% +/- 5 correct, kidding due to taxes in the print. but nice job on the math!
"Tickets do not include applicable taxes, fees and surcharges which must be paid by customer at time of redemption"

Dont forget the benefit of earning miles!

Welcome to FT!!!

Thanks for the friendly welcome, everyone.

I think there are some other things that need to be considered regarding the annualized return of 9.5-10.5% that I came up with...

- This return hinges on getting in and out of that account in the 7 months for the 40000 points to post. If Citi is slow in executing on their end, such as the points don't post at the 120-day mark after the 3 months of qualified checking account activity, then this return drops.

- This return also hinges on not being forced to keep the account open once you have the 40000 points in hand. I'd like to close the account the moment I have those points, but if those points disappear before I have a chance to use them in 6 months because I closed the account, then again this return drops.

- This return hinges on no further degradation of the points value. Right now, 40000 points gets two $400 flight vouchers, but Citi states that the promotion can change at any time. If it changes to 50000 points or 60000 points for the same vouchers, again this return drops since you're getting only 40000 points.

I think it's a good deal if Citi executes on their end (7 months and no more), doesn't require you to keep the account open if you haven't used the points and as long as the program doesn't worsen its terms.

BTW, if you have a Citi credit card, pay attention to the inserts with your monthly bill. They often have similar offers that don't necessarily expire on 3/31/08.

Regards,
Chris

has anybody done this promo and any feedback would be appreciated. I want to know what kind of restriction is there on the 2 free tickets.

Citi is not offering tickets, but rather points. The tickets are an example of an award which can be claimed. The nuances of ThankYou Rewards program are discussed daily in Flyertalk's Other Credit Cards section.

You can read about the air redemptions here...

https://www.thankyou.com/faq.jspx

Expand the Travel Rewards section and read everything, with particular attention to the important distinction between Fixed and Variable Flight redemptions. The advertised example is a Fixed Flight option, and represents good value.

I bank at Citibank and there are several promos going on. I was looking at the one for 20K points but I don't recall the requirement that the money needs to stay in that account for that amount of time, so I will have to check further. It is a mistake to refer to the $400 as a voucher, but rather you can exchange for a ticket UP to a $400 value, and each extra $50 in ticket costs would require another 5000 points. I get TY points for banking as well as the Premier Pass Card. So unless you are planning to participate in this program, I'm not sure if doing this for just this promo is the way to go. I think it is a good program. Just exchanged 45K points for a ticket to Mexico which I would have had to use 60K miles for an anytime ticket, and I will GET regular miles for the ticket - which for me will be 7000 AA miles.
I will ask some of these questions when I am back in town next week.

Lots of talk about this promo at:

http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/811153/?start=0

There is no clear take on whether or not the $25K needs to stay in the account the entire time (I assumed it did) and it's not clear what the minimum balance is for the checking account to avoid monthly fees ($6K appears to be the amount to avoid a $12.95/month fee).

I suggest reading all 7 pages (at this time) of that thread to come up with a list of questions to ask a Citi rep at your local financial center. This could be an even better deal if less than $25K needs to be tied up the entire time.

Regards,
Chris

I think you're dreaming if you think it's going to be tax-free. Dollars to doughnuts you end up getting a 1099 for the "value" of the tickets. I've done a bank promo before where I ended up getting a 1099 the next year because of some Rubbermaid containers the bank gave me. No, I'm not kidding. Banks is crazee.

Peachfront is right. My son got a 1099 for $50 he recieved for opening a saving account with Citi.

This is no different than the AA bonus miles for getting a credit card or opening a checking account. Until used it has no value and goes into the bucket with your other points. I have never gotten a 1099 for the value of points, not did I ever years ago for getting a toaster. But your bank may have handled the rubbermaid differently. But at this point the IRS has NOT put a value on points so I don't think that they can do that because until you cash them in you don't know what the value is. I just used 45 K
Thank You Points for a ticket to Mexico - up to a value of $900, but my ticket's value was only $635. I paid $105 in taxes and fees.

But that is cash not points. Has anyone gotten a 1099 for points, whether TY or AA?

But that is cash not points. Has anyone gotten a 1099 for points, whether TY or AA?

I have received and redeemed Thankyou points for air travel. I did not get any 1099s.

Again the details of using Thankyou points fixed flight option is quite complicated. It was discussed in the "Other Credit Card" forum in detail under either the "PremierPass" or "Citi devalue flight points" threads.

Some important things to consider are:
- No stopover/open jar;
- They do not always have the fares you can book on Expedia, somehow their fare is always a little higher;
- They do not cover tax/fee and somehow their calculation of tax/fee on a $400 domestic tickets can be up to $80.
- If your ticket is over $400 you can redeem 5k for every $50 over.

have you redeemed your points for tickets yet?

It takes a few months to meet the qualifications of the account and receive the points. Then they can be redeemed for flights.

Bruce

I just opened one of these promos in a branch and it couldn't have been easier. There was TONS of advertising for this promotion all over the branch (in NYC) and the banker was knowledgeable about the details.

i just opened the two accts needed for the 40000 pts. i asked several people at each step of the way if there is a time limit on how long the money has to stay in the acct. they all told me there was no time limit. i am going tomorrow to take my money back. i will pay $12.50 a month-for 3 mths-because i will be under $6000 in my accts(you have to keep a balance of $6000 in the total of all your accts if you dont want to be charged a fee). i figure it is worth it to pay $12.50X3 for the 40000 pts. i used money from my home equity line to depost, and will put it all back within a week. i also will open these accts in my husbands name-getting 40000 pts times two!! i love thank you network. have been using them for over 2 years and have never had any problems.

i just opened the two accts needed for the 40000 pts. i asked several people at each step of the way if there is a time limit on how long the money has to stay in the acct. they all told me there was no time limit. i am going tomorrow to take my money back. i will pay $12.50 a month-for 3 mths-because i will be under $6000 in my accts(you have to keep a balance of $6000 in the total of all your accts if you dont want to be charged a fee). i figure it is worth it to pay $12.50X3 for the 40000 pts. i used money from my home equity line to depost, and will put it all back within a week. i also will open these accts in my husbands name-getting 40000 pts times two!! i love thank you network. have been using them for over 2 years and have never had any problems.

I'd be careful with that, sounds like there is a chance that the reps at your branch may have been misinformed. Perhaps the one at my branch is wrong, but the flyer references a 120 period after which the bonus will be paid. My (as well as their) understanding was that this is the length of time the money must remain in the account. Perhaps this is just when they pay the bonus, but I am going to play it say and keep the funds there.

Also, don't forget the monthly direct deposit for 3 months. Good luck!

I am trying this deal using Citi credit cards to fund the accounts, thus getting a credit card bonus on top of everything else. I first made the cash advance line $0 to ensure that I would not be charged a fee. The rep on the phone told me it would go through as a purchase.
The only hitch is that I called on Monday and they need to send me a signature card which I will fax or send back for them to open the account. I have not yet received the card, so this is slowing things up. I'd like to have both my wife and me open accounts before the offer closes. I wonder if it might be extended beyond 3/31. From what I hear, the citi company could use some capital infusion.

"Somebody correct me if I've got the math wrong"

You need to look at the opportunity cost of the money. It might earn 2% per year in a savings account, but the long term average of the stock market is much higher.

"Somebody correct me if I've got the math wrong"

You need to look at the opportunity cost of the money. It might earn 2% per year in a savings account, but the long term average of the stock market is much higher.

your correct, but in this market going into the summer it might not be bad at 3% earnings on the account, also this will be used short term, get flights, then get money out.

Statement: Unless 1) you have $26K to move from some other non-Citi account which would not penalize you greatly for withdrawing that amount or 2) you have a 0% balance transfer option with no or a limited transfer fee from a credit card, this offer would not be financially wise. Is that true or are there other ways to fund the $26K that would still be wise given the up-to-$800 (for two tickets) benefit to be derived? For example, I have a 3.99%transfer balance option with a couple of my Citi MCs but each also has a 3% transfer fee with no cap (that's $780 on $26K) which eliminates any advantage for a transfer option for me. Am I missing some other options?

Statement: Unless 1) you have $26K to move from some other non-Citi account which would not penalize you greatly for withdrawing that amount or 2) you have a 0% balance transfer option with no or a limited transfer fee from a credit card, this offer would not be financially wise. Is that true or are there other ways to fund the $26K that would still be wise given the up-to-$800 (for two tickets) benefit to be derived? For example, I have a 3.99%transfer balance option with a couple of my Citi MCs but each also has a 3% transfer fee with no cap (that's $780 on $26K) which eliminates any advantage for a transfer option for me. Am I missing some other options?

I'm sure everyones financial situation is different - in my case I have a tiered approach - I keep my longer term savings in mutual funds/401k, have some in bonds, etc. I also keep some monies totally liquid in case of emergency. I try to keep those funds in checking/savings accounts that pay at least a reasonable interest rate. In my case I moved money from ING Direct at 3.4% interest to Citi 3.25%. After establishing the account I will move from the Money Market Plus to the other savings account I have at Citi that pays 3.75% (All rates current, but likely to go down!).

That works for me - I focus on my overall plan and the TY points, etc. are nice side perks that I'm happy to take advantage of.

Bruce

Has anyone with an existing checking account and existing savings products been able to do this with new money without needing to open new accounts. The branch has a promo for 20K for the same amount of new money and I was told I could use my existing accounts with new money, but I'd rather get 40K if possible. I already have so many accounts at Citi I'd rather not go through the motions of opening a new checking account that I don't really need.

"Somebody correct me if I've got the math wrong"

You need to look at the opportunity cost of the money. It might earn 2% per year in a savings account, but the long term average of the stock market is much higher.

Without a doubt, but its insane to be 100% invested in the market, even during the best of years. You need to keep some cash in a low-risk, liquid account for emergencies, short term savings goals, and the like. An FDIC money market or online savings account (there are different versions of this promotion) is a perfect use for funds such as these.

