Mar 4, 2015, 9:42 am
Last edit by: dukerau
Citi ThankYou Rewards Program Information Guide
This wiki is intended to be a comprehensive guide to the most frequently asked questions regarding the ThankYou Rewards program offered by Citi. For ongoing discussions regarding the different ThankYou Credit Cards and their benefits, please refer to the specific product threads listed at the bottom of this wiki. For the complete ThankYou program terms & conditions, see the TYP website.
Program Overview
Citibank and Citicards offers a joint rewards program called ThankYou. Members can earn ThankYou points that can be redeemed for travel, mortgage payments, student loan payments, gift cards, online purchases, statement credits, or cash.
How to Earn
Banking
IMPORTANT CHANGES COMING THE END OF 2014:
Effective Dec 16, 2014
Only CitiGold and 'The Citibank Account' packages will earn TYP, and at a reduced rate at that. In addition credit card, mortgages and line of credit will no longer count for qualifying balances to waive the monthly fee for these checking accounts. See updated earning rates below.
Citi Basic Banking, Citi Student, etc will no longer earn any TY Points, period.
Effective May 1 2015
In addition, starting May 1 2015, Citi At Work customers (through relationships Citi has with your employer) will no longer automatically qualify for 'The Citibank Account' via direct deposit. This means you'll need to have combined average monthly balance of at least $10,000 to waive the monthly fee.
See here
Short version
If direct deposit is available to you, you can earn as little as 7800 points ($78)/year to as much as 19,200 points ($192)/year without paying fees and without any credit card / debit card spend requirements. Add in a top tier Citi credit card and multiply those numbers by 1.25 (Premier) or 1.6/1.33 (Prestige)* on travel benefits. These benefits are per signer, so adding a spouse can double the benefits.
Long version
Open and maintain a Citibank checking account with monthly direct deposit and bill payment. The complete ThankYou earning chart is located here, but below are some overviews:
The Citigold checking account carries a $30/mo service charge unless at least 1 of the following 3 conditions is met:
The Citibank checking account carries a $20/mo service charge unless at least 1 of the following 4 conditions is met:
The Basic Banking checking account carries a $10/mo service charge unless at least 1 of the following 2 conditions is met:
The Student checking account is eligible for the same rewards as the Basic Banking checking, and is completely free for students.
Important: Citi offers what is called "householding." This links multiple deposit accounts together under an umbrella household for the purpose of combining all the balances to meet minimum balance requirements. This is only allowed for people at the same address. However, for a family, this means one member can have $50K, or 4 members can each have $12.5K, and if they're properly household linked, entitles all parties to a Citigold account. This is NOT the case on investments and mortgages, only deposit balances.
FAQs about Earning through Banking
Q: Is there a minimum direct deposit amount to be eligible?
A: No, any amount once per month will work.
Q: Is there a minimum bill payment amount to be eligible?
A: No, any amount once per month will work.
Q: I don't want to set up bill payment; it's inconvenient to change my auto pays. What should I do?
A: Add yourself, a family member, or friend, and set up a recurring automatic monthly payment to them for any amount.
Q: Can I earn these points on multiple accounts?
A: One account is eligible per signer over the age of 18.
Q: Does a Paypal ACH (etc) qualify as a direct deposit?
A: No, only payroll.
Q: Does the direct deposit have to be intended for the account signer?
A: No. Details of the direct deposit are irrelevant.
Q: Can my spouse and I each have an account and earn points?
A: Yes, and you can merge TY accounts if you're married (this action cannot be undone).
Credit Cards
Citi offers numerous credit cards as part of the ThankYou program, listed here, but the most popular are listed below:
FAQs about the Citi Prestige
Q: Why does the authorized user cost $50 per person?
A: Authorized users receive their own annual international companion pass and global entry credit.
Q: How does the annual companion pass work?
A: Once per membership year per card holder and authorized user, you can purchase one airline ticket through Citi's travel partner, Spirit Incentives here, and pay only taxes and fees on the second traveler. Keep in mind, for many international flights, the majority of the final fare cost can be taxes and fees. The annual companion pass only covers the base fair of the companion.
Q: Can I buy any airline ticket with the companion pass?
