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Comprehensive Guide to the Citi ThankYou Rewards Program

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Old Mar 4, 2015, 9:42 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
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:
  • 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.

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
Print Wikipost

Comprehensive Guide to the Citi ThankYou Rewards Program

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Old May 2, 2016, 9:04 am
  #241  
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Miami, FL
Programs: UA 1MM, AA Plat, Marriott LT Titanium, Hyatt Glob, IHG ♢ Amb, Hilton ♢, Hertz Pres
Posts: 6,017
Originally Posted by mia
You can still redeem ThankYou points for Amazon purchases, but the process does not involve gift cards. They still have iTunes gift cards.
I can't redeem for Amazon (I think I need a Citi Thank you cc to do this, correct?) I solely have a Citi bank acct which earns me points.

And the itunes gcs are gone for me within thankyou.com. I've searched and they are not there anymore. Where do you see them? In the GC redemption area?
TravelinSperry is offline  
Old May 2, 2016, 10:01 am
  #242  
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: On strike
Posts: 8,135
Originally Posted by TravelinSperry
And the itunes gcs are gone for me within thankyou.com. I've searched and they are not there anymore. Where do you see them? In the GC redemption area?
I have them under Gift Cards / Entertainment. You can also search for "iTunes" using the search box in the top navigation bar.
beltway is offline  
Old May 2, 2016, 11:43 am
  #243  
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Posts: 826
Okay as to the point of 1099. I have done some reading around and it seems there is no way to escape the taxes regardless of whether Citi issues you 1099 or not, you are supposed to pay taxes on bonus earned through banking accounts.
Gitangali is offline  
Old May 2, 2016, 12:31 pm
  #244  
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Miami, FL
Programs: UA 1MM, AA Plat, Marriott LT Titanium, Hyatt Glob, IHG ♢ Amb, Hilton ♢, Hertz Pres
Posts: 6,017
Originally Posted by beltway
I have them under Gift Cards / Entertainment. You can also search for "iTunes" using the search box in the top navigation bar.
Thank you! I found them by doing the search you recommended. I was searching email only - and itunes is mail only. Whew. Looking forward to redeeming for this in 2 months ^
TravelinSperry is offline  
Old May 4, 2016, 6:01 am
  #245  
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 179
How can I check thank you point multipliers - i.e. $1 becomes 3TYP?

Hello,

Is there a simple way to make sure that citi is actually converting purchases to the correct number of thank you points?

I want to make sure that for every $20 in gas I'm getting 60TYP on my citi premiere and so on.

Also, is there a way just to see reimbursements for airline and 4th night free or do I just have to make mental notes to review monthly statements months after purchase?

Thanks,
babern38 is offline  
Old May 4, 2016, 6:38 pm
  #246  
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Melbourne, Florida, USA
Posts: 2,983
Originally Posted by michael_v
Redeeming points for mortgage statement, I see $500 for 62,500 points. This used to be 50,000 points. Anyone else seeing this?
Just a follow-up in case someone else ends up in the same situation.

I called and was unable to redeem at the 1 cpp rate. Then I combined my TY accounts (checking with credit cards accounts) and the website displayed the 1 cpp rate now. I then called to redeem and was able to redeem all of my points (from both checking and credit cards) for mortgage checks at the 1 cpp rate in 2,500 points increments. They are going to send me 4 mortgage checks for various amounts.
michael_v is offline  
Old May 9, 2016, 4:03 pm
  #247  
 
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 8
If i merge my credit card and banking TYP and cancel the citi gold checkin account, will my TYP from citi gold chekin account will expire?
rajnishK453 is offline  
Old May 9, 2016, 5:39 pm
  #248  
mia
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Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,954
Originally Posted by rajnishK453
If i merge my credit card and banking TYP and cancel the citi gold checkin account, will my TYP from citi gold chekin account will expire?
Please see this thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/citi-...d-60-days.html
mia is online now  
Old May 14, 2016, 10:19 am
  #249  
mia
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Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,954
Question about Prestige airline reimbursement has been moved because it is not related to ThankYou Rewards. See here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/citi-...ursements.html
mia is online now  
Old May 14, 2016, 3:29 pm
  #250  
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Can TYP from Citi AT&T access card be transferred to an airline partner?
TMM1982 is offline  
Old May 14, 2016, 3:40 pm
  #251  
mia
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Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,954
Originally Posted by TMM1982
Can TYP from Citi AT&T access card be transferred to an airline partner?
Only if you also hold one of the eligible cards:

2. Who is eligible to use Points Transfer?

Only Citi ThankYou® Premier, Citi Prestige® and Citi Chairman® cardmembers are eligible to transfer available and qualifying points to participating travel loyalty programs membership accounts.
mia is online now  
Old May 15, 2016, 4:24 am
  #252  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,933
Does anyone have experience with using a Citi card that gives extra points for entertainment as to whether public radio station or public TV station pledges count as entertainment or not?

The Premier card signup details page lists a bunch of different things that count and a bunch of things that don't count:
2 ThankYou Points for each $1 spent on purchases at restaurants (including cafes, bars, lounges and fast food restaurants), and on select entertainment, including live entertainment, live theatrical productions, concerts, live sporting events, movie theaters, amusement parks (including zoos, aquariums, circuses and carnivals), tourist attractions (including museums and art galleries), record stores, video rental stores and on-demand internet streaming media;

Certain Non-Qualifying Purchases. You won't earn 2X Points for purchases made at bakeries, restaurants/cafes inside certain department, grocery, discount and convenience stores or warehouse clubs, sporting camps, public and private golf courses, country clubs (including membership fees), stores that sell musical instruments, video game arcades, bowling alleys, stores that primarily sell video games/accessories, charitable organizations that provide live entertainment, bookstores, and sports complexes where you participate in the sport.
and radio and TV stations don't seem to fit into anything listed in either category, and the first paragraph says "including" which implies that list may not be complete and the second paragraph says "certain" which implies that list may not be complete either.

Last edited by sdsearch; May 15, 2016 at 4:29 am
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Old May 15, 2016, 8:05 am
  #253  
mia
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Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,954
Originally Posted by sdsearch
... public radio station or public TV station .
I think there is a great deal of variance in public broadcasting fundraising organization structure. In Miami the primary public radio station is owned by the school board, but donations are made to a separate charity Friends of WLRN which has its merchant account coded (MasterCard) as: CHARITABLE AND SOCIAL SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS.
mia is online now  
Old May 15, 2016, 2:42 pm
  #254  
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,848
For Citi Prestige, are there any hotel programs that will auto upgrade or provide a higher status from using the Citi Prestige card for payment?

Thank u!
HawaiiO is online now  
Old May 15, 2016, 5:22 pm
  #255  
 
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: USA
Posts: 1,084
Originally Posted by HawaiiO
For Citi Prestige, are there any hotel programs that will auto upgrade or provide a higher status from using the Citi Prestige card for payment?

Thank u!
That would likely be the World Elite MasterCard hotel benefits, not benefits exclusive to the Prestige card.
slivrflyr is offline  


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