My opportunity cost for this is 3.31% (current FSLXX rate) minus whatever the Citi MM is currently at (not sure of the exact rate). This difference can't be more than 1.5%. Roughly, 1.5% on $25,000 for 4 months is approximately $125, taxable. I'll gladly trade (at most) $125 in taxable interest for a minimum of $400-800 of tax-free goods purchased with the 40,000 TYP.

Sounds like somebody doesn't know the 20th century is over. IMHO you can't compare the return from a stock market in an expanding environment where resources were effectively infinite to the return from a stock market in a mature environment where there is serious international competition for limited resources. I don't believe that there is any lost opportunity cost here if you're moving the money out of the stock market. I'm not a financial planner, so take my advice for what you paid for it. But IMHO "opportunity cost" is a boogeyman in the closet that we hear about more than we actually encounter. IMHO we should always weight a little more more heavily in the direction of a known return than toward a "maybe." Could be the stock market will go up in the next 120 days and could be it will continue to go in circles. Who knows? But we can pretty confident that fuel costs and the costs of two airline tickets pretty much has nowhere to go but up. Agreed? Don't hesitate to poke holes in my theory if I'm wrong. I'd rather be told now than find out after I've already moved $26,000 around.

Like another poster, I would actually be moving the money from ING, and I agree with the analysis he posted -- there is a difference in the interest I'd receive but the value of the air tickets more than makes up for it. Still not convinced I'll be getting anything "tax free," though. I think people are going to get 1099s and need to factor that in. But I may have skipped a few posts in this thread that prove me wrong. The guy who didn't get a 1099 for the free toaster must have opened the free toaster account prior to, say, 1998 -- guessing at the year but it goes back to the 90s at least that they were supposed to report these bonuss. Apparently "points" is something different and no one has ever experienced them being reported on a 1099. So maybe we don't have to worry about taxes. Hmmm.


You need to look at the opportunity cost of the money. It might earn 2% per year in a savings account, but the long term average of the stock market is much higher.

But we can pretty confident that fuel costs and the costs of two airline tickets pretty much has nowhere to go but up. Agreed? Don't hesitate to poke holes in my theory if I'm wrong. I'd rather be told now than find out after I've already moved $26,000 around.


While I would agree with you over the long term, I'm actually expecting ticket prices to come down in the short term. A lot of fares I check regularly are several times higher than they were only a year or two ago. I know fuel is driving up costs, but I can't believe it is responsible for the entire increase. JMHO anyway.

Be careful if you've opened up a Citi account with any other sort of promo in the past (even if you're current)

I didn't get get my TY points for a similar offer that was even sent to me personally in the mail... I fought for months for the points, and then just withdrew my money. I won't use Citibank for checking/savings again.

Bruce, can you please enlighten me which citi account gives 3.75% APR? I will open that account after I get the TYP. FYI, I opened my MMA in branch on March 17 (before the 3/4 rate cut). The interest rate then was 2.75%.


I'm sure everyones financial situation is different - in my case I have a tiered approach - I keep my longer term savings in mutual funds/401k, have some in bonds, etc. I also keep some monies totally liquid in case of emergency. I try to keep those funds in checking/savings accounts that pay at least a reasonable interest rate. In my case I moved money from ING Direct at 3.4% interest to Citi 3.25%. After establishing the account I will move from the Money Market Plus to the other savings account I have at Citi that pays 3.75% (All rates current, but likely to go down!).

That works for me - I focus on my overall plan and the TY points, etc. are nice side perks that I'm happy to take advantage of.

Bruce

pmanisa, My Citi Ultimate Money account statement shows 3.75% annual percentage yield earned this month (3.68% average rate). In January it was 4.5%.

As I indicated "rates likely to go down" :) My 3.75 rate is today at 3.2 % (Ultimate Money account).

Thanks both rrgg and Bruce for your replies. I might consider opening the ultimate money account later on (well just to maintain the minimum balance and avoid the fee), although the rate is not so competitive with other online banks.

I decided to give it a go and signed up today (3/24/08) for the in-branch promo for the two $400 fixed flight option tickets:

$25,000 to Citi Money Market Plus Account
$1,000 to Citi Checking

I'm going to track Citi's execution on this promotion and will provide updates.

As for opening the account, I was told that the $25K must stay in the account and cannot be taken out or else the promotion is voided. This directly contradicts what others have posted here. If you plan on taking the money out early, please at least wait until you receive further program details in the mail after having signed up.

The $1K checking account is linked to the MMA and the two combined meet the $6K minimum ammount to avoid monthly checking account fees. I was told that the checking account balance can dip below $1K without voiding the promotion.

I plan on going the 2 online bill payments/month route to meet the program requirements. I was told that I can activate my online billing today and start making payments, but I'll wait a day or two for that. Per Citi's website, there are no fees associated with online bill payments and they can be made to anyone (except Citi credit cards and the like), not just a list of businesses they have an association with.

I was told that Citi enrolled me in the Thank You points program and if I want to create my user name and password, go through Citi's site and log into my checking account. I thought this was nice, showing that they aren't secretly hoping I forget about the 60-day signup for the Thank You program.

Regards,
Chris

First update: Online banking and Thank You Rewards registrations...

I plan on going the 2 online bill payments/month route to meet the program requirements. I was told that I can activate my online billing today and start making payments, but I'll wait a day or two for that. Per Citi's website, there are no fees associated with online bill payments and they can be made to anyone (except Citi credit cards and the like), not just a list of businesses they have an association with.
About an hour after opening the account in the local branch, I logged into citibank.com and registered an account using the temporary ATM card (it has a Mastercard # and I expect the permanent card will be a MC Debit card with the same #), created a user name and password and voila, my account info is already there with the linked $1K checking and $25K MMP accounts. In my homepage are links to set up online billing (I'll wait on this for a few days) and a link to the Thank You Rewards program. I decided to see if indeed I was enrolled in the Thank You Rewards program by clicking on that link...

I was told that Citi enrolled me in the Thank You points program and if I want to create my user name and password, go through Citi's site and log into my checking account.
The online Thank You Rewards program did not recognize my home phone and zip code. I called their 1-800 number and discovered that it will take between 7-10 business days for Citibank to submit the info. At that time I should call back, not try online again, and set up the online account. Okay, no biggie.

Regards,
Chris

I got the same information when I applied in branch that $25K must be in the account for at least 4 months.


As for opening the account, I was told that the $25K must stay in the account and cannot be taken out or else the promotion is voided. This directly contradicts what others have posted here. If you plan on taking the money out early, please at least wait until you receive further program details in the mail after having signed up.

Does this mean the 48 states "receive two (2) roundtrip airline tickets to anywhere in continental U.S" or could you use this for alaska and hawaii? yeah, i know $400 isnt going to get me to hawaii

You can go to alaska with 20K points. Please see below (from TYN faq).
===========================
Continental US & Alaska and Canada 20,000 Up to $400 in value
Mexico and Central America 45,000 Up to $900 in value
Hawaii and Caribbean 50,000 Up to $1,000 in value
Europe 60,000 Up to $1,200 in value
Puerto Rico to US (48 States) 40,000 Up to $800 in value
Middle East and Africa 80,000 Up to $1,600 in value
Asia 80,000 Up to $1,600 in value
South America 60,000 Up to $1,200 in value
Australia and South Pacific 100,000 Up to $2,000 in value

If I withdraw 25,000 from my citibank today and redeposit it tomorrow at this account, will this qualify as "new" funds?

As an existing customer I ended up doing the promo that only gives 20,000 TY points with new money and opening an Ultimate Savings account and linking it with an existing citigold checking account where I am already doing 2 online transacations in order to get the best rate on my Ultimate Money account. I was told that I do not need to leave this money in for 4 months and I am allowed to use this money, but of course I will not get the points until the 3 months of consequetive online payments have been made. I do not know if the exisiting customer who wants to withdraw $25K and then deposit it will have it look like new money but are you planning on opening a new checking and a new ultimate savings account? I have enough checking accounts and did not want to open one even though the extra 20K points would be very tempting. I already have 4 citigold accounts and two regular checking accounts with my name on them and just saw no sense of opening another one I KNOW I will not be using.

As an existing customer I ended up doing the promo that only gives 20,000 TY points with new money and opening an Ultimate Savings account and linking it with an existing citigold checking account where I am already doing 2 online transacations in order to get the best rate on my Ultimate Money account. I was told that I do not need to leave this money in for 4 months and I am allowed to use this money, but of course I will not get the points until the 3 months of consequetive online payments have been made. I do not know if the exisiting customer who wants to withdraw $25K and then deposit it will have it look like new money but are you planning on opening a new checking and a new ultimate savings account? I have enough checking accounts and did not want to open one even though the extra 20K points would be very tempting. I already have 4 citigold accounts and two regular checking accounts with my name on them and just saw no sense of opening another one I KNOW I will not be using.

Is there a reason that you have 4 citigold accounts and 2 regular checking?

One is my household account, one is my business account, one is my father's account but I am on it as I handle his finances, and one is my daughter's account and I am on it as she is a college student and doesn't have any of her own income. The two others were original accounts before citigold that I have never canceled and although I don't use them both have credit lines that I want to keep. When they charged for citigold accounts I had only one, but one by one the other three were converted to citigold.

After doing the same sort of analysis as chris_in_sunnyvale did and deciding that the tax-free component made it an attractive deal, I opened accounts for myself and my wife. Must confess that I didn't spend a lot of time on the details, especially how TYP work, and the ticket offer in particular. Hope I am not in for any disappointment.

What is this about waiting 7 months to satisfy all the conditions for the 40K TYP? I thought one only had to be in it for 120 days, no more. Is the longer term something I overlooked?

Since I have not been after TYP before, I have never delved into threads about TYP. What I have racked up >100K of are Chase points through use of a card the gives 5 points for gas, groceries and food. That seems pretty damn good to me, though they devalued the ticket redemption option, making the points somewhat less valuable than they were until recently. Have wondered why all the attention on the credit card forum goes to TYP, little or none to these Chase points. (I don't even know what to call them other than "Chase points," because there is some blurring, at least in my mind, between these Chase points and the "choices" that come with use of the MileagePlus Visa card.)