A: Yes and no. While it is not limited strictly to one airline or one alliance, the Spirit Incentives matrix only pulls the cheapest, bottom of the bucket fares, often giving less-than-optimal routing. Online availability changes, based on what's available.
Q: What are flight points?
A: When you purchase all (or a significant portion: some report >$50) of an airline ticket with your Citi Prestige card, you earn flight points for the physical distance flown, which are accrued into a separate "bucket." These flight points accrue separately from ThankYou points, and you still earn your standard butt-in-seat distance miles with your frequent flyer program. Once you see your flight points on your statement, you can "transfer" them from your flight point bucket to your ThankYou point balance with every dollar you spend. If you have a 10K flight point balance, and you spend $1000 on every day purchases and $500 on dining, you will earn: 1000 (at 1x earning), 1000 (at 2x earning), and 2000 (flight point matching of monthly earning total). You will receive 4000 points into your ThankYou account, and have 8K flight points remaining to be converted.
NB: Flight Points are obsolete.
Q: How does the 1.6x/1.33x airfare redemption multiplier work?
A: See below under How to Use/Travel.
Q: What can I buy with the $200 airline statement credit?
A: Food, drinks, baggage, upgrades, gift cards, etc. Pretty much anything billed from the airline that is $100 or less. Note: You must opt in to this benefit. It only takes a 90-second call to a friendly, US-based CSR and you'll be good to go. My CSR even retroactively credited me when I failed to do this, but YMMV.
Q: Can I use the $100 Global Entry credit every year?
A: T&C state it resets every 5 years, just like the Global Entry membership.
Q: Any other benefits?
A: Three free rounds of golf a year, 15% discount on airfare purchased through Spirit Incentives, access to Airport Angel lounges, no FTF.
How to Use
Travel
When booking travel through the ThankYou website, you get a 1 cent-per-point redemption value on flights, hotels, car rentals, etc. If you have a ThankYou Premier card, you earn a 25% value increase when redeeming for flights, rental cars, or hotels.With a ThankYou Prestige, you receive a 33% value increase when redeeming for flights, rental cars, or hotels, or 60% * for flights on AA. Those bonuses apply to all ThankYou points in your account, not just points earned by the particular card. If you carry both cards, you receive the bonus for the higher one; they do not stack. See note below re: Prestige points value; it now receives a 25% value increase.
Note that travel may be booked using points or a combination of points and cash. Because the latter is classified as travel-related spending ("other travel: travel agency"), it is advantageous to use a credit card with corresponding bonuses.
Discussion thread: TYP flight redemptions: Prestige $0.0133 or $0.016/pt., Premier $0.0125/pt.
* But some Prestige benefits will soon go away, including that 1.6; see: Citi Prestige benefit and reward changes effective July 23, 2017
Gift Cards
There is some variance on the value for Gift Card redemption, depending on what credit card(s) you have tied to your ThankYou account. Generally, as long as there is a credit card tied to the account, it is a 1 cent-per-point redemption value, with $25/$50/$100 denominations.
Cash and Quasi-Cash
You can request mortgage or student loan checks 1 cent-per-point redemption values. Citi also offers statement credits, "select and credit" refunds for specific transactions, and VISA gift cards, at a horrible redemption rate. See below:
Mortgage: $100 = 10,000 TY points
Student Loan: $100 = 10,000 TY points
Select and Credit: $100 = 13,333 TY points
VISA Gift Card: $100 = 14,000 TY points
Cash & Statment Credit: $100 = 20,000 TY points
Point Transfers to Travel Partners
All Airlines below are 1:1 (1000 increments) unless noted otherwise
Avianca Lifemiles
Asia Miles
Etihad Guest
EVA Air Infinity MileageLands
Flying Blue (Air France/KLM)
Garuda Indonesia Frequent Flyer
JetBlue TrueBlue (1:1 for Premier/Prestige, 5:4 for Preferred)
JetPrivilege (Jet Airways)
Malaysia Airlines Enrich
Qantas Frequent Flyer
Qatar Airways Privilege Club
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
Hilton HHonors: 1000 TY = 1500 HH ended Dec 14, 2017
Note: Only points earned from Credit Cards are eligible to be transferred. Points from Banking are ineligible as are any "bonus points that may be awarded with no spend requirement."
