Ask Glenbrook: A Closer Look at Citi's Thank You Rewards Program
Citibank has launched its Thank You Rewards program -- last year for its credit card customers and earlier this year for its retail banking debit card customers.
Basically, by using a Citi debit or credit card, you can earn ThankYou Points that can then be redeemed for rewards - although the specifics of what you earn varies depending upon the particular Citi card that you're using to make a purchase and the value of the points varies depending upon which specific reward you redeem them for.
We recently had an Ask Glenbrook question about the relative value of debit and credit product participation in the Thank You Rewards programs. Based upon some quick research done on the Citibank web sites, here's what we learned.
If you're a Citi retail banking customer with a Citi EZ Checking account with debit card, you can earn 1/2 point for every $1 spent on purchases using your debit card in signature mode and 1/3 point for every $1 spent on purchases. No points are rewarded for using the debit card to get cash at ATM's.
In addition, you can get additional points each month for using additional services. For example, if you have your payroll check deposited into your EZ Checking account, you can earn an additional 50 points each month. If you add a CD and a personal or home equity loan, you can earn an additional 100 points each month.
So, let's say you use your debit card to make $1,000 worth of purchases each month and they're all signature-based, you'd earn 500 points plus, if you've got direct deposit, another 50 points for a total of 550 points each month.
On the credit card side, Citi offers a number of different credit cards that basically provide 1 point for every $1 spent on purchases with up to 5 points for every $1 spent on purchases spent at specific merchants (supermarkets, drug stores, gas stations, office supplies, etc.) as well as either 1/3 of a point or a full point for every mile flown on any airline.
If you used one of the Citi credit cards for that same $1,000 worth of purchases, at a minimum you'd earn 1,000 points each month. If $300 of that spending was at one of the special types of merchants, you could earn up to 2,200 points each month.
What's one point worth? It's hard to tell exactly -- but it looks like a point is worth roughly a penny when redeemed for goods. Some examples: an Apple iPod requires 50,000 points while a day pass to Disneyland requires 7,000 points.
Points can also be used to buy down the interest rate you're paying on outstanding Citi credit card balances at a rate of 30,000 points buying you a 4 percentage point reduction in APR for a 12 month period. That same 30,000 points can also be applied as a $175 cash back credit to your account. For "cash", the effective value of a point works out to about $0.0058. That's quite a bit lower than similar cash rebate programs offered by other credit card issuers that typically credit about 1 percent of total purchases --although for debit cards it's slightly richer than some other competitive offerings. US Bank, for example, has a 0.25% cash reward (vs. Citi's effective rate of 0.29%) tied to its Cash Bonus Visa Check Card for signature debit purchases.
So, there you have it, a quick examination of the Citi Thank You Rewards Program. Comments are open for this post -- if you want to add (or correct!), please feel free to do so. We welcome your participation here.
By the way, Citi is currently running a promotion for opening and funding a Citibank EZ Checking account. If you open the account online, fund it with an initial deposit of $1,500, and pay two bills per month for the first year using Citi's free online bill payment service, Citi will send you an Apple iPod Shuffle.
Stumble It!
Be careful with this. Citibank told me that if I opened the account I'd get Thankyou points for every payment made with their bill payment service. I asked if my rent, if paid online, would get points and was told that it would. I was told I would get as many points as my rent was for. That's not true. Be careful. You only get 50 points or so for using bill payment each month. You also get points equal to debit card purchases, but I can't pay my rent with my debit card. In my opinion, it's not worth it unless you have Citi ATMs near you, which I don't. With the incorrect info, Citi's checking account seemed much better than Wachovia. But w/ the correct info, it's not any better. I'm very annoyed at whomever at Citi gave me the wrong info. What a hassle.
Posted by: Brian | July 05, 2005 at 06:34 PM
My Citibank statements states that there is a website, www.thankyouredemptions.com. There is no website available like that. I repeatedly am advised that it does not exist.
Posted by: Camille Moskowitz | July 19, 2005 at 10:05 AM
There seems to be some confusion about the url of the Citi Thank You program website. The promo that I just got in the mail for the CitiBusiness card is: www.thankyounetwork.com.
A caveat: The fine print in the promo states that the CitiBusiness card limits Thank You points earnable in each January-December calendar year to 100,000. These could be redeemed for two unrestricted round-trips in the lower 48 at 50,000 points each. Also, Thank You points expire in three years.
Posted by: Carol | November 13, 2005 at 12:41 PM
I keep trying to get on www.thankyouredemptions.com to redeem my points but to no advail. What gives? I have gotten on before when I first had enough pts. Why is it not available now? Is anyone else having trouble with the web site?
Posted by: Pam Crossman | November 14, 2005 at 03:57 PM
Yes!! the website to redeem points is almost impossible to find. I am going back to Discover, their point system was very easy and straightforward, I also gained more points per dollar!!
Posted by: Patti Huckabee | September 30, 2007 at 12:47 PM