How much complexity is there to the TYP program, e.g., "fixed" vs "variable" ticket options? I hope I don't have to school myself in the ins and outs of yet another program. Will have a look at some of the threads that have been linked to.

Anyway, no one so far has mentioned any "tricks" or true "negatives" to this promo, so I am encouraged in the notion that it is indeed a good one.

The beauty of the TY points program is that you can get points from several ways, not JUST one credit card. You can get points for banking, which I was doing anyway, and was one reason I upgraded some of my accounts to citigold because I would get more points. I get 1200 points a month because I made sure that I had 7 products attached to each of the two accounts in which my name is primary. I also have the Premier Pass card (fee waived because of my citighold account) in which I get points when I use that card to buy airline tickets including my AA award tickets (not for fees for a TY ticket), and 2 points for gas and groceries. Also bonus points for signing up (if anyone is interested, let me know and I will get points for referring you.
So, at the end of the day I had about 175K points for doing nothing and it not costing me anything. I was banking anyway, I charge airline tickets anyway, and I buy gas and groceries anyway. You must spend on the credit card to release the "flight points."
I just bought my first fixed ticket - to Puerto Vallarta for 45,000 points and $105 in fees. I got the non-stop flight on AA that I wanted, and I will get my miles for flying AA (double because I am platinum - so 7000 AA miles). I could not have gotten this same pair of flights (Sat non stop going and coming, or ANYTHING for that matter on Saturday) for 30,000 AA miles. I would have had to use 60,000 AA miles to get an anytime award, and the fees would have been about $60. I would have gotten about 3500 TY points for that ticket, but not AA miles. I found the flights I wanted. I called the Thank Your Network number and told them which flights I wanted. It could not have been easier. The ticket would have cost about $635 before taxes. (When I looked again, the fare had gone down about $100). The ticket price could have been up to $900 but that wasn't the price of the ticket. That is what everyone has to realize. You aren't getting $800 worth of vouchers. It's just that each ticket can be worth up to $400 each before taxes and fees.
I discovered it is quite simple and now that I have redeemed I am quite pleased that I have collected miles in the program, because I can't always get the flights I want with a true award ticket. Of course, these tickets are regular tickets and can't be changed the way award tickets can be changed and will incur the same change fees as a purchased ticket from the airline. If you cancel you cannot redeposit the points - you lose them, but your ticket is the same as a canceled purchased ticked. I am sure that Citibank's hope is that people will begin to do more banking and become regular customers where their Thank You account will get lots more miles. If Citibank is a convenient bank for you it is worth seeing if staying with them works for you and what else you need to do to get 1200 points a month.

This is no different than the AA bonus miles for getting a credit card or opening a checking account. Until used it has no value and goes into the bucket with your other points. I have never gotten a 1099 for the value of points, not did I ever years ago for getting a toaster. But your bank may have handled the rubbermaid differently. But at this point the IRS has NOT put a value on points so I don't think that they can do that because until you cash them in you don't know what the value is...
I would be very, very unhappy if a value was imputed to the 40K TYP and I had to pay taxes on it. But while I don't think we will see 1099s, I wouldn't take too great comfort in "IRS has NOT put a value on points so I don't think that they can do that because until you cash them in you don't know what the value is." The airlines have had contests with a prize of 1M miles and the taxes due on those miles were greater than the value to recipients of the miles, causing some of them to decline their winnings. UA is running such a contest now and states in the T&C that they assign an ARV (approximate retail value) of $5,700 to what each winner will get, meaning $22,800 for the team that wins the 1M miles, along with some other benies. And the taxes will be the responsibility of the winners.

It is true that the airlines have put a value on the "big" prizes, but maybe that is the difference - it is prize, like the lottery, or winning a car, rather than something being given in exchange for something. Anyway, to date, I have never been taxed on miles I have gotten from AA, from Citibank for points (premier pass, checking accounts) so I don't see how this would be any different, and the value ism't known until used.

What is this about waiting 7 months to satisfy all the conditions for the 40K TYP? I thought one only had to be in it for 120 days, no more. Is the longer term something I overlooked?
My understanding is that you first have to "earn" the points by 3 months of either 1 direct deposit/month or 2 online bill payments/month. Once that is met, the points will be in your account within 120 days. I've read elsewhere that Citi isn't prompt in paying out rewards, so expect the full 120 days (or even more if you have to then call for the points). So 3 months plus 120 days is 7 months for the points to show.

Regards,
Chris

My understanding is that you first have to "earn" the points by 3 months of either 1 direct deposit/month or 2 online bill payments/month. Once that is met, the points will be in your account within 120 days. I've read elsewhere that Citi isn't prompt in paying out rewards, so expect the full 120 days (or even more if you have to then call for the points). So 3 months plus 120 days is 7 months for the points to show.

Regards,
Chris
You probably paid much closer attention to the details than I did and should have, but I wonder about the correctness of your understanding. I understood the minimum amount of time to earn the 40K of TYP was 120 days, after which one could pull out all or most of the money. Why do you think those 3 months extend the time to approximately 7 months rather than run concurrently with the aforementioned 120 days, so long as one has arranged the 1 direct deposit monthly or the 2 online payments monthly from the time the accounts are opened? Was is there in the stated T&C to support your conclusion?

It is true that the airlines have put a value on the "big" prizes, but maybe that is the difference - it is prize, like the lottery, or winning a car, rather than something being given in exchange for something. Anyway, to date, I have never been taxed on miles I have gotten from AA, from Citibank for points (premier pass, checking accounts) so I don't see how this would be any different, and the value ism't known until used.
You say, "(T)he value ism't [sic] known until used," but that doesn't stop the airlines from imputing a value to the miles they give the winners in the contests they run and issuing 1099s. Perhaps some provision of the IRS Code requires that imputation of value, often well above the value we would assign the miles, when the grant of miles is deemed a "prize," while there is no requirement that they treat inducements to open an account as taxable to the recipient; or the airlines treat the miles or points differently from the way the banks do on their books, and that dictates whether they are taxable or not. But while I, like you, don't expect to get taxed on this Citi deal with the 40K TYP, I am less than certain that it will go the way I hope it will. (We must all be hoping for the same thing here, since who could possibly want to be taxed on the TYP.)

You probably paid much closer attention to the details than I did and should have, but I wonder about the correctness of your understanding. I understood the minimum amount of time to earn the 40K of TYP was 120 days, after which one could pull out all or most of the money. Why do you think those 3 months extend the time to approximately 7 months rather than run concurrently with the aforementioned 120 days, so long as one has arranged the 1 direct deposit monthly or the 2 online payments monthly from the time the accounts are opened? Was is there in the stated T&C to support your conclusion?
I believe the wording was something like, "Once the conditions have been met, the TYP will be posted to your account within 120 days," conditions of course referring to the 3 months of qualified transactions. Also, when I opened the account in the local branch, the new accounts rep said pretty much the same thing. He said the whole process would take about 6 months, but I think that's an aggressive expectation.

Honestly, I'd love to see the points posted 120 days from day 1 and hope you're right and I'm wrong. Even if I'm right, though, the return on 7 months is still tough to beat and is why I went ahead with this.

On a side note, I've had the account opened for a week and the checks have cleared from my other bank to fund these accounts. Yet my Citi online account only shows $100 available for each account. Citi is a little slow on updating available funds. Minor execution issue on their part, but still annoying.

Regards,
Chris

I believe the wording was something like, "Once the conditions have been met, the TYP will be posted to your account within 120 days," conditions of course referring to the 3 months of qualified transactions. Also, when I opened the account in the local branch, the new accounts rep said pretty much the same thing. He said the whole process would take about 6 months, but I think that's an aggressive expectation.

Honestly, I'd love to see the points posted 120 days from day 1 and hope you're right and I'm wrong. Even if I'm right, though, the return on 7 months is still tough to beat and is why I went ahead with this.

On a side note, I've had the account opened for a week and the checks have cleared from my other bank to fund these accounts. Yet my Citi online account only shows $100 available for each account. Citi is a little slow on updating available funds. Minor execution issue on their part, but still annoying.

Regards,
Chris

A little earlier today, I went by the Citibank branch where I opened the accounts to get straight the T&C. First, I was handled the promotional brochure that I saw and read before. Nothing in there to make clear the minimum amount of time that one must leave the accounts open and the opening balances ($25K + $1K) or more in them in order to collect the 40K TYP that was the major come on. The branch staffer said she wasn't sure, so went off to confer with the manager and came back to say, "We suggest..." I cut her off before she went further, since I am not interested in what they "suggest," I want to know what they require of me, specifically with regard to what minimum balances and for how long. So she brought her manager over, and the manager started, "We suggest...," whereupon I cut her off too and asked that she get me an answer that I could rely upon.

Surprising to me that the branch personnel are/were prepared to promote the offer, but not answer what seem to me rather obvious, basic questions about the T&C, which are remarkably vague. Now, I will expect answers that I can rely on (should I say "bank on"?) or I will close my account and my wife's account.

With my Chase accounts (credit cards), I can go online not only to see the details of my accounts with them, but also to send a secure message with whatever questions I have and await a reply. The replies I have received have not always been entirely on point the first time I asked, but then I simply asked again and have always gotten clear, reliable answers that I felt I could rely on. (And those responses were in "writing," that is by email, with someone's name and phone number, so I was not left to rely on what someone said.) So...if/when I set up online banking arrangements with Citi, do they have a similar feature, allowing us to ask questions about these concerning the 40K TYP offer and get satisfactory answers to those questions?

Citibank has very good online banking (free) and a way to ask a question and get an answer.

What is the interest rate offered by this savings account? Seems like you would lose more than you gain if the rate is less than 1% what you could easily get elsewhere in a CD or something? Paypal is paying 2.98% right now.

Hello forum members, I have a questions this promo is a thankyou promo. I just signed up for an American Airlines promo which awards 20,000 Advantage miles . Has anyone signed up for this promo as opposed to the two free tickets with with the thankyou program as opposed to the american airlines promo ?