Discussion thread: Citi ThankYou Points (TYPs): airline/hotel transfer partners
Transfer Bonuses
Citi does periodically offer transfer bonuses.
Etihad Guest:
10% Jun-Jul 2017
20% Oct 2016
**25% Nov-Dec 2015 and Jul 2016 offered by Etihad for all partner earn/transfer (excl SPG)
Flying Blue
30% Jul-Aug 2018
JetBlue TrueBlue:
30% Mar-May 2018 *note - at the time, the transfer rate was 5:4 for Premier/Prestige and 2:1 for Preferred, so the 30% made the ratios 25:26 (or 1000=1040) and 20:13 (or 1000=650) respectively
25% Sep-Oct 2017 *note - at the time, the transfer rate was 5:4 for Premier/Prestige and 2:1 for Preferred, so the 25% made the ratios 1:1 and 8:5 (or 1000=625) respectively
50% Mar-Apr 2017 *note - at the time, the transfer rate was 5:4 for Premier/Prestige and 2:1 for Preferred, so the 50% made the ratios 5:6 (or 1000=1200) and 4:3 (or 1000=750), respectively
Qantas Frequent Flyer
15%-30% Jun 2016 *tiered: 15% for < 100,000 transferred; 20% for 100,000-500,000; 25% for 500,001 to 1,000,000; 30% for 1,000,001+
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
30% Sep-Oct 2018
25% Jan-Mar 2017
25% Mar-Apr 2016
25% Jun-Aug 2015
Sharing Points with Other TYP Accounts
For information on sharing points with other TYP accounts (including the expiration rules and annual cap on shared points), see ThankYou Point Sharing capped at 100,000 points per calendar year.
Points Expiration
For information on points expiration, including the order in which points are used for redemptions, see the wiki at Citi ThankYou points - cancel, downgrade & expiration considerations.
Shop with Points
Amazon: $100 = 12,500 points
Existing Threads
Prestigious Citi Card Tricks [Citi Prestige Card benefits]
How is the Citi ThankYou Rewards system in the current state?
Citi Prestige card companion ticket
Confirmed: Changes to Citi ThankYou and Premier cards 10.20.2013
New Citi Premier & Prestige 15% Off Travel when booked through Spirit Incentives
Innovative ways to earn Citi ThankYou flight points (Flight Points haven't been a thing for years)
Citi Prestige benefit and reward changes effective July 23, 2017
This wiki is intended to be a comprehensive guide to the most frequently asked questions regarding the ThankYou Rewards program offered by Citi. For ongoing discussions regarding the different ThankYou Credit Cards and their benefits, please refer to the specific product threads listed at the bottom of this wiki. For the complete ThankYou program terms & conditions, see the TYP website.
Program Overview
Citibank and Citicards offers a joint rewards program called ThankYou. Members can earn ThankYou points that can be redeemed for travel, mortgage payments, student loan payments, gift cards, online purchases, statement credits, or cash.
How to Earn
Banking
IMPORTANT CHANGES COMING THE END OF 2014:
Effective Dec 16, 2014
Only CitiGold and 'The Citibank Account' packages will earn TYP, and at a reduced rate at that. In addition credit card, mortgages and line of credit will no longer count for qualifying balances to waive the monthly fee for these checking accounts. See updated earning rates below.
Citi Basic Banking, Citi Student, etc will no longer earn any TY Points, period.
Effective May 1 2015
In addition, starting May 1 2015, Citi At Work customers (through relationships Citi has with your employer) will no longer automatically qualify for 'The Citibank Account' via direct deposit. This means you'll need to have combined average monthly balance of at least $10,000 to waive the monthly fee.
See here
Short version
If direct deposit is available to you, you can earn as little as 7800 points ($78)/year to as much as 19,200 points ($192)/year without paying fees and without any credit card / debit card spend requirements. Add in a top tier Citi credit card and multiply those numbers by 1.25 (Premier) or 1.6/1.33 (Prestige)* on travel benefits. These benefits are per signer, so adding a spouse can double the benefits.
