Originally Posted by jigri2003

As posted in wiki, called on Premier opened 13 months ago with annual fee recently posted. Spent $10K including the $3K for the opening bonus. Was offered the spend $1000 for 3 consecutive months and get $95 credit and 1000 point bonus. Took another option which was the downgrade to Preferred with a 6K point bonus for $300 spend in 3 months. Would have taken the $95 credit for $200 spend if offered, but one data point above indicates its probably for high spend ($25K above).

I value TY around 0.75c each when acquiring them through spend or other means. Yes, I know the 1.25c-1.66c travel options and transfer partners on premium cards, and the gift card and mortgage/student loan options, and I want a big discount when acquiring them for those purposes given the restrictions and uncertain usage. 0.75c is the level for statement credits on select and credit which is good as cash. So spending the $3K for the $95 statement credit would likely get me around 6K points when factoring in spend categories, which I value at $45. The same spend on 2% CB gets me $60, so a loss of $15. I took the downgrade to Preferred and can get around 6.5K points valued at $49 for spend which would get me $6 on a 2% CB card, so a gain of $43. Seems clear to me, especially since the points don't seem to expire after 60 days in a downgrade, and I anticipate having a premium TY card again before I use the points which opens up higher value travel and transfer options.

On the non-expiry of points due to downgrade, which others have asked about, I'm keeping a close watch on this. I have multiple recorded assurances from a supervisor. As far as the process of the downgrade, they create the new Preferred account with a new account number on a 'linked' basis with the existing Premier account. The outstanding balance duplicates on both accounts, and any statement balances and payments move to the new Preferred account and zero out on the existing Premier. A notification 'Learn more' shows up below the outstanding balance that the Premier account will be closed when you activate the new Preferred card, although the reason seems to change occasionally. TY reward balance link disappears from the main Citi online account after a few hours, and then in a couple of days shows back up associated with the new Preferred account. Going to the ThankYou site then shows the sponsor account only as the Preferred, but still shows the Premier card earnings from the most recent period. No expiry date indicated yet for points. HOWEVER, I will keep a close eye on whether an expiry date shows up once I actually activate the new Preferred and the existing Premier gets closed.