I have signed up for the 20,000 points as I am an existing customer. The other promo IS NOT two free tickets but 40,000 points, good for two tickets or put in the pot to be used with other thank you points. The interest rate on the ultimate savings account is currently 3%. I was told that I DID NOT have to keep the money there until I got the points but could use the money. I don't plan to transfer the whole amount out but take it out as my ultimate MONEY account (different account than the Ultimate SAVINGS Account) pays 3.2% which is a little more, so why not in my pocket.

What is the interest rate offered by this savings account? Seems like you would lose more than you gain if the rate is less than 1% what you could easily get elsewhere in a CD or something? Paypal is paying 2.98% right now.
I have no prior experience with TYP, and no idea how much a TYP is worth. If 40K will bring you two free domestic tickets, I'm going to guess TYP might be worth 1.25 cpp, maybe more ($500 for two tickets/40K = 1.25 cpp). If one gets something worth $500 in return for "lending" the bank $25K (actually
$26K, but let's keep the math simple) for 120 days, that is a return of $1.5K on $25K in 120 days, or 6% per year, tax-free. If one can do better than 1.25 cpp with TYP, perhaps by using the TYP for flights, then one is doing better than 6% tax-free, and interest from the accounts themselves just make it richer. By no means a killer investment, but a reasonably good one, especially if you are not using the money for something else at the moment and you can pull it out if you need it sooner.

Citibank has very good online banking (free) and a way to ask a question and get an answer.

I used their online system to ask this question last week and was told via the message to ask in the branch. Based on the experiences above, I responded and told them that the branch was not certain and that they need to confirm. I'll post back with any responses.

I used their online system to ask this question last week and was told via the message to ask in the branch. Based on the experiences above, I responded and told them that the branch was not certain and that they need to confirm. I'll post back with any responses.
I'm waiting to get an ATM card, and then I can set myself up for online banking and send my own message asking the question (how soon can I take my money out). The response you got is absolutely. The point is to get an answer in writing that can be relied upon, not oral advice from someone in the branch, who may or may not know.

I got a call from Citi yesterday about our new accounts, inquiring if everything went smoothly opening them and asking if I had any questions. The woman calling was pleasant and seemed intelligent enough and competent enough. According to her, there is no requirement that the opening balances ($25K and $1K) remain on deposit with them for any length of time, only that one make 1 direct deposit or 2 online bill payments monthly for 3 months. So, if she is right, and I will send that message seeking confirmation, then this really is a sweet deal.

I received email confirmation today that it is not necessary to keep the $25,000 in the money market account. As mentioned before, I opened mine in a branch, so they actually called the branch to confirm this, which is noted in the message. I'm not sure I'll pull the money out yet, not sure if it will create a huge hassle down the line. I don't think the extra .5% or so that I can get elsewhere for 3 more months is worth the probable fight when the miles don't automatically post.

I received email confirmation today that it is not necessary to keep the $25,000 in the money market account. As mentioned before, I opened mine in a branch, so they actually called the branch to confirm this, which is noted in the message. I'm not sure I'll pull the money out yet, not sure if it will create a huge hassle down the line. I don't think the extra .5% or so that I can get elsewhere for 3 more months is worth the probable fight when the miles don't automatically post.
I think a clear, unequivocal response in writing (email message) is pretty reassuring. And it goes against the notion that it might be necessary to keep all the funds in those accounts for 7 months!

I received email confirmation today that it is not necessary to keep the $25,000 in the money market account. As mentioned before, I opened mine in a branch, so they actually called the branch to confirm this, which is noted in the message. I'm not sure I'll pull the money out yet, not sure if it will create a huge hassle down the line. I don't think the extra .5% or so that I can get elsewhere for 3 more months is worth the probable fight when the miles don't automatically post.
That's my feeling as well. If I took the money out, it would just go back into my normal Vanguard MM account anyway at an extra .5% annualized return. I don't need the grief of arguing with the TYP fullfilment department for the points because I didn't leave the money in there despite not needing to.

Regards,
Chris

"So assuming one takes full advantage of the voucher value ($800) and the transaction costs in the checking account are minimal, this $26000 will yield an annualized, taxable return of 9.5-10.5%. Not bad. Not easy to beat."

That's assuming that your tickets are the full $400 and you would have been spending money on these tickets anyways. Otherwise, if you were not going to be spending $800 on two tickets this is just a perk and in economic terms would really have no value to you. Your basic calculations, while nice, should assume that the opportunity cost of not getting this credit card will be that you will spend $800 on two plane tickets. That's unlikely to be the case for most people.

"So assuming one takes full advantage of the voucher value ($800) and the transaction costs in the checking account are minimal, this $26000 will yield an annualized, taxable return of 9.5-10.5%. Not bad. Not easy to beat."

That's assuming that your tickets are the full $400 and you would have been spending money on these tickets anyways. Otherwise, if you were not going to be spending $800 on two tickets this is just a perk and in economic terms would really have no value to you. Your basic calculations, while nice, should assume that the opportunity cost of not getting this credit card will be that you will spend $800 on two plane tickets. That's unlikely to be the case for most people.
Very true. In my personal case, I was going to buy two coast-to-coast tickets within the 6 month window the program requires anyway (we make two family visits per year, summer and winter) so indeed this has value to me. In my experience, tickets before taxes for these flights has been between $350 and $400 for the days I've needed to fly so I expect to get most of the value if not the entire amount. Should still be a very good return, even if I don't get tickets valued at the full $800.

I'll have followup posts as this process progresses, including the ticket buying process and how much the tickets cost. My final post will include a final breakdown on the ROI, considering the true value of the tickets I end up getting.

Regards,
Chris

I am interested in this promotion, but I have a question. I already have a Citi Premier Pass Elite credit card and just received approval on the Citi Platinum Amex card. Both receive TYP. There is a good chance I will be able to earn 150K TYP this calendar year because of the bonuses for fuel, etc., that the Amex gives. If I sign up for this offer will I receive the 40K additional points if I already have 150K?

I am finding it difficult to find clear answers on some TYP questions. I would like to know if the 150K maximum TYP points per calendar year is per card or for all cards/programs combined.

I am interested in this promotion, but I have a question. I already have a Citi Premier Pass Elite credit card and just received approval on the Citi Platinum Amex card. Both receive TYP. There is a good chance I will be able to earn 150K TYP this calendar year because of the bonuses for fuel, etc., that the Amex gives. If I sign up for this offer will I receive the 40K additional points if I already have 150K?

I am finding it difficult to find clear answers on some TYP questions. I would like to know if the 150K maximum TYP points per calendar year is per card or for all cards/programs combined.
I believe the offer being discussed here ended March 31st. You could check to see if Citi extended it.

I believe the offer being discussed here ended March 31st. You could check to see if Citi extended it.

I do have an offer, received via e-mail, that is good until May 16:

Get 2 round-trip tickets
courtesy of Citibank by
redeeming 40,000
ThankYou Points
♦ Your choice of airline
♦ No blackout dates
♦ Up to a $400 value each
♦ Easy to redeem through
ThankYou Network
Act now - offer ends May 16, 2008.

To apply by phone: call: 1-866-424-5335 and mention code: CYFE.

I do have an offer, received via e-mail, that is good until May 16:

Get 2 round-trip tickets
courtesy of Citibank by
redeeming 40,000
ThankYou Points
♦ Your choice of airline
♦ No blackout dates
♦ Up to a $400 value each
♦ Easy to redeem through
ThankYou Network
Act now - offer ends May 16, 2008.

To apply by phone: call: 1-866-424-5335 and mention code: CYFE.
Thanks, I may see about putting my kids into it. (Could pull the money from my wife's account and mine to fund theirs.:D)

Wazz - If you have an exisitng Thank You Points Account you can merge the account that this promo creates and all your points will be pooled in one place.

Slightly OT:

Went to a Citi branch to get a PIN for the ATM card they sent me with these new accounts, so I could set-up online banking and start paying some bills that way in order to satisfy the T&C to get the 40K TYP. When I handed the rep my ATM card, she asked to see my driver's license, which didn't strike me as anything out of the ordinary. But after a while she asked me for a credit card too. I asked why she needed a credit card, since she was holding my driver's license, a picture ID issued by the state. She said it was to protect me. No big deal, but I wondered why they wanted something beyond a driver's license. Makes sense or doesn't make sense?

I learned that Citi wouldn't charge me for using the ATM card at other banks, though those other banks were free to impose their own charges, as most, if not all, do. My primary bank doesn't charge me to use my ATM card at one of their few branches, and it also reimburses me for the charges other banks impose when I make ATM withdrawals from them, this as part of the package of services I get for a $14 monthly fee. (The $14 fee is waived in months that I have an average daily balance of $10K or greater, but it makes more sense for me to pay the monthly fee than forego the use of my money and the interest I can earn on it.) I think this a good deal, especially as banks raise their ATM fees from the usual $2 to $2.50 or $3. Do others have the fees for using other banks' ATMs paid by their own banks?

Also, the Citi rep told me that if I used ATMs outside the US to get foreign currency, I would pay a 2% fee on the amount withdrawn. (Only 1% if I had $100K in accounts with Citi, but I'm not doing that either.) I know most credit cards now take 3% on all such transactions with foreign currency back, and I don't know if my primary bank is taking 3% (I think so) or just
2%. What is the experience of others with ATM withdrawals of foreign currency outside the US when drawing on other than Citi accounts?

Has anyone who opened accounts with Citi for the first time to get the 40K TYP switched their business to Citi as a result, either out of convenience or because they found what Citi was offering to be better than what they had been getting from the bank(s) they have done business with before? I doubt that I am going to switch much, if anything, to Citi, which a very little small retail footprint where we live, but I am curious to know whether others have found Citi to offer any significant advantages over other banks.

Slightly OT:

Has anyone who opened accounts with Citi for the first time to get the 40K TYP switched their business to Citi as a result, either out of convenience or because they found what Citi was offering to be better than what they had been getting from the bank(s) they have done business with before? I doubt that I am going to switch much, if anything, to Citi, which a very little small retail footprint where we live, but I am curious to know whether others have found Citi to offer any significant advantages over other banks.