Long version
Open and maintain a Citibank checking account with monthly direct deposit and bill payment. The complete ThankYou earning chart is located here, but below are some overviews:
- CitiGold Checking Account ($50K minimum deposit balance)-Direct Deposit and Bill Pay: 650 points/mo
-Auto Save: +125 points/mo
-Saving Account: +200 points/mo
-Credit Products: up to +625
-Max without Credit Products: 975 points/mo
-Max with Credit Products: 1600 points/mo
- There's a separate earning scale altogether if you don't have direct deposit available that involves 1 debit/credit transaction per month. See the earning chart for the full list.
- CitiBank Checking Account ($10K minimum deposit balance)-Direct Deposit and Bill Pay: 450 points/mo
-Auto Save: +75 points/mo
-Saving Account: +150 points/mo
-Credit Products: up to +325
-Max without Credit Products: 675 points/mo
-Max with Credit Products: 1000 points/mo
The Citigold checking account carries a $30/mo service charge unless at least 1 of the following 3 conditions is met:
- $50,000+ average daily balance in all linked deposit accounts (checking, saving, money market, CD)
- $100,000+ in investment account (401K/Citi Personal Wealth Management) OR Home Equity Line/Loan + average daily balance in all linked deposit accounts (checking, saving, money market, CD)
- $250,000+ mortgage balance + average daily balance in all linked deposit accounts (checking, saving, money market, CD)
The Citibank checking account carries a $20/mo service charge unless at least 1 of the following 4 conditions is met:
- $15,000+ average daily balance in all linked deposit accounts (checking, saving, money market, CD)
- $15,000+ in investment account (401K/Citi Personal Wealth Management) OR Home Equity Line/Loan
- $15,000+ mortgage balance
- Direct Deposit from one of Citibank's "Citi at Work" corporate partners. This one is tricky if you don't have a contact at the bank that really knows their stuff. If you work for a major corporation in a corporate environment (i.e. Starbucks Corporate, not Starbucks Barista), chances are pretty decent you may qualify. If you have branches, inquire with a banker. If not, huge YMMV on getting this setup correctly.
The Basic Banking checking account carries a $10/mo service charge unless at least 1 of the following 2 conditions is met:
- $1,500 average daily balance in all linked deposit accounts (checking and saving only)
- One Direct Deposit per month and one Bill Payment per month
The Student checking account is eligible for the same rewards as the Basic Banking checking, and is completely free for students.
Important: Citi offers what is called "householding." This links multiple deposit accounts together under an umbrella household for the purpose of combining all the balances to meet minimum balance requirements. This is only allowed for people at the same address. However, for a family, this means one member can have $50K, or 4 members can each have $12.5K, and if they're properly household linked, entitles all parties to a Citigold account. This is NOT the case on investments and mortgages, only deposit balances.
FAQs about Earning through Banking
Q: Is there a minimum direct deposit amount to be eligible?
A: No, any amount once per month will work.
Q: Is there a minimum bill payment amount to be eligible?
A: No, any amount once per month will work.
Q: I don't want to set up bill payment; it's inconvenient to change my auto pays. What should I do?
A: Add yourself, a family member, or friend, and set up a recurring automatic monthly payment to them for any amount.
Q: Can I earn these points on multiple accounts?
A: One account is eligible per signer over the age of 18.
Q: Does a Paypal ACH (etc) qualify as a direct deposit?
A: No, only payroll.
Q: Does the direct deposit have to be intended for the account signer?
A: No. Details of the direct deposit are irrelevant.
Q: Can my spouse and I each have an account and earn points?
A: Yes, and you can merge TY accounts if you're married (this action cannot be undone).
Credit Cards
Citi offers numerous credit cards as part of the ThankYou program, listed here, but the most popular are listed below:
- ThankYou Preferred: No annual fee, 2x on Dining and Entertainment
- ThankYou Premier: Starting April 19, 2015, annual fee $95; 3x earning on Travel including Gas; and 2x earning on Dining and Entertainment/. For details, see this discussion thread/wiki.
- Citi Prestige: $450 annual fee, 2x on Dining purchases, $200 statement credit on <$100 airline purchases,
flight points, 15% off airfare booked through Citi/Spirit, annual international companion pass booked through Citi/Spirit (This benefit is going away 10/18/14). 1.6x multiplier* on ThankYou points redeemed for US Airways and American Airlines flights. 1.33x multiplier on ThankYou points redeemed for all other flights - Citi Forward for Students
FAQs about the Citi Prestige
Q: Why does the authorized user cost $50 per person?