Me. I used to have only chase checking for more than 5 years and participated AA 10K citi checking last year and found that citi offers better products than chase and switched to citi. Chase savings account is a joke compared to citi money market savings account, money transfer is free at citi, citi makes big chunks of deposit available immediately.

I got to like fidelity in the same way.

I first started using Citibank 12 years ago when I was going to Europe and wanted an ATM that didn't charge a fee for using a non-Citibank ATM. They had just opened a branch near me so it was also very convenient. Over the years there were other promotions such as AA miles for opening an account. At the time my main bank was TCF. I was increasingly unhappy with TCF and transferred everything over to Citibank. They started offering their CITIGOLD product, which at first had a fee, but the AAdvantage credit cards had the fee waived so it seemed worth it. Over the years they removed the fee for Citigold. You meed to have $100K at the bank which isn't hard if you have retirement money which counts. So between my father's accounts, my account including retirement I am able to get lots of cards fees waived (I have 3 Aadvantage cards, one premier pass card, and a diner's club card, and 1 AAdvantage in my daughter's own name). Now they present it as you could choose one, but I don't think each card knows about the other cards and if you just said it should be waived because you are citigold it would be waived. At the time I signed up it did not stipulate limits. When you add up all those fees waived it is really worth it. Now there is enough in the household accounts to waive the other banks ATM fees up to 6 a month - and I think that it would apply to each account (there are now 4 Citigold accounts in my household).
I like their online banking (no charge) and I like the branch where they say hello to me by name. I see no reason to bank anywhere else.

OK, another report on my experiences as a new Citi customer having opened accounts because of this offer:

It has been a month since I opened the accounts, giving all the required info at that time, including my email address. And after delaying all this time to get everything together (ATM card and PIN), I just tried to set myself up with online banking, so I could start fulfilling that requirement of paying two bills a month from one of the accounts. But I found myself stymied by Citi's required wait of 14 days before transfer arrangements can be made. I suppose they see this as a security measure, but it looks pretty stupid to me. They have had all my data including email address and personal answers to security questions for much longer than 14 days, and here I am ready to get started and do what they expect of me, which is to use the accounts. But I can go no further for another 14 days? Don't recall anything like this with other institutions.

It has been a month since I opened the accounts, giving all the required info at that time, including my email address. And after delaying all this time to get everything together (ATM card and PIN), I just tried to set myself up with online banking, so I could start fulfilling that requirement of paying two bills a month from one of the accounts. But I found myself stymied by Citi's required wait of 14 days before transfer arrangements can be made.

That is very odd. I set up my accounts on-line, and transferred money in "immediately" (I actually had to wait 5 days or so for the funds transfer to be completed - curse you, lost interest! ;)). A few days after that, I was able to set up a recurring debit from the checking account, with no wait time either. Maybe you should call customer service, or stop by your local bank?

That is very odd. I set up my accounts on-line, and transferred money in "immediately" (I actually had to wait 5 days or so for the funds transfer to be completed - curse you, lost interest! ;)). A few days after that, I was able to set up a recurring debit from the checking account, with no wait time either. Maybe you should call customer service, or stop by your local bank?
I talked to Citi again today about getting up to full speed with online banking possibilities, and the answer was still 14 days from when I set it up online until I have full capabilities. I couldn't set up payments to credit card companies online myself today, but rep was able to do it for me. And while I don't think there would be any problem to transfer money into my Citi accounts by EFT or other means, nor would there have been at an earlier time, I will not be able to transfer funds electronically (EFTs) out of my Citi accounts until 14 days have gone by. Why they have this 14-day "security" provision, I still don't understand.

I'm working on this promotion now, going for the 20,000 thank you points some months down the road. Now with fares escalating as they are, I am wondering how far a $400 ticket will take me. My home airport, Grand Rapids, is known for high fares. My preferred destination is Fort Myers (RSW). By the time my TY points post, will I be limited to going to Fargo in February?

I received 20,000 points of the 40,000, has anyones gotten their 40,000? or is it suppose to break up it to 2 20,000 points deposit?

Is this offer still active or are they no longer accepting accounts for the 40,000 TYN points?

I signed up and have funded the accounts - it takes a few months to get and have the points post. From what I understand you will get 40,000 TY points and if you use them within six months they will be good for 2 tickets up to $400 each in value.

After the six months if you have not redeemed them, they will just be points in your TY account, subject to redemption just as any other points.

Bruce

After 6 months, they will just be ordinary TY points. TY wants you to get an elite-level credit card (annual fee) in order to maintain tiered-level flight rewards. But last time I checked, the T&C allow you to continue the tiered-level (fixed-flight) options (i.e. 20K points for $400 domestic ticket) if you have an Expedia account tied to your TY account -- does not require purchase through Expedia, only that you have a free Expedia account, and that it is linked to TY. I'm getting ready to redeem some points for flights to ANC in Sept -- got the Expedia account so I don't have to pay $75/year for the Citi card.

has anyone gotten their 40,000 points yet?

has anyone gotten their 40,000 points yet?

I haven't. :(

Yes, it's been 90 days now, no points at all :rolleyes:
LTP

Both mine and my husband's points posted last week. The ticket can be up to $400. before taxes and must be booked through the Thank You Points site with Expedia. I know there are time restrictions for getting the ticket for 20K points but the agent did not seem to be aware of them when I called.
Thanks to Flyer Talk we were able to find out about and take advantage of this great program.

Both mine and my husband's points posted last week. The ticket can be up to $400. before taxes and must be booked through the Thank You Points site with Expedia. I know there are time restrictions for getting the ticket for 20K points but the agent did not seem to be aware of them when I called.
Thanks to Flyer Talk we were able to find out about and take advantage of this great program.

If you want to take advantage of the 20k points for a $400 ticket (b/4 taxes) within the continental U.S. and/or to Canada you must call Thank You Network. If you will book on their site you will get a value of 1 cent per point and a $400 ticket (including taxes) will 'cost' you 40k points. The 20k points for a $400 ticket is called using fixed points and you will have to pay the taxes, and booking on TYN website uses variable points and it includes taxes (but obviously uses lots more points). There are no time restrictions for getting airline tickets either way - as long as a seat is available and you have the points, you can get the ticket. The only restriction there may be, is regarding this specific offer, and I believe that it states you need to use the points within 6 months in order to get two $400 tickets for 40k points.

The only restriction there may be, is regarding this specific offer, and I believe that it states you need to use the points within 6 months in order to get two $400 tickets for 40k points.

I'd be curious for anybody whose points have posted to let us know whether www.thankyou.com tells you that the bonus points from this offer actually expire in 6 months or not. My gut feel is that they don't expire within 6 months, but Citi has put that into the T&C's so that in the future if they were to change the redemption award levels, they don't have to keep track of the points from this promotion separately. As long as they don't raise redemption levels until after the 6 months, they've lived up to their promise that the points you receive from this promotion could have been redeemed for 2 round trip tickets worth $xxx, etc., within 6 months.

That's not a guarantee that Citi is going to raise the redemption levels in 6 months; but it does seem to me to represent smart thinking from their lawyers in how this promotion is crafted.

I haven't. :(

Update! Mine just posted. :D

08/05/2008 Citibank® Checking Account and Other Everyday Banking 5xxx 40,000

I'd be curious for anybody whose points have posted to let us know whether www.thankyou.com tells you that the bonus points from this offer actually expire in 6 months or not. My gut feel is that they don't expire within 6 months, but Citi has put that into the T&C's so that in the future if they were to change the redemption award levels, they don't have to keep track of the points from this promotion separately. As long as they don't raise redemption levels until after the 6 months, they've lived up to their promise that the points you receive from this promotion could have been redeemed for 2 round trip tickets worth $xxx, etc., within 6 months.

That's not a guarantee that Citi is going to raise the redemption levels in 6 months; but it does seem to me to represent smart thinking from their lawyers in how this promotion is crafted.

It doesn't mean that the points actually expire after 6 months, only that they may not allow you to use them for fixed points flight redemptions after that time. I believe it means that the points become 'regular' TYPs and can be used for any awards listed on thankyou.com (including variable points travel awards), and you will only be able to continue using them for fixed flights if you have an eligible Citibank (credit or bank) or Expedia account.

As I suspected mine posted, but only for 20K points. I had an account with Citi, but I spent about 2 hours up front working with a rep to ensure if I followed her instructions to open new accounts I'd get the full 40K. Fortunately have all my notes from the conversation, and I spoke to a Citi rep who agreed I should get the fully 40K and has initiated the paperwork.

I'm really fed up with having to track down points from Citi/Thank you network. If this doesn't come through I'll talk with my checkbook (literally!).

Bruce

I opened my account on 4/29/08. Do you guys know when should the TY points posted to my account if there's no delay?

I am also awaiting my points. I am getting a tad antsy.

Here is my response to another great "deal" from Citi. On their regular credit cards, they are OK...and give you the mileage on your next statement after you have met the requirements. On these convoluted schemes...you have to wait up to six months before you get credited, make around 20 phone calls to India....and it is just not worth it...for me at least!!

Dear Citi,

“AAdvantage® miles will appear as a bonus in your AAdvantage® program account within 120 days of end of promotion”:td:



I have been very dissatisfied with this card. The initial crediting of AA mileage took around 5 months before mileage was credited. This particular offer below has a “120 day” credit period…..”from the end of the promotion”…..this is way too long for me.



Under normal circumstances, a cardholder is eligible for a bonus…then receives it at the end of that particular billing cycle.



I cannot participate in this offer and when the card comes up for re-establishment, I will surely end this relationship.

Respectfully,
maskedavenger

I received the 20K points couple of days ago as I deposited $25K in a new savings account in May'08 . Can I take the money out now? Or should I wait till I redeem the 20K thank you points? Does anybody have any experience regarding the closure of savings accounts and potential forfeiture of thank you points?

I received the 20K points couple of days ago as I deposited $25K in a new savings account in May'08 . Can I take the money out now? Or should I wait till I redeem the 20K thank you points? Does anybody have any experience regarding the closure of savings accounts and potential forfeiture of thank you points?
Am I correct that the offer the OP was about closed at the end of February or not too long thereafter, and it promised 40K, not 20K TYP? So you came in under a different, less rich promo, one you are only supposed to get 20K for altogether?

Did those people who did not have Citi and TYP accounts before have to set up TYP accounts when they opened accounts with Citi to take advantage of this promo? Or do the TYP accounts just go along with the Citi checking or savings ones, so we don't have to do anything more?

I can see our (mine and my wife's) Citi accounts online, but I can't see our TYP accounts there, that is if we in fact have TYP accounts waiting for their first deposits of points from this offer. I asked about this in a Citi branch this morning and they assured me everything was fine, that they had received a
2-page email from the bank, which they say has had thousands of customer inquiries regarding the TYP people are waiting to see, telling branch staff to advise that the points might not show up in accounts until October.

When we finally see our TYP points, as I hope we will before too much longer, I will probably be back here to ask others for further explanation of that alternative, possibly cheaper, way to redeem the airline tickets. It was anything but clear to me on the first, quick read.

Am I correct that the offer the OP was about closed at the end of February or not too long thereafter, and it promised 40K, not 20K TYP? So you came in under a different, less rich promo, one you are only supposed to get 20K for altogether?
I came in under a different promo for existing CITI members to open a savings account giving 20K points.

Did those people who did not have Citi and TYP accounts before have to set up TYP accounts when they opened accounts with Citi to take advantage of this promo? Or do the TYP accounts just go along with the Citi checking or savings ones, so we don't have to do anything more?

I can see our (mine and my wife's) Citi accounts online, but I can't see our TYP accounts there, that is if we in fact have TYP accounts waiting for their first deposits of points from this offer. I asked about this in a Citi branch this morning and they assured me everything was fine, that they had received a
2-page email from the bank, which they say has had thousands of customer inquiries regarding the TYP people are waiting to see, telling branch staff to advise that the points might not show up in accounts until October.

When we finally see our TYP points, as I hope we will before too much longer, I will probably be back here to ask others for further explanation of that alternative, possibly cheaper, way to redeem the airline tickets. It was anything but clear to me on the first, quick read.
I had to call CSR (don't remember if it is Citi or TYP) and enable online access of TYP account.

I had to call CSR (don't remember if it is Citi or TYP) and enable online access of TYP account.
Thanks. I'll call their online services number tomorrow to see about this, though the rep in the branch was looking at something on her computer screen when she advised that I appeared to have qualified (bills paid online twice a month x 3), but the TYP weren't there yet.

I don't know about others, but I encountered something like half a dozen glitches when trying to set up online banking after opening accounts for myself and my wife. Very frustrating and reps on the phone were not very helpful. Striking example I think of how the business believes it has a super product but unaware of what customer runs into trying to use that product. As a result, I am much less likely to stay around as a Citi customer after I have collected our TYP.

Very frustrating and reps on the phone were not very helpful. Striking example I think of how the business believes it has a super product but unaware of what customer runs into trying to use that product. As a result, I am much less likely to stay around as a Citi customer after I have collected our TYP.

Agreed on all counts. I recently received my points and decided not to keep the accounts. The call to cancel the zero-balance accounts was quite an adventure though. (Of course, there was no way to close the account online -- which is fairly common -- but there was also not even a FAQ such as "To close your account, please call us at...").

The CSR was able to cancel my savings acct OK, but told me that my checking account was unable to be closed via phone because it had a "block on personal checks" on the account. I had no clue how it got there, and the CSR could not tell me either. She was also unable to remove it.

She told me I had to cancel my checking account in person at a Citi branch, despite the fact that I opened the account online and have never set foot in one. After informing her that there were no Citi branches within 200mi of my home (which she verified), she then told me I had to cancel by mail (?!?).

Finally I suggested she speak to a supervisor, and after a few minutes on hold she was able to cancel my account without further prodding from my side.

I've certainly had worse CSR experiences, but it was simply frustrating. :-/

OK, maybe "beyond belief" is a bit of exaggeration, since nowadays one should never be surprised at how bad customer service can be. But I don't think I have ever encountered the problems doing business with a bank that I have had with Citi and the accounts we opened with them in connection with this promo. With >$50K on deposit with them for 6 months now, I am really honked.

The latest is learning just now that no TYP account was ever established for me!? A week ago, I was in the branch to check on this promo thing and find out when we would be getting the points/tickets. The rep looked at our accounts, said we had qualified with the required 2 or more online transactions for 3 months and it would just be a matter of time before we received the credit. Well, on the phone with Citi's online banking people I learned this morning that one must have a debit card (have no use for them, don't want one) in order to have a TYP account. Call the branch back and get no apology that they gave me false assurance that everything was in order, instead the manager wants to shift blame onto me, saying as she did that the promo literature made clear that one had to have a debit card with the accounts. That the person who opened our accounts did not say that a debit card was a necessity, that didn't impress this manager as Citi's failing.

I could, as you might imagine, go on and on about the many, many "glitches" I have encountered in the course of doing business with Citi since opening these accounts 6 months ago. Again, it looks like they have great capacities in online banking, which might have tempted me to shift business to them, but their execution absolutely sucks in my eyes. After we have the TYP points, I will not be staying around.

Have most/some others seen their TYP points yet? Are many still waiting for them to show up? Everybody new to Citi like myself got themselves a debit card and an established TYP account? If you're not sure and are still waiting to see the TYP, I'd advise you to look into it now.

Following up this previous post:

First update: Online banking and Thank You Rewards registrations...

About an hour after opening the account in the local branch, I logged into citibank.com and registered an account using the temporary ATM card (it has a Mastercard # and I expect the permanent card will be a MC Debit card with the same #), created a user name and password and voila, my account info is already there with the linked $1K checking and $25K MMP accounts. In my homepage are links to set up online billing (I'll wait on this for a few days) and a link to the Thank You Rewards program. I decided to see if indeed I was enrolled in the Thank You Rewards program by clicking on that link...

The online Thank You Rewards program did not recognize my home phone and zip code. I called their 1-800 number and discovered that it will take between 7-10 business days for Citibank to submit the info. At that time I should call back, not try online again, and set up the online account. Okay, no biggie.
The 40K points posted today on 8/27 as seen at thankyou.com. I simply performed 2 online bill payments per month for 3 months in a row only. Upon completion of that task, I called Citi to confirm that I indeed met my requirements and was told that the points should show by September. I must say that despite others having issues with getting the points, Citi indeed executed well for me.

The next step will be getting the tickets, at which time I'll close the MM account; I was advised by the CSR when I opened the account to leave the money in the account until the tickets were in hand. I figure it's a good idea to play it safe and avoid any shenanigans.

Regards,
Chris

P.S. All the other issues mentioned in prior posts worked themselves out (i.e. getting thankyou.com to recognize me, getting the permanent debit card, etc.)

The next step will be getting the tickets, at which time I'll close the MM account; I was advised by the CSR when I opened the account to leave the money in the account until the tickets were in hand. I figure it's a good idea to play it safe and avoid any shenanigans.

In general, once TYP are in your account, they're yours. I'd go ahead and close the MM acct.

I received the 40k a few weeks ago and closed the MM immediately. The TYP are still in my account.

In general, once TYP are in your account, they're yours. I'd go ahead and close the MM acct.

I received the 40k a few weeks ago and closed the MM immediately. The TYP are still in my account.
Oh, I have no doubts the 40K TYP are mine even if I close the MM account. My fear is that when I call for the fixed flight option that I'll get some runaround and be told that I'm suddenly not eligible. I don't want to be limited to the "normal" TYP redemption rate on flights.

Regards,
Chris

Oh, I have no doubts the 40K TYP are mine even if I close the MM account. My fear is that when I call for the fixed flight option that I'll get some runaround and be told that I'm suddenly not eligible. I don't want to be limited to the "normal" TYP redemption rate on flights.

Regards,
Chris

Ahh. Well, you can always link your TYP account to a free Expedia account, which will also enable your fixed flight option.

You need to do a bit of a workaround -- if memory serves, it's something like:

* Create Expedia account
* During creation process, tell them you don't have an existing TY account
* They'll create a TY account for you
* Merge the two accounts via thankyounetwork.com

It's something like that -- I'm sure I've missed an important step or two though. I'll see if I can dig up the step-by-step instructions that I used (before I got the 40k from this promo).

Oh, I have no doubts the 40K TYP are mine even if I close the MM account. My fear is that when I call for the fixed flight option that I'll get some runaround and be told that I'm suddenly not eligible. I don't want to be limited to the "normal" TYP redemption rate on flights.

Regards,
Chris

I opened these accounts for the 40K of TYP, and I know very little about how the program works. Now, I have just been through setting up the TYP account for online access, something I thought they did in the branch when I opened our checking and money market accounts months ago. At that time, I learned that the few points that Citi has put into our TYP accounts so far (900 mine, 700 my wife's) will expire 12/31/11, whether the TYP accounts stay active or not. But the 40K bonus TYP each of us is supposed to get one of these days will have no expiration date?

How about using the points for that fixed flight option, which effectively makes the 40K worth as much as 2 cpp, is there a limited period of time for that? Did someone say we have 6 months for that?

Anyone know why my wife got 100 points each month x 3, and 200 for each of the past 2 months for a total of 700 so far? (She has just the checking we opened for $1K and the money market we opened for $25K.) The online rep couldn't tell me why it was 100 per month at first, then 200 per month, beyond that it somehow related to the Citi services my wife used.:td: I would ask in the branch, but my experiences with the branch in all this have been less than minimally satisfactory.:td::td: (I can cite at least half a dozen different ways that this has not gone smoothly since we opened the accounts, all because Citi doesn't have its act together.:td::td::td:)

Last question(s) - are TYP an entirely Citi thing, so that one earns the points only through banking with Citi or using a Citi credit card? The telephone recording mentions Expedia, but I presume, perhaps incorrectly, that Expedia is only in the picture for redemption of points.