A: Authorized users receive their own annual international companion pass and global entry credit.
Q: How does the annual companion pass work?
A: Once per membership year per card holder and authorized user, you can purchase one airline ticket through Citi's travel partner, Spirit Incentives here, and pay only taxes and fees on the second traveler. Keep in mind, for many international flights, the majority of the final fare cost can be taxes and fees. The annual companion pass only covers the base fair of the companion.
Q: Can I buy any airline ticket with the companion pass?
A: Yes and no. While it is not limited strictly to one airline or one alliance, the Spirit Incentives matrix only pulls the cheapest, bottom of the bucket fares, often giving less-than-optimal routing. Online availability changes, based on what's available.
A: When you purchase all (or a significant portion: some report >$50) of an airline ticket with your Citi Prestige card, you earn flight points for the physical distance flown, which are accrued into a separate "bucket." These flight points accrue separately from ThankYou points, and you still earn your standard butt-in-seat distance miles with your frequent flyer program. Once you see your flight points on your statement, you can "transfer" them from your flight point bucket to your ThankYou point balance with every dollar you spend. If you have a 10K flight point balance, and you spend $1000 on every day purchases and $500 on dining, you will earn: 1000 (at 1x earning), 1000 (at 2x earning), and 2000 (flight point matching of monthly earning total). You will receive 4000 points into your ThankYou account, and have 8K flight points remaining to be converted.
NB: Flight Points are obsolete.
Q: How does the 1.6x/1.33x airfare redemption multiplier work?
A: See below under How to Use/Travel.
Q: What can I buy with the $200 airline statement credit?
A: Food, drinks, baggage, upgrades, gift cards, etc. Pretty much anything billed from the airline that is $100 or less. Note: You must opt in to this benefit. It only takes a 90-second call to a friendly, US-based CSR and you'll be good to go. My CSR even retroactively credited me when I failed to do this, but YMMV.
Q: Can I use the $100 Global Entry credit every year?
A: T&C state it resets every 5 years, just like the Global Entry membership.
Q: Any other benefits?
A: Three free rounds of golf a year, 15% discount on airfare purchased through Spirit Incentives, access to Airport Angel lounges, no FTF.
How to Use
Travel
When booking travel through the ThankYou website, you get a 1 cent-per-point redemption value on flights, hotels, car rentals, etc. If you have a ThankYou Premier card, you earn a 25% value increase when redeeming for flights, rental cars, or hotels.
Note that travel may be booked using points or a combination of points and cash. Because the latter is classified as travel-related spending ("other travel: travel agency"), it is advantageous to use a credit card with corresponding bonuses.
Discussion thread: TYP flight redemptions: Prestige $0.0133 or $0.016/pt., Premier $0.0125/pt.
* But some Prestige benefits will soon go away, including that 1.6; see: Citi Prestige benefit and reward changes effective July 23, 2017
Gift Cards
There is some variance on the value for Gift Card redemption, depending on what credit card(s) you have tied to your ThankYou account. Generally, as long as there is a credit card tied to the account, it is a 1 cent-per-point redemption value, with $25/$50/$100 denominations.
Cash and Quasi-Cash
You can request mortgage or student loan checks 1 cent-per-point redemption values. Citi also offers statement credits, "select and credit" refunds for specific transactions, and VISA gift cards, at a horrible redemption rate. See below:
Mortgage: $100 = 10,000 TY points
Student Loan: $100 = 10,000 TY points
Select and Credit: $100 = 13,333 TY points
VISA Gift Card: $100 = 14,000 TY points
Cash & Statment Credit: $100 = 20,000 TY points
Point Transfers to Travel Partners
All Airlines below are 1:1 (1000 increments) unless noted otherwise
Avianca Lifemiles
Asia Miles
Etihad Guest
EVA Air Infinity MileageLands
Flying Blue (Air France/KLM)
Garuda Indonesia Frequent Flyer
JetBlue TrueBlue (1:1 for Premier/Prestige, 5:4 for Preferred)
JetPrivilege (Jet Airways)
Malaysia Airlines Enrich
Qantas Frequent Flyer
Qatar Airways Privilege Club
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
Note: Only points earned from Credit Cards are eligible to be transferred. Points from Banking are ineligible as are any "bonus points that may be awarded with no spend requirement."
Discussion thread: Citi ThankYou Points (TYPs): airline/hotel transfer partners
Transfer Bonuses
Citi does periodically offer transfer bonuses.
Etihad Guest:
10% Jun-Jul 2017
20% Oct 2016
**25% Nov-Dec 2015 and Jul 2016 offered by Etihad for all partner earn/transfer (excl SPG)
Flying Blue
30% Jul-Aug 2018
JetBlue TrueBlue:
30% Mar-May 2018 *note - at the time, the transfer rate was 5:4 for Premier/Prestige and 2:1 for Preferred, so the 30% made the ratios 25:26 (or 1000=1040) and 20:13 (or 1000=650) respectively
25% Sep-Oct 2017 *note - at the time, the transfer rate was 5:4 for Premier/Prestige and 2:1 for Preferred, so the 25% made the ratios 1:1 and 8:5 (or 1000=625) respectively
50% Mar-Apr 2017 *note - at the time, the transfer rate was 5:4 for Premier/Prestige and 2:1 for Preferred, so the 50% made the ratios 5:6 (or 1000=1200) and 4:3 (or 1000=750), respectively
Qantas Frequent Flyer
15%-30% Jun 2016 *tiered: 15% for < 100,000 transferred; 20% for 100,000-500,000; 25% for 500,001 to 1,000,000; 30% for 1,000,001+
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
30% Sep-Oct 2018
25% Jan-Mar 2017
25% Mar-Apr 2016
25% Jun-Aug 2015
Sharing Points with Other TYP Accounts
For information on sharing points with other TYP accounts (including the expiration rules and annual cap on shared points), see ThankYou Point Sharing capped at 100,000 points per calendar year.
Points Expiration
For information on points expiration, including the order in which points are used for redemptions, see the wiki at Citi ThankYou points - cancel, downgrade & expiration considerations.
Shop with Points
Amazon: $100 = 12,500 points
Existing Threads
Prestigious Citi Card Tricks [Citi Prestige Card benefits]
How is the Citi ThankYou Rewards system in the current state?
Citi Prestige card companion ticket
Confirmed: Changes to Citi ThankYou and Premier cards 10.20.2013
New Citi Premier & Prestige 15% Off Travel when booked through Spirit Incentives
Citi Prestige benefit and reward changes effective July 23, 2017
Comprehensive Guide to the Citi ThankYou Rewards Program
Nov 10, 2015, 3:19 pm
#153
Join Date: Sep 2015
Programs: Paying student debt and traveling when i can
Posts: 312
Q1. I have a citi premier card. received the 50k bonus TYPs. If i open a Prestige card can I transfer my premier points? and if so, will they keep indefinitely as long as I have the prestige open? I read somewhere that this wasn't the case. If I closed my premier, I'd have 90d to use them. This seems odd if i also had the prestige (and not how chase UR and amex MS work).
Q2. Can i buy American airlines gift cards at 1.6 pt/$ via my Prestige card? or is the redemption strictly for AA airfare?
Q2. Can i buy American airlines gift cards at 1.6 pt/$ via my Prestige card? or is the redemption strictly for AA airfare?
Nov 10, 2015, 3:29 pm
#154
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,958
2. You cannot buy gift cards through Citi's travel booking engine, and that is the only way to receive the $0.0125, $0.0133 or $0.016 returns.
Nov 10, 2015, 4:15 pm
#155
Join Date: Sep 2015
Programs: Paying student debt and traveling when i can
Posts: 312
1. Read post 133, and then see what the printed terms which came with your Premier card say about point expiration.
I was perhaps confused the above situation with 'sharing' points. Thankyou Points that are shared to another thankyou "account expire 90d after the date they are recieved". I would use this feature if I wanted to share with another thankyou account that didn't belong to me.
Thus, if you combine accounts it seems points will be preserved. but if you share points, they wont be. Am I interpreting this correctly?