How about using the points for that fixed flight option, which effectively makes the 40K worth as much as 2 cpp, is there a limited period of time for that? Did someone say we have 6 months for that?
My understanding is that you have 6 months to use the 40K TYP for the fixed flight option. If you don't, then you still keep the 40K TYP, but can only redeem them through conventional means (i.e. website). I believe 40K TYP only gets you one ticket via conventional means so the fixed flight option is definitely the way to maximize value for airline tix.

Regards,
Chris

I opened these accounts for the 40K of TYP, and I know very little about how the program works. Now, I have just been through setting up the TYP account for online access, something I thought they did in the branch when I opened our checking and money market accounts months ago. At that time, I learned that the few points that Citi has put into our TYP accounts so far (900 mine, 700 my wife's) will expire 12/31/11, whether the TYP accounts stay active or not. But the 40K bonus TYP each of us is supposed to get one of these days will have no expiration date?

How about using the points for that fixed flight option, which effectively makes the 40K worth as much as 2 cpp, is there a limited period of time for that? Did someone say we have 6 months for that?

Anyone know why my wife got 100 points each month x 3, and 200 for each of the past 2 months for a total of 700 so far? (She has just the checking we opened for $1K and the money market we opened for $25K.) The online rep couldn't tell me why it was 100 per month at first, then 200 per month, beyond that it somehow related to the Citi services my wife used.:td: I would ask in the branch, but my experiences with the branch in all this have been less than minimally satisfactory.:td::td: (I can cite at least half a dozen different ways that this has not gone smoothly since we opened the accounts, all because Citi doesn't have its act together.:td::td::td:)

Last question(s) - are TYP an entirely Citi thing, so that one earns the points only through banking with Citi or using a Citi credit card? The telephone recording mentions Expedia, but I presume, perhaps incorrectly, that Expedia is only in the picture for redemption of points.

My guess is that Citi must have recorded 3 banking products and services in the first month and 4 in the second month. You could check the table that provides this information at
https://web.da-us.citibank.com/cgi-bin/citifi/scripts/prod_and_service/prod_serv_detail.jsp?BS_Id=CBNATYRNRewards

TYP isn't just a Citi thing. And you can link even expedia to your TYP account in addition to Citi.

My guess is that Citi must have recorded 3 banking products and services in the first month and 4 in the second month. You could check the table that provides this information at
https://web.da-us.citibank.com/cgi-bin/citifi/scripts/prod_and_service/prod_serv_detail.jsp?BS_Id=CBNATYRNRewards

TYP isn't just a Citi thing. And you can link even expedia to your TYP account in addition to Citi.

Thanks. I don't understand that table at first glance, but will try to have another look and may ask in a branch exactly what 3 or 4 "products and services" I have with them. (Would the checking account and money market savings count as 2, then the online versions thereof count as another 2?)

If it isn't just a Citi thing, then who/what else? If you use Expedia for travel beyond that which you might do with TYP, then you will get TYP for that "non-award" travel? (I don't expect to stick around once we have received and used our TYP, but maybe there are advantages I am not aware of. I do see that there are many more threads about TYP than about the "choices" I get with a Chase card, which may reflect FTers greater interest in TYP than other card benefits.)

If it isn't just a Citi thing, then who/what else? If you use Expedia for travel beyond that which you might do with TYP, then you will get TYP for that "non-award" travel?


Yes -- in your Expedia account preferences, you can add your TYP acct#. Then, when you book certain kinds of travel (hotels? can't recall) through Expedia and pay as normal via Visa/MC/etc, you get TY points. I think it is 1 or 2 points per dollar spent.

This is in addition to any TYP you may get if your CC is a Citi/TYP card.

Thanks, emmpee. Are those TYP generally worth a penny each, or are there good opportunities to redeem them for substantially more than 1 cpp? I am aware of the special opportunity with the "fixed flight option," which seems to mean a value of up to 2 cpp, but are there others to get beyond 1 cpp? I am biased toward airline (Chase MP Visa) and hotel cards (SPG AmEx), but maybe I haven't been well enough informed about other possibilities, like the TYP ones.

AS your already stated, for merchandise and gift cards TYPs are only worth up to 1cpp. However, as you are aware, there is the fixed flight option for travel rewards, but that can get you a value of up to 3 cpp (not 2 cpp as you assumed) if you use TYP for business class tickets. For example 90k points allows you to get a biz ticket within mainland US and Canada valued up to $2700, or 180k points will get you a biz ticket to Europe valued up to $5400. The value of 2 cpp is only for coach tickets - 60k points gets you a ticket to Europe valued up to $1200. You can visit thankyou.com to see a complete list of fixed flight awards. Business travel awards is the only way I know of to maximize TYPs - if anyone knows of anything else, I'm sure all of us would benefit from the info.

BTW, as most people who earn TYPs know, a lot of the points earned is from bonus points so the value can be a lot greater than 3 cpp, i.e. if someone redeems 90k for a $2700 biz ticket it doesn't mean he actually spent $90k - it's probably more likely that he spent a lot less and got bonus points for credit card or bank account sign-ups, as well as select spend points for specific types of credit card spending.

any current citi checking or savings signup offers?

Yes -- in your Expedia account preferences, you can add your TYP acct#. Then, when you book certain kinds of travel (hotels? can't recall) through Expedia and pay as normal via Visa/MC/etc, you get TY points. I think it is 1 or 2 points per dollar spent.

This is in addition to any TYP you may get if your CC is a Citi/TYP card.

I believe TYPs are earned on expedia for hotels, vacation packages, and cruises and it's 1 point per $ spent. If you buy flights only or do a car rental alone you won't get any points - it has to be flight plus hotel or with a combination of any of the 3 above eligible categories; of course each one alone earns TYPs as well. You can go to expedia.com and click on Rewards to see all the details of the program.

Also, I think that TYN is the rewards program of Citibank and they have some type of arrangement with Expedia for points earning and redemption. Besides for citi and expedia, I don't believe there are any other ways to earn TYPs.

any current citi checking or savings signup offers?

i received something in the mail about 5,000 aa miles for opening a savings account with $1,000 for 3 months, but havent looked into it yet, but i will find out and post the details and promo code if needed

i received something in the mail about 5,000 aa miles for opening a savings account with $1,000 for 3 months, but havent looked into it yet, but i will find out and post the details and promo code if needed

5000 aa miles doesn't sound like a good promotion. Usually citi's checking/saving promotion requires first-time user. So i think you'd better save for a better offer.

How many are still waiting to see their TYP more than six months after they opened their accounts and more than three months after they satisfied the T&C to receive the points? Are those still waiting fully confident that the points will show up before too much longer and without any complaining that they haven't showed up to date?

I opened mine on 3/17/08; 40K TYP posted on 08/05/08.

I opened mine on 3/17/08; 40K TYP posted on 08/05/08.

We opened ours no later than that, but we are still waiting. Was told the other day we should see the points on 10/11 and 10/18. Perhaps you "qualified" sooner than we did, which is not improbable given that it was weeks before I could get our online banking set up.

Have you kept your account open, or did you close it after the points showed up. I'd like to close ours right now and think we should be able to, but branch staff knows few of the answers about this promo and they advised playing it safe and keeping the accounts open until after the points are there. It took the branch manager an incredibly long time to get answers on the phone and she said this promo had been problematic for them, because it had "so many moving parts." IMO, very poor execution.

We opened ours no later than that, but we are still waiting. Was told the other day we should see the points on 10/11 and 10/18. Perhaps you "qualified" sooner than we did, which is not improbable given that it was weeks before I could get our online banking set up.

Have you kept your account open, or did you close it after the points showed up. I'd like to close ours right now and think we should be able to, but branch staff knows few of the answers about this promo and they advised playing it safe and keeping the accounts open until after the points are there. It took the branch manager an incredibly long time to get answers on the phone and she said this promo had been problematic for them, because it had "so many moving parts." IMO, very poor execution.

After I opened my acc on 3/17/08, I could get my online banking set up right away. I still keep my acc open but moving some money out after getting 40K TYP.

After I opened my acc on 3/17/08, I could get my online banking set up right away. I still keep my acc open but moving some money out after getting 40K TYP.

If I don't keep an average balance of $10K in each account, I will incur a fee ($18?). Would do somewhat better paying the fee and collecting elsewhere, but at this point I'm going to wait the extra month until the TYP credit.

Trying to collect these TYP's is a huge lesson in frustration.

I only did the 20K TYP promo because I already had a citi account, and all they asked for was $25K new money and opening up the Ultimate Savings account. Fine. I did all their direct deposit requirements and even did the 2 online bill pays per month (actually 6). I've been doing this for the past 5 months, still no TYP's.

Calling customer service does not reslove anything. They don't even seem to know about the promotion. At last time I spoke with them they said they would launch an investigation. All the good that did, I waited a week to get a letter that basically provided me instructions on how to complete the promotion, essentially the same information that is on a pamphlet that could have been picked up at any bank branch! :rolleyes:

Why does it seem that there is such a huge disconnect between citi and the ty network?

Oh, and as an aside, they recently decided to screw me out of 200 typ's each month.

I've got at 'everything counts account' plus I've got 7 banking relationships with them. Very clear, and simple to understand. I see by their own calculator I should get 800 points each month, but, instead recently I'm only getting 600. After numerous calls where they did not no the answer, finally a supervisor tracked it down. Get this, apparently I'm supposed to direct deposit into my checking account, not my savings account, thus they aren't even counting my direct deposit:td:. Of course not anywhere do they ever say that -- and I even text searched the fine print. Nothing saying that is required. Obviously some sort of undisclosed change of policy, because previously they were counting my direct deposits to my savings account. Oh, and for the record I asked the supervisor if that would screw up my 20K typ bonus, and she said no, direct deposit to the ultimate savings was fine for that promotion.

What can I say, I'm starting to lose interest in dealing with citibank for their lack of understanding of their own promotions, and their silly changing of the rules as things go along. In all honesty, if they want more customers, they should just give us better rates on our CDs/savings and give up with this gimmicky thank you stuff if they can't even manage it properly. All that ends up happening is they frustrate people, and in my case over an amount of typ's each month that is hardly worth $2.