Nov 10, 2015, 4:23 pm
#156
Join Date: Sep 2015
Programs: Paying student debt and traveling when i can
Posts: 312
upon further investigation, this is what the printed terms say about closures:
"Thankyou member account closures: If your thankyou member account is closed for any reason, you will lose any thankyou points in that thankyou member account. if your participating citi account is closed, you will no longer be able to accumulate points and may lose the thankyou points that you earned through that citi account and through thankyou rewards. if all your citi accounts are closed, we may close your thankyou member account. if you do not have an open citi account citi account, we may also close your thankyou member account or suspend your account privilages at any time for any reason".
bold emphasis mine. There is no "30 d" wording... but I guess they could, in theory, erase all the thankyou points you had in your combined member account associated with the citi account that was closed - while letting you keep any points associated with your other open citi account.
"Thankyou member account closures: If your thankyou member account is closed for any reason, you will lose any thankyou points in that thankyou member account. if your participating citi account is closed, you will no longer be able to accumulate points and may lose the thankyou points that you earned through that citi account and through thankyou rewards. if all your citi accounts are closed, we may close your thankyou member account. if you do not have an open citi account citi account, we may also close your thankyou member account or suspend your account privilages at any time for any reason".
bold emphasis mine. There is no "30 d" wording... but I guess they could, in theory, erase all the thankyou points you had in your combined member account associated with the citi account that was closed - while letting you keep any points associated with your other open citi account.
Nov 15, 2015, 4:26 pm
#157
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: ATL
Programs: DL, Marriott
Posts: 728
I just got an email saying 'Welcome to ThankYou® Rewards' and the email seemed like I just got a new card...it was for the TY account associated with my Prestige, but I've had the Prestige since May. Why would they send a new 'welcome' email? Is it linked to the fact that I just got a CG account, which reset the AF? Just wondering why it's acting like I just got a Prestige even though I've had it for some time....the point total is correct, but still, just slightly worried about them thinking my TY account is new all of a sudden..
Nov 17, 2015, 11:59 am
#158
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: ATL
Programs: DL, Marriott
Posts: 728
Related to the above, I did some digging around my TY accounts, and noticed that the 'profile' seems completely separate from my CC accounts that the TY account is associated with.
Is there any reason for this?
Like, I've updated my address to my new apartment several months ago on my Citi cards. However, on my TY account, it still had the old address on the profile. You'd think they'd be the same! On UR and MR, it seems like those profiles are all driven off of the CC account..why does Citi make it silly like this?!
Is there any reason for this?
Like, I've updated my address to my new apartment several months ago on my Citi cards. However, on my TY account, it still had the old address on the profile. You'd think they'd be the same! On UR and MR, it seems like those profiles are all driven off of the CC account..why does Citi make it silly like this?!
Nov 19, 2015, 2:10 pm
#159
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 1,872
Hey guys, do you know if I combine my Premier and Prestige TY points, the points will expire in 90 days? I mean transfer my Premier points to Prestige.
I am thinking about combining my Premier points to Prestige because Prestige points have more value for booking flights on TY website. I checked for jetairways flight and it is about 15% cheaper using Prestige points than Premier points.
Bloggers have been saying Prestige points give you better value on AA metal flight only but doesn't seem to be true?
I am thinking about combining my Premier points to Prestige because Prestige points have more value for booking flights on TY website. I checked for jetairways flight and it is about 15% cheaper using Prestige points than Premier points.
Bloggers have been saying Prestige points give you better value on AA metal flight only but doesn't seem to be true?
Nov 19, 2015, 3:16 pm
#160
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,958
If you merge your ThankYou Rewards accounts the expiration dates of the points will not be affected, and all future points will automatically post to the new ThankYou Rewards account. Citi will still track which points were generated by each card, and if you close a card account those points will expire in 60 days.
If you share some points from your Premier account with your Prestige account the shared points will expire in 90 days.
I checked for jetairways flight and it is about 15% cheaper using Prestige points than Premier points.
Bloggers have been saying Prestige points give you better value on AA metal flight only but doesn't seem to be true?
In other words, Prestige points are always worth more than Premier points for airfare, but they are worth the most when redeemed for an AA ticket (although not all AA fares are available through travel agencies.)
Nov 19, 2015, 3:31 pm
#161
Join Date: Sep 2015
Programs: Paying student debt and traveling when i can
Posts: 312
Hey guys, do you know if I combine my Premier and Prestige TY points, the points will expire in 90 days? I mean transfer my Premier points to Prestige.
I am thinking about combining my Premier points to Prestige because Prestige points have more value for booking flights on TY website. I checked for jetairways flight and it is about 15% cheaper using Prestige points than Premier points.
Bloggers have been saying Prestige points give you better value on AA metal flight only but doesn't seem to be true?
I am thinking about combining my Premier points to Prestige because Prestige points have more value for booking flights on TY website. I checked for jetairways flight and it is about 15% cheaper using Prestige points than Premier points.
Bloggers have been saying Prestige points give you better value on AA metal flight only but doesn't seem to be true?
if you're combining two TY accounts that you own, they shouldn't expire. If you were to transfer TY pts to an account you don't own (like a spouse) they would expire in 90d.
read post 155
Nov 19, 2015, 3:53 pm
#162
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 1,872
You are mixing together two distinct processes.
If you merge your ThankYou Rewards accounts the expiration dates of the points will not be affected, and all future points will automatically post to the new ThankYou Rewards account. Citi will still track which points were generated by each card, and if you close a card account those points will expire in 60 days.
If you share some points from your Premier account with your Prestige account the shared points will expire in 90 days.
Premier points are worth $0.0125 when redeemed for airfare. Prestige points are worth $0.0133, except...
...Prestige points are worth $0.016 when redeemed for AA airfare.
In other words, Prestige points are always worth more than Premier points for airfare, but they are worth the most when redeemed for an AA ticket (although not all AA fares are available through travel agencies.)
If you merge your ThankYou Rewards accounts the expiration dates of the points will not be affected, and all future points will automatically post to the new ThankYou Rewards account. Citi will still track which points were generated by each card, and if you close a card account those points will expire in 60 days.
If you share some points from your Premier account with your Prestige account the shared points will expire in 90 days.
Premier points are worth $0.0125 when redeemed for airfare. Prestige points are worth $0.0133, except...
...Prestige points are worth $0.016 when redeemed for AA airfare.
In other words, Prestige points are always worth more than Premier points for airfare, but they are worth the most when redeemed for an AA ticket (although not all AA fares are available through travel agencies.)
Please explain a bit more as am bit confused.
You said something like if I merge, it won't expire but if I share, it expires?
I don't know I should call it Merge or Share, What i mean is I have points on both of these cards=Prestige & Premier.
Since I am getting more values with Prestige points on flights, I thought about combining my TY premier points and prestige points. By doing that, my premier points become prestige point? Is that a sharing and expires in 90 days? It is better to combine/transfer my premier points to prestige points if they don't expire in 90 days?
Thanks
Nov 19, 2015, 4:00 pm
#163
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,958
There are two different processes. One is meant to merge (permanently combine) two ThankYou accounts owned by the same person (or by spouses). The other is meant to share a specific amount of points from one ThankYou Rewards account with another. The accounts can be owned by anyone.
Which do you have in mind?
Which do you have in mind?
Nov 19, 2015, 4:09 pm
#164
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 1,872
There are two different processes. One is meant to merge (permanently combine) two ThankYou accounts owned by the same person (or by spouses). The other is meant to share a specific amount of points from one ThankYou Rewards account with another. The accounts can be owned by anyone.
Which do you have in mind?
Which do you have in mind?
I have 60k on Premier account and 55k on Prestige account.
I should share/transfer my Premier points to Prestige points so my Prestige points become 115K and I get full value of the Prestige points on flights?
When I click on the TY program on my Premier or Prestige card account online, it shows the points I have on 2 of these cards and have option to "combine".
That combine means sharing? and if i do that, the points expire in 90 days?
Nov 19, 2015, 4:16 pm
#165
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,958
That's what i am calling merge. If you do that you will permanently combine the two ThankYou Rewards accounts into a single account. All points earned by both cards will automatically post into that account. You will be able to redeem them all at the Prestige rate. However, if you (at anytime, now or later) cancel either of the cards, the remaining points earned by the cancelled card will disappear in 60 days.