Of course, I'll make sure I collect my 20K typ's before I close any accounts.

Oh, and don't get me started on how citi screwed up my wife's account when she opened under the promotion for the 20 AA miles....ugh...

</rant>

Trying to collect these TYP's is a huge lesson in frustration.

I only did the 20K TYP promo because I already had a citi account, and all they asked for was $25K new money and opening up the Ultimate Savings account. Fine. I did all their direct deposit requirements and even did the 2 online bill pays per month (actually 6). I've been doing this for the past 5 months, still no TYP's.

Calling customer service does not reslove anything. They don't even seem to know about the promotion. At last time I spoke with them they said they would launch an investigation. All the good that did, I waited a week to get a letter that basically provided me instructions on how to complete the promotion, essentially the same information that is on a pamphlet that could have been picked up at any bank branch! :rolleyes:

Why does it seem that there is such a huge disconnect between citi and the ty network?

Oh, and as an aside, they recently decided to screw me out of 200 typ's each month.

I've got at 'everything counts account' plus I've got 7 banking relationships with them. Very clear, and simple to understand. I see by their own calculator I should get 800 points each month, but, instead recently I'm only getting 600. After numerous calls where they did not no the answer, finally a supervisor tracked it down. Get this, apparently I'm supposed to direct deposit into my checking account, not my savings account, thus they aren't even counting my direct deposit:td:. Of course not anywhere do they ever say that -- and I even text searched the fine print. Nothing saying that is required. Obviously some sort of undisclosed change of policy, because previously they were counting my direct deposits to my savings account. Oh, and for the record I asked the supervisor if that would screw up my 20K typ bonus, and she said no, direct deposit to the ultimate savings was fine for that promotion.

What can I say, I'm starting to lose interest in dealing with citibank for their lack of understanding of their own promotions, and their silly changing of the rules as things go along. In all honesty, if they want more customers, they should just give us better rates on our CDs/savings and give up with this gimmicky thank you stuff if they can't even manage it properly. All that ends up happening is they frustrate people, and in my case over an amount of typ's each month that is hardly worth $2.

Of course, I'll make sure I collect my 20K typ's before I close any accounts.

Oh, and don't get me started on how citi screwed up my wife's account when she opened under the promotion for the 20 AA miles....ugh...

</rant>

My tactic on this promotion was to email them through their website asking if I qualified for the bonus. I did this for my wife and me. In both cases, they sent emails affirming that we qualified. I received mine last month, my wife has not yet received hers. I'll wait a little longer, then use their own emails as evidence of what she deserves.

My tactic on this promotion was to email them through their website asking if I qualified for the bonus. I did this for my wife and me. In both cases, they sent emails affirming that we qualified. I received mine last month, my wife has not yet received hers. I'll wait a little longer, then use their own emails as evidence of what she deserves.

Agreed, send the message through their website.

thehawk75, believe me, I understand fully what you said (#120). The degree of spasticity displayed by Citi is incredible.

I've received a similar offer from Citi and am mulling it over. Somebody correct me if I've got the math wrong:
I finally cashed out on this offer, including closing the MM/checking accounts and getting two RT tickets this Christmas with the 40K TY points (which was the driver behind this whole thing). My original post tried to guess what the ROI would be on this, so I'm quoting it to compare my guesses with the actual final numbers...

- Need to deposit $26000 ($25000 into savings and $1000 into checking) for 7 months (3 months of qualifying transactions with the checking account and 120 days for the 40000 points to post to the account) to receive up to an $800 tax-free benefit.
I bought the tickets and closed the accounts almost 6 months to the day the accounts were opened, so the actual calculations are based on 6 months, not 7.

The flight benefit ended up being $745.08, or $372.54 per ticket. The actual cost of each ticket was $429, or $379.54 base + $49.46 tax/fees, but when I booked the tickets with the ThankYou fixed flight program, I was charged a $7/ticket booking fee. Since I would not have been charged this fee if I booked elsewhere, I took this amount out of the benefit.

The MM fund earned $307.38 in interest during these 6 months and will be used to calculate the return.

To meet the program requirements, I did 2 online billpays for 3 straight months with the original $1000 checking account deposit. Since I did not leave the $1000 in the entire 6 months, I'm not going to use it in the calculations like I did with my estimates. Instead, I'm going to use the average monthly balance of the checking account which was $385.25.

- $800/$26000 = 3.07% in 7 months, or 5.27% annualized return . This is on top of whatever else the account earns (probably between 2 and 3% annualized with the current market conditions).
The actual return, including the MM interest, was:

($745.08 + 307.38)/($25000 + 385.25) = 4.15% in 6 months, or 8.29% annualized return.

- Considering the $800 benefit is tax-free, it's more like a $1143 taxable benefit (assuming 30% federal+state tax rate), making the annualized return closer to 7.54%.
Using the 30% tax rate, the $745.08 benefit is more like a $1064.40 taxable benefit, making the return:

($1064.40 + 307.38)/($25000 + 385.25) = 5.40% in 6 months, or 10.81% annualized return.

So assuming one takes full advantage of the voucher value ($800) and the transaction costs in the checking account are minimal, this $26000 will yield an annualized, taxable return of 9.5-10.5%. Not bad. Not easy to beat.
At 10.81%, this was a great investment.

Of course the return drops if tickets less than $400 each in value are claimed, the checking account transactions are costly and/or the 6 month window to use the voucher expires.

Regards,
Chris
Since I still had to buy a 3rd ticket out of pocket, I'm not going to complain that I didn't get the full $400 benefit with more expensive tickets. I'm just thankful the holiday fares dropped enough to the point I could take advantage of this offer. If I couldn't use this offer for Christmas airfare, then this offer really wouldn't have done much for me, despite having the option to take a cheaper trip somewhere else or use the 40K TYP for something else.

Regards,
Chris

So once I received my TKY points, can I close the account then book the ticket or I have to book the tickets THEN i can close my account using the fixed point options?

So once I received my TKY points, can I close the account then book the ticket or I have to book the tickets THEN i can close my account using the fixed point options?

I just withdrew all but a very few dollars an hour ago and will scoop up those few remaining ones tomorrow. Don't know how they could possibly reclaim the TYP points, or somehow affect their redemption.

Saw the TYP of 40000 in my statement, not transferred to my account yet. Now I am about to book the ticket (first one). Can someone post here on how to redeem the TYP for flights? I looked thru the thread and only mentioned u have to call TY network..... can someone give more step by step process on how to do? Also, can we book ticket for another person? thanks so much!!!

Saw the TYP of 40000 in my statement, not transferred to my account yet. Now I am about to book the ticket (first one). Can someone post here on how to redeem the TYP for flights? I looked thru the thread and only mentioned u have to call TY network..... can someone give more step by step process on how to do? Also, can we book ticket for another person? thanks so much!!!

The best way to do this is to check for your flights on expedia.com. When you find the flights you want (that are under $400 b/4 taxes) call TYN and give them the exact departure and arrival airports, dates, times, flight numbers, airline, etc. that you want to book. Usually the taxes they will charge you will be the same that you see on expedia, but it has been reported that it can be different - usually more. You can try to 'fight' it and tell them that the taxes on expedia are such and such and you may be successful, but YMMV. There is an extensive thread on airline rewards in the 'other credit card' forum, so if you have patience to read through it there is a wealth of info there.

And yes, you can book a ticket for another person - you can put any ones name on the ticket.

The best way to do this is to check for your flights on expedia.com. When you find the flights you want (that are under $400 b/4 taxes) call TYN and give them the exact departure and arrival airports, dates, times, flight numbers, airline, etc. that you want to book. Usually the taxes they will charge you will be the same that you see on expedia, but it has been reported that it can be different - usually more. You can try to 'fight' it and tell them that the taxes on expedia are such and such and you may be successful, but YMMV. There is an extensive thread on airline rewards in the 'other credit card' forum, so if you have patience to read through it there is a wealth of info there.
I don't know about expedia.com's taxes/fees, but the taxes/fees I was charged was EXACTLY the same as what was shown on united.com's website (plus a $7/ticket booking fee).

Definitely find the flight you want on your own, get the cost breakdown and then call TYN. Give them the flight info you found and check that the price breakdown matches what you found.

Regards,
Chris

some people are reporting getting a 1099 for $800 for the 40,000 points ...this happen to anyone ?

some people are reporting getting a 1099 for $800 for the 40,000 points ...this happen to anyone ?

Where did you see that?

fatwallet

some people are reporting getting a 1099 for $800 for the 40,000 points ...this happen to anyone ?
Yes, this is happening to me. The amount is wrong so I'm working with TYN to resolve it as Citibank relies solely on TYN's numbers for the 1099-MISCs. If you compiled your points via credit card, you will have no worries. This is only happening to those who opened the MMA or similar product to get the bonus points.

Regards,
Chris

Yes, this is happening to me. The amount is wrong so I'm working with TYN to resolve it as Citibank relies solely on TYN's numbers for the 1099-MISCs. If you compiled your points via credit card, you will have no worries. This is only happening to those who opened the MMA or similar product to get the bonus points.

Regards,
Chris

did you redeem the points in 2008 also , or did you just have them in your account ?

did you redeem the points in 2008 also , or did you just have them in your account ?
I redeemed them. I know at least one person at FatWallet reported receiving a 1099-MISC for unredeemed points which would make me irate, but fortunately I'm not in that boat.

The Citibank CSR was reading the 1099-MISC issuance rules out loud to herself so I could know them as well and mentioned something about redeeming the points. If you received one for just receiving points, definitely take them to task on it.

Regards,
Chris

I haven't gotten a 1099 from them. I did get one from Citi, but it was for other accounts I have.

I redeemed 20,000 of my points in 2008.

I haven't gotten a 1099 from them. I did get one from Citi, but it was for other accounts I have.

I redeemed 20,000 of my points in 2008.
Probably didn't meet the $600 threshold that triggers the 1099-MISC.

Regards,
Chris